The Pittsburgh Penguins will likely finally get to face an old friend Thursday when they visit the Ottawa Senators.
Former Pittsburgh franchise goaltender Matt Murray is the probable starter for Ottawa. He was supposed to face his original team Jan. 20, a 6-4 Penguins win in Pittsburgh, but Murray was ill (non-COVID-19).
Murray helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017 but then struggled and fell out of favor. After he was overtaken by Tristan Jarry as the No. 1 goalie, he was shipped to the Senators on Oct. 7, 2020, in exchange for forward prospect Jonathan Gruden and a second-round draft pick.
Murray has struggled this season, including going through waivers and being sent to the American Hockey League for a stint, but he is coming off wins in his past two starts, giving up three goals total.
That includes Monday’s 4-1 win over New Jersey. He had the night off Tuesday when Ottawa upset Eastern Conference title contender Carolina 4-3.
Despite having a bleak outlook for making the playoffs, winning both their games coming out of the All-Star break has the Senators feeling confident.
“If you told me going into a back-to-back you’re going to win both games and beat Carolina, you’d take it,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said.
On Tuesday, a couple of Ottawa players broke goal droughts. Chris Tierney was one, getting his first goal in 33 games.
“It’s frustrating when you’re getting chances and they’re not going in,” Tierney said. “It was nice to finally get one.”
The same is true for Brady Tkachuk, who scored for the first time since Dec. 14.
“It’s probably the longest I’ve been without (a goal) in my life,” Tkachuk told TSN.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, came out of the break with a comeback 4-2 win Tuesday at Boston, one of several this season where the Penguins felt they got away with playing a subpar game, or in this case an off first period.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan attributed the comeback to having “a resilient group. … I think we’re just a scrappy group. And I think it starts with our leadership (among the players), just their stick-to-it-iveness.”
That was especially a nod to team captain Sidney Crosby, whose 499th career goal Tuesday stood as the winner.
That sets up the superstar to possibly pick up a major milestone with his 500th goal Thursday in Ottawa — in front of virtually an empty arena because of crowd restrictions due to the pandemic.
Pittsburgh will be without one of its other key players and leaders. Center Evgeni Malkin will miss his second straight game after contracting COVID-19, with symptoms, during the break.
Even if Malkin’s symptoms abate and he tests negative, he still would not be allowed to enter Canada based on border rules related to the pandemic.
The Penguins will be bringing fresh legs to Ottawa. They made it clear leading up to the break that they were batting fatigue because of a heavy schedule, including eight games in 13 days before the break.
They lost the last four of those games (0-1-3).
“The break came at a good time for us,” Pittsburgh defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “Kind of regroup, get away from it a little bit. You know it’s a sprint (to the end of the season) now. Everybody got their rest.”
–Field Level Media