Murray Looking Forward to What Lies Ahead

The other day, Tristan Jarry shared his unique and unorthodox method for staying sharp during the NHL pause. He recruited his two English Mastiffs, Diesel and Kitty, to play street hockey with him in order to work on his puckhandling skills.

Jarry's fellow Penguins goaltender Matt Murray did not do the same with his two Newfoundlands, Beckham and Leo. Instead, he stuck to a more traditional workout regimen at his home in Muskoka, Ontario, which has a full gym setup there.

"I was able to keep (my training) similar to a summer routine apart from having the ice, obviously," Murray said. "Just stuck to my game plan and started working with a new trainer who gave me a program to do, and I had all the gear and resources to do it. I feel very fortunate about that.

"For me, it was just kind of trying to treat it a little bit like summertime, but still staying mentally engaged and realizing we could be coming back to play at any time. That was my approach to it."

Plus, Beckham has been busy with other things - lounging, snoozing, eating, playing and, most importantly, showing Leo how to be a big brother, as Matt and his wife Christina recently announced that they are expecting their first child, a baby girl, in January 2021.

"I'm just thrilled about it," said Murray while smiling ear-to-ear. "I'm super excited. It just makes me super happy thinking about it. That's literally all I can say, is that I'm giddy and I'm excited and it's something we've been waiting for for a while, so I'm super happy about it."

Instagram from @matt30murray: My heart 💗💗💗

The 26-year-old netminder is also super happy to be back playing hockey, and has adopted the approach of keeping an open mind and looking at what lies ahead as a fun experience and opportunity.

"This is new for all of us and something that we've never experienced," Murray said. "I think it'll be cool. It'll be interesting. It'll be different and that's a good thing."

And speaking of different, this certainly isn't a typical training camp in the sense that Murray went months without the ability to face shots, and is now being forced to get up to speed as quick as possible when it comes to regaining his timing and getting back into game shape. Because of that, Murray said he went into this week without any expectations and is just hoping to improve with each practice and game leading up to Pittsburgh's series against Montreal.

"You can't really focus on the results," he said. "You have to focus on the process. That's especially important right now, being patient with yourself but at the same time, trying to get on top of things as quick as you can. Because just a much shorter ramp-up period. It's a unique situation, and just got to do the best you can every day to try and get a little bit better and get prepared for Game 1 when the puck drops."