Pittsburgh Penguins Star Sidney Crosby Out With Injury Against Columbus; Matt Murray To Make Second Start
Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan announced that Sidney Crosby would be out with a lower body injury for Monday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Goaltender Matt Murray will make his second start in net.
Yesterday there were vague assurances that the Pittsburgh Penguins would not hold Sidney Crosby out of the lineup for extra rest, yet today he is listed as out by head coach Mike Sullivan.
Coach Sullivan: "Sid is not going to play tonight."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 21, 2015
During that Sunday presser, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jenn Menendez that “I don’t think there’s any temptation. If Sid can play, he’ll play,” said Sullivan. “That’s the type of guy that he is. We’ll make that decision [today]. We’ll see how he is.”
He said something similar today, though he now implies the rest will be good for Sid.
Sullivan on Crosby: "I don't believe it is a long term thing. The hope with the break coming up is that he will have time to recover."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 21, 2015
Now the captain is out as the team squares off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in what was to be something of a revenge game for the brutal cross-check delivered by Brandon Dubinsky on November 27th.
It would be a nice springboard win for the team heading into the holiday break, but now Mike Sullivan is without three of his five biggest stars.
Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury continue to sit with injury.
Matt Murray To Start In Goal
There was some good news this morning. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltending phenom Matt Murray has been tabbed to start by his former (and now current) head coach.
Sullivan: "Matt Murray is going to play tonight... I really liked what I saw from him last game."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 21, 2015
While the first period of Matt Murray‘s initial start with the Pittsburgh Penguins did not go quite as planned, he was very steady and calm in net throughout. For a kid that is just 21 years old, he seemed poised and unfazed by the moment and all of the hype surrounding his sudden call-up to the Penguins.
Mike Sullivan seemed impressed as well. Then again, if anyone knows what to expect of Murray in the Penguins’ organization, it has to be the coach who led the baby Penguins to an 18-5 start before taking over in Pittsburgh.
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Murray stopped 24 of the 26 Carolina Hurricanes shots that he faced and came out of his debut with a .923 save percentage. The numbers look decent, yet he took the loss as the Pens offense continued to be snakebit in front of the net.
More importantly for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Murray stopped all the shots he faced at even strength. The last time backup Jeff Zatkoff was in net, he allowed six goals with four during 5-on-5.