Penguins name their starting goaltender for Game 2.

Sullivan makes another tough call.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Penguins name their starting goaltender for Game 2.
Dom Gagne/CSM/Zuma

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has the luxury of having two goaltenders to choose from in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that luxury also effectively forces him into making a very tough choice ahead of every playoff game. 

For Game 1 Sullivan went with his proven commodity in Matt Murray and the reaction to that news was definitely mixed. There were many who were downright outraged at the decision on the part of Sullivan but I do think as Game 1 wore on, even the most diehard of Matt Murray haters realized that Sullivan had made a pretty solid choice against the Habs. Although the Penguins suffered an extremely disappointing loss, losing to what in theory should be the weakest team in the tournament, you would be hard pressed to argue that Murray was the problem in that game. The veteran Penguins netminder and multiple time Stanley Cup Champion looked solid, recording a 2.43 goals against average and a .919 save percentage over the game and even forcing an overtime frame with some solid goaltending. 

It is for that reason that today's decision from Sullivan will no doubt be met with considerably less controversy in spite of the fact that Tristan Jarry will once again be sitting on the bench for this one. According to an official announcement from the Penguins it will once again be Matt Murray who gets the start against the Habs this evening, although no doubt the team will be hoping for a different result this time around. 

Less controversial does not mean that there will be no controversy however, and as you can see below the Murray haters were once again out in force criticizing this decision from the Pens:

I can't lie, this one of former Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau saying "darn" when that is clearly not the word he is using made me laugh.

This time around however there have been considerably more fans showing support for Murray, no doubt as a result that he earned himself some loyalty after a strong performance in Game 1 against the Habs.

On the other side of the ice will be Carey Price however and the Penguins offense will need to do a better job of putting the puck behind him if Murray and the Penguins are to pull out a win this time. 

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