Penguins Update: Goalie Controversy Brewin’ in the ‘Burgh?

I confess. I’m beginning to run out of superlatives to describe our Penguins. Once again battling long odds and an injury-riddled lineup featuring more holes than a hunk of Swiss cheese, our guys showed tons of moxie in turning back the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, at the Pepsi Center last night.

Again, it was a total team effort. Teddy Blueger, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin each registered a goal and an assist. Jared McCann notched the overtime-winner for the black and gold. Rookie sensation John Marino picked up two assists while Dominik Kahun, flourishing in an expanded role, collected three assists and was a plus-three on the night. The fact that the Czech-born winger was somehow passed over for one of the game’s three stars doesn’t diminish his impact in the least.

What a steal this kid was and is.

Oh, and at the other end of the ice Matt Murray turned aside 28 of 31 shots to earn his third victory in his past four starts. Which, with all due respect to the rest of the guys, leads me to the real point of my post.

I’m not going to mince words. I’m a Tristan Jarry guy. Without his exceptional play in net, we’d be well back in the pack, scratching and clawing for a wild-card spot, instead of sitting comparatively pretty in second place in the ultra-tough Metro. For the record…and coach Mike Sullivan’s eyes…Tristan still leads the league in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts. He’s an all-star to boot.

Why am I going to such great lengths to sing Jarry’s praises? Fear. Fear that Sullivan will once again fall into his unfortunate habit of playing favorites. In this case, Murray.

I do understand the connection. Murray won two Cups for him. He was Sully’s guy…even when the experts clamored for Marc-Andre Fleury. How could there not be an attachment?

Yet I got a terrible twisting in my guts the other night when Sullivan went out of his way to compliment Murray following our recent victory over Montreal. “I thought Matt was outstanding…” Sully opined.

Uh oh.

To borrow from the kitschy ’60s Sci-Fi classic Lost in Space…“Danger, Will Robinson.”

To be fair, Murray has played better of late. Although his 2.93 goals against average is nothing to write home about, he’s stopped 98 of 107 shots over his past three starts for a respectable .916 save percentage. Not dazzling, but solid.

And I do grasp the need to work Murray into the rotation…to an extent. You don’t want him lacking confidence and/or rotting away on the bench. A bad situation for everyone.

Switching gears, I thought his performance last night was pretty much a microcosm of who Murray is as a goalie. Kind of the good, the bad and the ugly all rolled into one.

Did he play moderately well…good enough to keep his team in the game? Yes. As I mentioned, he made 28 saves. And he did stop a streaking Nathan MacKinnon from point-blank range early in the game. I confess I found the title of the highlight clip on NHL.com…“Murray makes save”…wholly appropriate, as if it were some sort of special event or occurrence.

Did the Thunder Bay native shut down the opposition or steal a win? Nope. Never does. Instead, he spotted the Avalanche leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and forced his team to play catch up on the road with a depleted lineup.

Did he continue to yield cheesy goals at critical junctures? Yes. He allowed the game-opening goal to MacKinnon because he isn’t athletic enough to traverse the crease and seal off the far post once he settles into his crouch. The puck either hits him or it goes in.

After the Pens fought back to tie the game, he leaked the go-ahead goal late in the second period on a long-range mudskipper from Gabriel Landeskog. A terrible goal to allow.

Then, after Malkin staked the Pens to their first lead of the night, Murray surrendered his patented game-tying goal in the final minute of play to send the game to overtime.

Okay, I’ll absolve him of blame on this one. The Avs were skating with a 6-on-4 advantage and the puck appeared at the last second through a sea of traffic. Superman himself with his x-ray vision couldn’t have tracked that shot.

Still. Another puck gets past him late in a game. An all-too-familiar pattern.

It was only by the grace of God that Andre Burakovsky and Cale Makar conspired to flub a 2-on-0 from the doorstep in overtime, allowing Brandon Tanev to swoop in and steal the puck. In the process sparing Murray from having to make a single save in overtime and setting the stage for McCann’s game-winner moments later.

I’ll close with a few parting thoughts. As I watched replays of the game from my perch at the Pennsbury Pub & Grille, a friend posed an interesting question.

“Do you think Murray peaked when he first came up?”

“Yes,” I replied.

As for the issue of who should be the Pens’ starter, Jarry or Murray? Let me put it this way. Of the two goalies, who is more athletic and mobile? Who’s cooler under fire? Who handles the puck better? Who has a better glove hand?

If you answered Jarry to all four questions, you’re correct.

Hope Mike Sullivan is reading.