Murray 'empty' after Penguins eliminated by Capitals

PITTSBURGH -- Matt Murray sat at his locker, still in his pads, staring across the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room on Monday.
As his teammates filtered out, several stopped to give the 23-year-old goaltender a tap on the shoulder or a fist bump. He had just allowed a goal to forward Evgeny Kuznetsov at 5:27 of overtime in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round that sent the Washington Capitals to the conference final and the Penguins to the offseason.

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Murray, who won the Stanley Cup twice as a rookie the previous two seasons, temporarily left the room. He returned, again still in his pads, to describe how he felt.
"Just empty, I guess, would be a good word," Murray said. "We battled right to the end, though. We left it all on the ice. That's all we can do. But it's tough, obviously."
Murray had never lost a Stanley Cup Playoff series in his three NHL seasons. He was 22-9 in his first two postseasons before going 6-6 this time.
Battling is what Murray did, particularly in Game 6. After allowing four goals on 30 shots in a 6-3 Game 5 loss on Saturday, he rebounded with 28 saves on 30 shots two days later.

The mental toughness that has come to define Murray was displayed Monday. He could've folded after allowing a goal to forward Alex Chiasson at 2:13 of the second period, which snuck between him and the right post to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.
Instead, Murray stood tall while the Penguins struggled to find any zone time. Kris Letang eventually scored a tying goal at 11:52, but Pittsburgh again failed to get much going offensively the following period.
Murray made two saves 26 seconds apart that kept it 1-1 midway through the third.
After Jay Beagle passed from behind the net to Chiasson out front, Murray pushed out from deep in his crease to stop a wrist shot at 11:28. He denied another wrist shot, this time from Beagle in the left circle, at 11:54.
"He made some big saves," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "He gave us a chance to win. That's all you can ask."
But Murray wasn't finished. He made maybe his best save of the game at 4:25 of overtime, when John Carlson took a wrist shot from the slot.
Just 1:02 later, the Penguins season ended.
It was difficult for Murray to digest.
"Always. Always," Murray said. "This group is so resilient and so all about the next one and moving forward. We showed that right until the very end. Nothing but pride in here."

The feeling was mutual.
"He's huge," defenseman Justin Schultz said. "All season long he made huge saves for us. He kept us in some games, and again tonight he made big saves for us to keep us in it."
The journey to these playoffs wasn't easy for Murray, who was 27-16-3 with a 2.92 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 49 games during an injury-plagued regular season. Last season, he was 32-10-4 with a 2.41 goals-against average and .923 save percentage in 49 games.
The toughest moment came when his father, James, died Jan. 16. He missed five games before returning Jan. 30, when he made 40 saves in a 5-2 win against the San Jose Sharks.
"He's a competitor. What can I say about him?" Sullivan said. "He's a competitor. He's been through a lot of adversity this year himself. He's just a real good person that loves this team, and he battles. I think it's the highest compliment you can give a player. I think Matt's one of those guys.
"He's another one of our guys that hasn't really tasted defeat in a long time. Hopefully, I know, we'll all learn from it. We'll all become better people and players as a result."
Maybe Murray will become better for it. For now, he again could only frame his emotions in one way.
"It's an empty feeling," Murray said. "That's the best way I can describe it, to be honest."