Can You Put a Goalie Back in After Pulling Him
SNAPSHOTS: Senators goalie Matt Murray gets the night off in Edmonton
"It's maintenance day for Matt to get out there, get work, get ready and to have him feeling good going forward," coach D.J. Smith said.
D.J. Smith decided to scrap his practice of making people wait until the goaltender comes down the tunnel to name his starter Tuesday night at Rogers Place.
Yes, it was a little bit of a surprise to see backup Marcus Hogberg in the Ottawa Senators' net.
As the Senators tried to end an eight-game winless skid in the finale of this two-game series against the Edmonton Oilers, Matt Murray, the club's top netminder, spent extra time on the ice following the optional skate, doing work with goalie coach Pierre Groulx.
Acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins and signed to a four-year, $25-million deal in October, the 27-year-old Murray has a whopping 4.82 goals-against average and a lousy .849 save-percentage that is the NHL's second-worst. It's only eclipsed by Hogberg's .845-save percentage.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins, Murray had a long chat with Smith on Monday afternoon. He was yanked Sunday after giving up three goals on nine shots.
"It's maintenance day for Matt to get out there, get work, get ready and to have him feeling good going forward," Smith said Tuesday afternoon. "This is a lot of games in a short amount of time and my job is to put guys in the best spots to succeed.
"Right now this is a good work day for him. (Murray) felt good (Monday), he was good. And we've got to put him in a spot where we can play good in front of them. We think (Tuesday was) a good day to get some work, get some rest and be ready for the next one."
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People are pointing to all kinds of issues with the Senators, but the biggest one is in net. Unless that changes consistently, the Senators' fortunes likely won't, either.
The Senators had a practice Monday and an optional skate Tuesday, but they're flying from Edmonton to Montreal on Wednesday, so they won't be on the ice at all. Murray will have a morning skate Thursday to get ready for facing the Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Thursday night.
That was why getting some work done Tuesday was paramount. As Smith noted, Murray is here to be a long-term solution and that's why his game to improve.
Smith said he "had a good talk with him (Tuesday)" and he wanted to make sure that Murray knew he was brought in to be part of building long-term success. Smith told Murray that meant the Senators would bringing more young players into the lineup as the season goes on.
"I've never changed from when I got here, that we want this team to be set up so it can be good for 10 years," Smith said. "Slowly, we're integrating more and more young guys. And (Murray's) going to be the goalie when this team is the team that we know it can be, he's going to be the guy holding them every day.
"You have to manage his load and you can't just expect him to go in there and steal every single game and put all the pressure on him. He's a guy that we have to work to develop through our group as well."
CHABOT MAKES HIS RETURN
Thomas Chabot was on the ice for the optional skate Tuesday, and then made a surprising return to the Ottawa roster Tuesday night.
He crashed into the net during the Senators' game in Vancouver last Thursday. It was thought that he needed a little more time to rest his unspecified injury. He wasn't expected to return until the club arrived in Montreal to face the Habs.
Getting Chabot back was big for the Senators because Smith certainly didn't feel that was a possibility when he spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon in Edmonton.
"He's day to day. He skated again (Tuesday)," Smith said. "He's our best puck mover, power-play guy and all of the above."
Defenceman Christian Wolanin missed his third game in a row with his own unspecified injury.
"We expect he'll skate, hopefully, in Montreal," Smith said. "He's a guy we miss back there big time just from a puck movement (standpoint). I thought he was really starting to come into his own in this league for a guy that missed a year with injury."
THE LAST WORDS
Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse was part of a rebuilding team with the Oilers and knows the difficulty the Senators are going through right now. The Oilers had a lot of lean years and Nurse knows how hard it is on Ottawa players to have such a difficult start to the season.
"As a player, you don't think of it that way at all," Nurse said. "Any player who plays in this league, every single time you put on your jersey and go out there on the ice, you want to win.
"When that puck drops, there is no thinking of rebuild or anything like that. When the puck drops, what you want to do is win. That's why guys are in this position and playing in this league, because they're competitors. All they care about is winning.
"Are they rebuilding? Yeah, but you could go through that whole room and ask them: When that puck drops, do they care about rebuild or not? That's not where their mind is. Their mind is on winning the game and that's all that matters."
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/sungarrioch
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Can You Put a Goalie Back in After Pulling Him
Source: https://ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/ottawa-senators/snapshots-senators-goalie-matt-murray-gets-the-night-off-in-edmonton
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