The goalie was assigned to Belleville on Nov. 28, one day after the Senators placed him on waivers. The 27-year-old is in the second season of a four-year, $25 million contract ($6.25 million average annual value) he signed Oct. 9, 2020, two days after he was acquired in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Murray is 0-5-0 with a 3.26 goals-against average and .890 save percentage in six NHL games this season. He played two games for Belleville and was 1-1-0 with a 2.55 GAA and .918 save percentage.
Asked if he felt going to the AHL was a reset, Murray said, "Yeah, I guess so. Honestly, I wasn't looking at it as a reset, looking at it as keep going, try to keep building off positives and try to keep hardening up my game. That's what I feel like I did. Bit choppy with all the COVID stuff going on, but that's out of everybody's hands. So tried to make the most out of it."
Murray said Tuesday was the first time in 10 days he had been on skates.
"I had to do a 10-day quarantine," he said. "Even though I was healthy and already recovered from COVID a couple of months ago now.
"I have a gym at home so I was able to stay in pretty good shape. But hard to emulate a practice or a game, especially as a goalie. It's such a different kind of conditioning. Felt it today, for sure. ... So take advantage of this practice time and really get back into it."
Murray is 127-71-20 with a 2.76 GAA, .911 save percentage and 13 shutouts in 232 regular-season NHL games (224 starts) with the Penguins and Senators. He's 29-21 with a 2.18 GAA, .921 save percentage and six shutouts in 51 Stanley Cup Playoff games (50 starts), and won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.
He said he tried to stay positive about going to the AHL.
"We all have a common goal here and that's to win hockey games," Murray said. "At the end of the day my job is to try to keep the puck out of the net. I don't have much control about other stuff. They tell me I'm going to Belleville, I'm going to Belleville. I tried to take it in stride and think about what I wanted to get out of it. Working with 'Petey' Belleville goaltending coach Justin Peters] is awesome. I know I already said that, but I can't say enough good things about Petey. That made it a real positive for me."
Ottawa general manger Pierre Dorion said he is hopeful the AHL experience will benefit Murray and the Senators.
"We sent him down to Belleville so he could get playing and practice time and not have the spotlight of the NHL on him as he finds his game," Dorion said. "D.J. [Smith] is the coach and he'll decide when he plays. I think he'll be one of two goalies available to us when we start playing again and I'll leave it up to him. But we have a lot of faith that Matt can bounce back and win us some games and be the goalie we all expect him to be."
Murray was in COVID-19 protocol from Nov. 11-20 and was out with an upper-body injury from Oct. 23-Nov. 1.
The other goalies on the Senators roster, Anton Forsberg and
[Filip Gustavsson
, are in COVID-19 protocol.
Ottawa (9-17-2) next is scheduled to play the Penguins at home Friday. The Senators have not played since a 4-3 overtime loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 18; their next five games were postponed because of COVID-19 concerns, including at the Washington Capitals on Monday and at home against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
