3 Things: Murray an option, stretch run

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from the Pens' Monday afternoon practice at UPMC Lemieux Complex…

1. Murray an option
Pens goaltender Matt Murray (concussion) practiced again for the team on Monday, and the coaching staff believes he could start Tuesday night in New York against the Islanders.
"He will be (an option)," head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed.
Murray has missed the past 9 games after being hit in the mask with a shot in practice. He returned to practice on Saturday and all signs thus far have been positive.
"He had a really strong practice today," Sullivan said. "We'll see how he responds and we'll make decisions accordingly."
2. Stretch run
As of Monday morning the Pens have a mere 10 games remaining on their regular-season schedule. There are 2 main boxes left to be checked on their road to the postseason. The first is qualifying.
Pittsburgh currently has 41 wins and 87 points through 72 games. Locking up a playoff berth is probably a forgone conclusion, but it's still something the team can't take for granted.
The Pens magic number for clinching is 16 points - any combination of Pittsburgh gaining points or the Florida Panthers losing points will chop into that total.
"It's a fun time right now. Every point matters," defenseman Olli Maatta said.
The second order of business for the Pens is trying to win the Metro Division and ensure themselves home-ice through the opening 2 rounds. Pittsburgh trails Washington by 2 points with both teams at 72 games.
"We want to stick with it. We're in a tight race for the Metro and we want to try and win the division, get home-ice for the playoffs," winger Conor Sheary said. "That's our goal right now."
But the Pens' overall goal in the final 10 contests of the season is to fine-tune and hone their game. With that, the club expects everything else to fall into place.
"It's important to be playing the right way, if that's something that puts us in the position to win the division, it's important," captain Sidney Crosby said. "That being said, we want to make sure we're playing the right way and hope that earns us the first spot."
The Pens' want to be in a playoff mindset before the playoffs even begin.
"We have to start playing playoff hockey," Maatta said. "We've been pretty good lately. There are a couple things we can get better at. You can't just turn the switch on when the playoffs start, it has to start now."
And with now, comes a term most players used when discussing their game: consistency.
"Playing for a full 60 minutes, playing games the right way on a consistent basis," forward Bryan Rust said. "We're focused on ourselves and how we play. If we play the way we know we're capable of playing, the rest will take care of itself."
3. Practice details
Forwards Zach Aston-Reese (upper-body), Dominik Simon (lower-body) and Carter Rowney (upper-body) were all absent.
The Pens used the following workflow…
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Sheary-Brassard-Kessel
Jooris-Sheahan-Kuhnhackl
Dumoulin-Letang
Oleksiak-Schultz
Maatta-Ruhwedel
Hunwick-(Recchi)