Albany spoils Murray’s night
WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Matt Murray was treated pretty well before Friday’s game against the Albany Devils.
Murray was presented with three team awards – including the Penguins’ MVP, and the rookie and goaltender of the year awards from the AHL.
But after he put all the hardware away for the night, Murray was treated pretty poorly by the Devils.
Albany had a lot on the line Friday as they entered the contest just three points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference. They were a desperate team, and in the end they did what few could do lately as they scored four times on 26 shots against Murray to beat the Penguins 4-0. The last time Murray gave up more than three goals was Dec. 27, and the Penguins hadn’t been shutout since a 4-0 loss to Worcester on Jan. 17.
The Penguins had a chance to take the East Division entering the weekend, but a Hershey win allowed the Bears to clinch. The Penguins hold a one-point lead over Syracuse for fourth place in the conference.
Still, head coach John Hynes said his only focus was on how his team played, and on Friday it wasn’t good enough.
“We didn’t play well enough to win a game. If we played well enough we would’ve given ourselves a chance to win the division. We didn’t do that,” Hynes said. “Our focus now has to be on being a better hockey team.”
The Devils’ desperation was apparent right from the start. After a classic heavyweight bout between Albany’s Cam Janssen and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond got both benches going, the Devils struck first when Stefan Matteau beat Murray in close with five minutes left in the opening period.
Less than three minutes later, Albany stole a loose puck in the Penguins’ end and Joe Whitney roofed a wrist shot over Murray to make it 2-0.
The Penguins didn’t recover even though Hynes said their start was a good one.
“Early in the first period we played well, had numerous scoring chances and had energy,” Hynes said. “When we hit a little bit of adversity and some goals went in the back of the net, I thought there was a little bit of a lull there and we never got out of that.”
The lead stuck for two periods while referee Garrett Rank didn’t call any penalties, allowing both teams to play.
Albany extended its lead in the third period when Brandon Burlon sent a shot in from the point that made it through a screen and past Murray.
Two minutes later, the Devils made it 4-0 when Darcy Zajac deflected a shot past Murray to give Albany two goals in the first five minutes of the third period.
“We had some push-back after going down two goals early, but that third goal kind of took the wind out of our sails,” Carter Rowney said. “We didn’t stick to our game plan and that’s where they took advantage.”
That was enough to force Hynes to call a timeout to regroup.
When the first minor penalty of the game was called – interference on Leblond at 9:04 of the third period, the Penguins generated their best scoring chances while on the penalty kill.
Andrew Ebbett sent a shot in from the low slot at an empty net that was stopped by the skate of Albany defenseman Reece Scarlett, and soon after Josh Archibald’s shot during a breakaway sailed wide of the net.
“To me the big thing out of tonight was we had some things we wanted to do as a team to win. We didn’t do those well enough and they scored goals on them,” Hynes said. “At key points in the game it’s the decisions that make a difference and we made some poor decisions and it cost us.”
– Before the game the Penguins handed out the following team awards:
Media – Bryan Rust
Community Service – Barry Goers
Herb Brooks Memorial Award – Dominik Uher
Most Valuable Defenseman – Brian Dumoulin
Most Improved Player – Tom Kuhnhackl
Fan Favorite – Bobby Farnham
Rookie of the Year – Matt Murray
Star of the Year – Matt Murray
MVP – Matt Murray
