Murray Shines In Kraken Loss

Kraken goalie Matt Murray was lamenting postgame about how he just had “to make an extra save” for a team that once again settled for a lone point courtesy of a fifth defeat suffered beyond regulation.

But the reality of this particular result as Murray and company gathered themselves following a 2-1 shootout loss Tuesday night to the Columbus Blue Jackets wasn’t about saves made or not made by the Kraken. Things instead swung against the home team when they failed to convert early chances against an exhausted and illness depleted Columbus side, then relied heavily on Murray to keep them in it after the Blue Jackets woke up and poured it on late.

Adam Fantilli tied it for Columbus late in the second period on two-man power play advantage and Murray had to take over from there, twice stopping Blue Jackets players in alone in overtime before Charlie Coyle finally won it in the fifth shootout round.

“I think the 5-on-3 there helped them a lot,” Murray said of Fantilli’s blistering power play slap shot goal the netminder nearly stopped with his glove despite being prone on the ice and out of position after a scramble. “Obviously, that was a turning point. You know, they made a nice play through the seam there and I almost had it. I got a good chunk of it.”

Alas, the only “extra save” Murray needed the entire night in stopping 33 of 34 shots would have been a surefire “Save of the Year” candidate had he pulled it off. Instead, it was the puck that nearly pulled his glove off his hand before bouncing away and trickling over the goal line.

Ryan Winterton had opened the scoring late in the opening frame on a backhanded drop pass to the high slot by Ben Meyers. Winterton immediately snapped a one-timer past Columbus goalie Jet Greaves, who’d played the night before in Edmonton but was making the rare back-to-back start because tandem goalie Elvis Merzlikins was unable to go.

The Blue Jackets had been winless on their five-game road trip entering Tuesday’s finale and illness had rippled through the locker room weakening several players even though most made it into the lineup. Columbus indeed looked as if it was exhausted midway through the contest, but the two-man advantage for 1:06 and Fantilli’s subsequent goal seemed to reinvigorate them.

“When you get the one goal on the 5-on-3 before the first penalty expires and then you’re still cooking on the power play a little bit, that throws off our rhythm and kind of gives them some momentum,” Murray said. “So, that’s what happened a little bit. And then, we took it back. I thought at the start of the third, it was a bit of back and forth in terms of momentum.”

Actually, any Kraken momentum was largely due to Murray taking over as the Blue Jackets outshot the home team 11-5 in the final period and had the better overtime scoring chances. Murray robbed Cole Sillinger in alone on one overtime sequence and then forced Fantilli wide when he got in by himself late in the extra session and wound up hitting the side of the net.

As for the Kraken, their fourth line seemed the team’s biggest offensive threat as AHL callup Meyers enjoyed arguably his best game as an injury replacement. Meyers and Winterton wreaked havoc in the Columbus end throughout and nearly added to their goal totals only to fall short.

“I think we’re just playing simple,” Winterton said of the fourth line trio completed by Tye Kartye. “By now we’ve got a little bit of chemistry together and kind of know where each other are, so we’re just swarming them.”

But Winterton now having scored his team’s only goals of the last two home games wasn’t going to be enough to get Murray a deserved victory for the second straight contest in which he took a 2-1 defeat. Kraken head coach Lane Lambert felt his team came out aggressively enough against a tired opponent but just couldn’t finish the job.

“We’ve got to find a way to score when we have opportunities,” Lambert said. “When we have opportunities, we’ve got to bury them. And that’s just the bottom line.”

The Kraken had alternated Murray and Philipp Grubauer the first two times out in the absence of injured No. 1 starter Joey Daccord. But it was Murray getting the nod from Lambert in this one, courtesy of his strong Sunday outing in Dallas.

“He’s very calm in structure,” Lambert said. “And for him, he uses his size to his advantage. He certainly made some big saves for us tonight.”

And he might have to keep on making them for a while.

The decision to carry Murray along with Daccord and Grubauer raised plenty of eyebrows to start the season. But the move was justified when Daccord went down last week with an undisclosed injury the Kraken have yet to release a projected recovery timeline on.

Murray has played only sparingly at the NHL level the past two years after undergoing a double-hip surgery to alleviate lower body pain he’d played through for a majority of his career. The Kraken took a chance the 31-year-old still had plenty left in his tank, though Murray didn’t get much chance to prove it the opening month in being limited to a lone start in a loss to the Capitals in Washington.

But he played well in that game after a sluggish start and did the same in Dallas on Sunday after looking similarly rusty early on. Given the chance at a second straight outing in this one, he was on from the get-go, keeping the Blue Jackets at-bay until the rash of penalties finally gave them life.

“I was thankful to get in there and get the start, for one,” Murray said. “And I’ve been feeling a little bit better each and every time I’ve been out there. That’s three starts now and I’ve felt better with each and every one. So, it’s trending in the right direction.”