Penguins/NHL
Murray to start vs San Jose
Matt Murray who last played in relief on January 8th, will make his first start tonight vs the San Jose Sharks since the passing of his father.
The top priority for the Penguins coaching staff moving forward is getting Murray back to form.
As Murray has gone through the grieving process, the Penguins 8-3 in January have rode the hot hand of Casey DeSmith recently who is 3-1 with a .944 save percentage in the Penguins last four games.
DeSmith’s emergence has given Pittsburgh the luxury of returning Tristan Jarry to Wilkes Barre and let him handle a starters workload in the minors.
The combo of DeSmith/Jarry as back-up options also takes Pittsburgh out of the mix of having to add a veteran goaltender at the deadline, something that was obviously on the table after the Antti Niemi disaster.
While the coaching staff knows they can turn to DeSmith with much more confidence than they had a couple weeks ago, the next two months for the staff is all about getting Murray back on top of his game and they’re planning a heavy workload for him.
“He’s obviously our No. 1 goalie,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of Murray. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Penguins have been focused on adding a right handed third line center
As explained here about 10 days ago, Pittsburgh’s interest in Mark Letestu has been centered on a belief that the right handed center would fit really well with Phil Kessel and the organization see’s some playmaking similarities to how well Tyler Bozak meshed with Kessel years ago in Toronto.
There’s a similar belief with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Pittsburgh has made offers To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
While the Penguins have had no trade talks with the Wild about Matt Cullen to this point, a source confirms, the Cullen possibility will always be out there if the Wild fall out of the playoff race, as Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette mentioned in his weekly 20 Thoughts Segment.
LINEUP BUZZ
— Matt Murray is in goal tonight and no other changes as Ryan Reaves will be scratched for the third straight game. It looks like Ian Cole will dress for the second straight game. Matt Hunwick has been skating the last two days but Sullivan continues to indicate Hunwick is still day-to-day. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
