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Maple Leafs Goaltender Matt Murray Takes Full Blame for Loss to Capitals
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Maple Leafs Goalie Matt Murray knows that his game isn't up to par yet, and took full blame for costing his team a potential win against the Washington Capitals on Saturday evening.
The Leafs left Detroit with a 5-2 victory on Friday only to give a game right back to Washington on Saturday in the second half of a back-to-back, allowing 5 goals to the Washington Capitals on home ice at Scotiabank Arena in a 5-2 loss.
The Leafs appeared to be in the driver's seat early, with John Tavares picking up his 18th goal of the season to take the 1-0 lead just 3:14 into the game.
However, Andrew Mangiapane tied it up less than 2 minutes later off of a stinker that Murray really should have had.
Murray was facing the shooter from a favourable angle, but simply couldn't drop his pad to the ice in time, leaving a nice gap for Mangiapane to sneak a puck under him to knot things up at 1-1.
Murray, who was given the start over Joseph Woll on Saturday, allowed 3 more goals in this one before Alexander Ovechkin potted an empty net goal to put the game out of reach.
After the game Murray was quick to admit that the Leafs were very much in the game, but that the Capitals' 4th tally, a ricochet off of Tom Wilson's pants that snuck past him was a real back-breaker.
"A lot of good things. But really, the real dagger for us is that fourth one. We were doing so well.
Had a chance to come back and tie the game and I'm not even sure how it went in. Deflected off of something.
I think I lost it at the last second. So like I said, a lot of good things, but just not enough to get the win."
Had a chance to come back and tie the game and I'm not even sure how it went in. Deflected off of something.
I think I lost it at the last second. So like I said, a lot of good things, but just not enough to get the win."
Murray also admitted that, given his long layoff, his timing isn't quite where it needs to be yet. He needs to be quicker to track pucks and he knows it.
"I definitely had a long time off. There's maybe just like one or two times a game I feel like I'm a little late picking up pucks through traffic. That type of thing."
The Leafs still have to rely on Murray to help carry the load in the absence of Anthony Stolarz, who was given a 4-6 weeks recovery timeline after undergoing surgery earlier this month.
Because of this, the team will have to continue to work with him on getting his reaction time back to where it needs to be, at an NHL level.
Murray is now 1-1-0 in the NHL this season, with a 3.54 GAA and a .879 SV%. This, after going 4-1-2 with a 1.85 GAA and a .931 SV% with the AHL's Toronto Marlies to begin the year.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 29 | 2729 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Goaltender Matt Murray Takes Full Blame for Loss to Capitals Should the Leafs call Dennis Hildeby up and return Murray to the AHL? | ||
| Yes | 2056 | 75.3 % |
| No | 459 | 16.8 % |
| Give Artur Akhtyamov a shot | 214 | 7.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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