Murray, Penguins back on track in Game 4 win against Capitals

PITTSBURGH -- Matt Murray usually doesn't need anyone to tell him if he's had an off night because the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender is his most honest critic.
Murray also doesn't need to do much to reset mentally after a bad game. He said his approach is simply to just stop the next shot.

That's what he did Thursday, stopping 20 shots in a 3-1 victory against the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at PPG Paints Arena.
Murray's rebound performance following a shaky outing in a 4-3 loss in Game 3 on Tuesday, and the Penguins' commitment to team defense helped them even the best-of-7 series at 2-2. Game 5 is at Washington on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS).
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Murray was more interested in talking about how his teammates played in front of him, limiting the Capitals to three shots on goal in the third period and holding Alex Ovechkin without a shot on goal.
"It was a huge difference in the game, I think," Murray said. "We had a lot of blocked shots (13). … Just sacrificing our bodies and blocking shots, that's huge."

The Penguins realized how important this game was, and their dedication to defending was one of the ways they demonstrated that. Losing three of the first four games to the Capitals might have been too much to overcome, and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions responded with their most complete effort of the series.
After Evgeni Malkin's diving power-play goal with 2:29 left in the second period -- which required video review to confirm the puck crossed the goal line -- gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead, they shut the Capitals down in third, holding them without a shot on goal for the final 9:11.
Jake Guentzel sealed it for Pittsburgh by scoring into an empty net with 58 seconds remaining in the third period for his second goal of the game and a 3-1 lead.
"The third period, we understand it's a huge game for us," Malkin said. "If we lost, it's 3-1 and it's so far [to come back]. The third period, I think we played smart. We have a couple chances 2-on-1, but it's the way we focused in the D-zone. We blocked shots. [Patric Hornqvist] and [Jake Guentzel], they blocked huge shots."

Murray did his share, too. He was hard on himself after giving up four goals on 22 shots in Game 3, including a tough tying goal on a Matt Niskanen left-point shot that went in off his glove 5:06 into the third period to make it 3-3.
But there's a reason why he's 11-2 in his NHL career following losses in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's easy to forget that Murray is 23 years old because he's been doing this for three seasons in the playoffs now.
"He's a real mature kid," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "Matt has great perspective. He self-assesses really well. He knows when he thinks he can be better. He tends to respond the right way in those situations, but he's a real mature kid in that regard."
Although the Capitals didn't have a lot of great chances, it wasn't an easy night for Murray. He was stung by a Dmitry Orlov slap shot that struck him near the right collarbone 36 seconds into the second period.
Murray dropped to the ice and needed some time to shake it off, but remained in the game and made 10 saves in the period.
"It was just a stinger," Murray said. "It just took a minute. Your arm kind of goes dead for a minute so you just try to take a couple minutes and it felt really good after that."
Murray's best sequence came after the Capitals went on the power play following Guentzel's slashing penalty with 5:43 remaining in the second period. T.J. Oshie's power-play goal with 7:05 left in the second had pulled the Capitals even at 1-1, and they came close to getting another goal on this power play.

Oshie set up defenseman John Carlson for a backdoor play at the right post, but Murray slid across to make the save with his left shoulder with 5:35 left. Murray made three more saves during the power play, including one with the back of his leg when Evgeny Kuznetsov tried to bank the puck in off him from below the goal line to the right of the net with 4:48 left.
"He's really strong mentally and, obviously, he's played in a lot of big games," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "I thought he's been great all series. I'm sure he's got high expectations of himself, but we always have confidence in him. He had another great game tonight."
Washington's power play ended with Oshie taking an interference penalty on defenseman Brian Dumoulin with 3:50 left. Malkin scored the winning goal on the resulting Pittsburgh power play.
"We played [like a] Game 7 tonight, for sure," Malkin said. "It was unbelievable for everyone."