Murray gets the nod against the Canadiens for the season opener and his stats against the Habs are actually insane
The Maple Leafs season kicks off tomorrow and, as confirmed by head coach Sheldon Keefe, Matt Murray is expected to start against the Montreal Canadiens, while Ilya Samsonov gets the start on Thursday against his former club, the Washington Capitals.
Murray gave Leafs fans something to be excited about during the preseason as he played in three games, going 3-0-0 stopping 64/66 shots and putting up an excellent .970 save percentage. Not bad for a guy who everyone came into training camp concerned about after he struggled to put up a .906 last season in Ottawa.
Heading into tomorrow's game, Leafs Nation can relax a little more, as history has shown that when Murray plays the Canadiens, he seems to be at the top of his game. In 11 games against Montreal, Murray has a record of 8-3 with a .931 save percentage. If I'm a betting man, I'll take the odds on Murray coming away with yet another win against what should be viewed as an inferior Habs team.
The hope for everyone is for Murray to have a bounce-back season. He hasn't been the same goalie that he was when he won two Cups with the Pens. However, with a better team in front of him than he's had in recent years, I think Murray will have no problem finding his game with perhaps the strongest Leafs team we've seen in the salary cap era.
| POLL | ||
11 OCTOBRE | 262 ANSWERS Murray gets the nod against the Canadiens for the season opener and his stats against the Habs are actually insane What do you think Matt Murray's season-long save percentage will be? | ||
| .900-.910 | 67 | 25.6 % |
| .911-.920 | 138 | 52.7 % |
| .921-.930 | 40 | 15.3 % |
| Better than .930 (Vezina Trophy winner!) | 17 | 6.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
