It's a sentence that seemed unimaginable as of about a month or so ago, but such is life for the Anaheim Ducks, who earned just their third win in the last 22 games with this one tonight.
The Ducks were coming off their most frustrating stretch in recent memory, having been outscored 37-8 during that seven-game skid that included a winless six-game road trip that concluded on Saturday. That led to the dismissal of coach Randy Carlyle and the surprising replacement in the interim of Murray, who made his debut behind the bench tonight and earned the victory.
"I thought the emotion was good. I thought the effort was good," Murray said. "We haven't won in a very long time. Everybody was gripping [their sticks] too hard. Overall, I thought it was a really good effort, and our goaltender played very well."
Jakob Silfverberg scored the Ducks' only goal, and Boyle was sensational with parents Diana and John in the stands to watch him make his first start in the NHL. Boyle was nearly speechless and clearly overcome with emotion when asked his thoughts during a postgame interview on live TV soon after the final horn.
"It's something you dream of growing up a little kid playing street hockey," Boyle said. "To be able to come out here and get a win the first game, I can't even describe it. I can honestly say it's exceeded everything I ever dreamt of."
With John Gibson injured, the 26-year-old Boyle was called up four days ago and made his NHL debut in relief against the Flyers in Philadelphia. Prior to his call-up, Boyle was 19-7-1 with a 2.72 goals-against average and .909 save percentage for the San Diego Gulls and was named to the AHL All-Star Game.