Maple Leafs announce status of Matt Murray for Round 2

For the first time in 19 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs following their Round 1 series win over the rival Tampa Bay Lightning. 

While first year Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov wasn't perfect, he was good enough to outduel former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy in the series that saw three overtime wins by Toronto. And while Joseph Woll has been serving as the backup for far in the postseason, the Leafs are working on getting veteran Matt Murray back into playing shape.

Murray is officially back on the Leafs roster, and took part in practice earlier today ahead of tomorrow's Round 2 series opener against the Florida Panthers. But according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, Murray will continue to be behind Woll - at least for now.

“He’s going to be part of our group and today was a good step,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “Murray will continue to be the third goalie until he’s able to back up. As for now, it was good to see him in practice. When the time comes, I suspect he’ll travel with us and take it from there.”

Until he's called upon, Murray is happy to at least be back in the swing of things with his teammates. 

“It felt great to be back out there, and feel the pace of practice again,” said Murray. “Feeling great. Happy to be back.”

“My job is to do whatever is asked of me to put the team in the best chance to be successful,” he continued. “That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

The Maple Leafs will open their Round 2 series starting tomorrow night at Scotiabank Arena against the Panthers, who shocked the hockey world by taking down the Boston Bruins in seven games.