Murray, Crosby tame Hurricanes, 4-2
PITTSBURGH — Matt Murray’s steadiness in the face of adversity is one of the reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins made the precocious 21-year-old the primary backup goaltender behind Marc-Andre Fleury.
Surrendering two goals to Carolina in the opening five minutes Thursday night, Murray could have panicked. He didn’t. Of course, having Sidney Crosby around helps.
Murray shut the door over the final 55 minutes and Crosby collected a pair of highlight-reel goals as the Penguins pushed their winning streak to four by rallying for a 4-2 victory.
“You give up two goals early in a game like that, a lot of time with young goalies that can rattle him,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “And he has a maturity about him beyond his years. He has a calm demeanor and he doesn’t get rattled.”
Murray finished with 31 saves, including a sliding stop to break up a two-on-none midway through the first period that seemed to give his teammate the boost they needed.
Crosby beat Eddie Lack with a slick backhander in the first to cut the deficit in half and added a redirect from his knees in the second to give the Penguins the lead as Pittsburgh strengthened its grip on seventh in the crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.
“I think the way the team responded, the way Sid responded (helped),” defenseman Ian Cole said. “And kudos to our team being able to grab the second half of that first period and not wait for intermission for coach to come yell at us. We realized it wasn’t the start we wanted and then were able to turn the tide and turn the momentum as quickly as possible.”
Cole finished with two assists. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist and Nick Bonino picked up his fifth of the year for Pittsburgh. The Penguins improved to 12-3-1 in their last 16 games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Phillip Di Giuseppe and Riley Nash scored for the Hurricanes. Lack made 44 stops for Carolina, whose postseason hopes took a significant hit after letting an early two-goal lead get away. The Hurricanes are winless in their last three and sit six points behind Detroit in the race for the final wild-card spot.
“We weren’t as competitive in the pace of the game,” Carolina coach Bill Peters said. “It seemed like we struggled with the pace of the game at times.”
With a trip across the state to take on surging Philadelphia awaiting on Saturday, Sullivan opted to rest Fleury and give the start to Murray, who hadn’t played since March 6. The rookie received little help from teammates early.
Di Giuseppe took advantage of a turnover by Chris Kunitz to float a shot between Murray’s legs 42 seconds into the game.
