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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — It’s hard to believe Matt Murray needed to redeem himself during Saturday’s matchup against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Murray won the last two AHL Goaltender of the Month awards and has numbers worthy of an MVP season.
However, one of his few hiccups came in his last start on March 28, in which the Phantoms scored three times on 20 shots in a Penguins loss.
In the rematch, Murray more than redeemed himself, stopping all 21 shots he faced while Scott Wilson scored twice to lead the Penguins to a 3-0 win.
“I was pretty bad last time. I definitely could’ve been better,” Murray said. “Even tonight I felt like I was fighting it a bit. But our team was playing so solid that I didn’t really have to do much.”
It was a record-setting victory for the Penguins, who now have 40 wins to give them their 10th consecutive 40-win season, tying an AHL record. Murray notched his 11th shutout, which moves him into second place all-time for most shutouts in a season.
It was also a crucial win for the Penguins, who could have been passed by Providence for fourth place in the Eastern Conference had they lost. But as it stands now, the Penguins gained a two-point cushion for the fourth seed over the Bruins.
On Saturday, the Penguins got off to a hot start for the second straight night. Unlike Friday when they trailed 1-0 after the opening frame, this time they made it count.
Wilson got his first of the night when Andrew Ebbett passed out in front and hit him in the slot for an easy wrister to make it 1-0 at the midway point of the first period.
Several shifts later, the first line struck again when Wilson and Kostopoulos teamed up. Kostopoulos carried the puck into the Phantoms zone with two defensemen in front. Wilson raced uncovered into the slot and Kostopoulos feathered a nice lead pass right on his blade. Wilson’s quick shot beat Phantoms goaltender Rob Zepp to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.
“It’s always nice,” Penguins coach John Hynes of the lead. “When we get up by two and get rewarded for the hard work it brought some energy to our team.”
Murray, who was making his first start this month after backing up Jeff Zatkoff for the last two games, resumed the stellar play that earned him goaltender of the month honors twice.
In the second period he stopped Blair Jones on a breakaway and he made several key saves during a penalty kill to keep the Phantoms off the board.
“I saw it developing. I saw him kind of sneak off the bench and I was able to get out far enough,” Murray said. “He just kind of buried it in my pads.”
Brian Dumoulin put an exclamation point on the win when he slammed home a pass from Tom Kuhnhackl to make it 3-0 with nine minutes left in the game.
The win not only served as redemption for Murray, but for the entire Penguins team who struggled with inconsistency in a 4-2 loss to Worcester the night before.
“Dominant would be a good word to describe how we played tonight,” Murray said. “When playoffs come around you don’t have time to sit back and think about what you have to do better. Have a couple of bad games in a row and you’re done.
“If we play the way we did tonight, we’re going to be in good shape.”
NOTES
• D Harrison Ruopp (injury), D Reid McNeill (injury), C Nick Drazenovic (injury), C Carter Rowney (injury), LW Anton Zlobin (injury), C Adam Payerl, D Barry Goers (injury), RW Kasperi Kapanen and LW Conor Sheary (injury) were scratched for the Penguins.
• Hynes on the organization’s 10th 40-win season: “A lot of it is the type of players we get and the culture and tradition that’s in Wilkes-Barre. It’s a tribute to the players. The coaches have come and gone, but the recipe of how the teams are built speaks volumes about the players that have come through Wilkes-Barre.”
• Hynes said Kapanen skated with the team Saturday morning and will play in one of the next three games.