Pittsburgh Penguins: Are Two Goalies Better than One?

Hockey fans are notorious for overreacting, and us Pittsburgh Penguins fans are no exception. Has Matt Murray’s honeymoon period run its course?

Well, it’s probably time to address the elephant in the room.

I hate the words “goalie controversy” more than almost any other phrase, and I don’t think the Pittsburgh Penguins have quite reached a true controversy yet. Thank goodness. However, there have definitely been some rumblings about a goalie shakeup.

To be fair, each side has its merits. Matt Murray has more than earned his current role as starter, helping the Penguins wrap up their strong season and leading them through the playoffs so far. He’s incredibly talented and has been better than anyone had hoped.

Coach Mike Sullivan believes in him partially because of that natural skill and partially because of his mental composure. He continues to start the young goaltender because of that resolve and determination to always be better.

Back during my days as a goalie, my coach would always tell me to have a memory like a fish – you can’t think about the goals you’ve already let in, because they’re behind you (literally and figuratively). You just need to look forward to the shots still coming at you and focus on stopping those.

Granted, I was a lacrosse goalie and by the nature of the sport we usually let in more goals than hockey ‘tendies do. But us goalies are a weird breed, regardless of whether we play on ice or on a field. That “memory like a fish” mentality is sometimes very difficult to maintain, especially at a young age when you don’t have much experience and sometimes feel like everything’s going past you.

There were some junior varsity high school games where I let in a bad goal and got thrown off for the remainder of the game. I can’t even imagine how a rookie leading his team through the Stanley Cup playoffs feels.

That’s what makes Murray unique, and that’s why keeping him in as starter makes sense. He’s definitely let in a few soft goals, and this round’s been more difficult for him than earlier ones. But what else would you expect? We’re in the Eastern Conference Final against a dominant Tampa Bay team.

On the other hand, we’ve got Marc-Andre Fleury on the bench – something that if you’d have told me would be happening early on in the season I wouldn’t have believed for a split second. I’m incredibly thankful for how much of a good sport he’s been with this entire situation, because the entire team could – and would – have been thrown off if there was obvious anger in the room.