When Penguins coach Mike Sullivan explained why he was going back to Matt Murray for Tuesday's Game 6, a question was left unanswered — why play Marc-Andre Fleury in the first place?
Sullivan speaks glowingly of Murray (as he should), and he implied that Fleury proved during Pittsburgh's loss that he wasn't in true playoff game shape. Fair enough. So, why did he make the switch at all?
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It's simple enough, Sullivan seemed to say on Wednesday, after his team tied the series 3-3 and forced a Game 7 at Consol Energy Center. Murray needed a rest, and they felt like that outweighed the risk of starting Fleury for the first time since March 31.
"Matt played a lot of hockey," Sullivan said. "He played a lot of games. This is a battle you're playing every other night. If it was the regular season, we probably wouldn't play our starting goalie that many games in a row. As a young goaltender, sometimes that's a tough load to carry."
Makes sense; between April 19 and May 20, Murray started 13 games. If ever there were a time to try to give him a blow and see what Fleury had to offer, it was probably in Game 5. Murray was certainly sharper in Game 6 than he'd been in Games 1-4. The issue was that Fleury, presumably, was less ready than anticipated.
That's something you can only know from in-game action, and Sullivan deemed it an appropriate risk to take.
"(We) felt as though it was the right time for Marc, to give him an opportunity to get back in the game and try to win us a hockey game, and we were going to take it game by game," Sullivan said. "And we explained that to Matt, and we explained that to Marc. So our communication lines are very open with these guys. They understand where they're at. They also understand that they're both critically important to helping us win, and we value what they bring to this team."
Murray brought value on Tuesday night. A day before his 22nd birthday, he made 28 saves and 17 in the third period of Pittsburgh's 5-2 win. His only obvious mistake — giving up the net on a first-period play that led to Jonathan Drouin cleanly beating him — came off the board because Drouin was offside.
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Other than that, Murray was boring and efficient. That's a good thing; Sullivan said he couldn't remember seeing such focus from a young goalie.
"He has a maturity beyond his years. He has a calming influence. He has — for a young player, he has an ability to stay in the moment, not allow any of the adversities or the challenges that the game presents to affect his mindset," Sullivan said.
"If one goes in that he thinks he should have had, he just refocuses and he plays. It's a real important attribute to have, I think, as an athlete, but probably most importantly as a goaltender. And he has it at such a young age."