Regeln » That will continue Monday as defenseman Matt Niskanen

PITTSBURGH (AP) Matt Murray doesn’t keep track of the numbers Adidas Cam Ward Jersey , which makes it easier for the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender to not get caught up in them.His goals-against average? No clue. Save percentage? Nope. Pittsburgh’s record during an occasionally uneven regular season for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions? Give Murray a phone and he’ll probably be able to look it up but otherwise he’s just guessing.”For a goalie, it’s not based on how many goals you let in or how many goals get past you or don’t or how many saves you make,” Murray said. ”It’s not about that. It’s about how you feel.”And despite a physically and personally draining six months that included multiple extended absences because of injuries and the loss of his father Jim in January, the 23-year-old insists he’ll be ready when the Penguins open the first round of the playoffs against Philadelphia on Wednesday night.”I still pinch myself every day I get to be a part of something like this,” Murray said. ”It’s so exciting. It’s like Christmas.”Even if Murray’s first full season as Pittsburgh’s firmly established No. 1 goalie hardly felt like a holiday at times. He missed two weeks in November with a lower-body injury.A concussion suffered after taking a shot off the mask in practice in February cost him another three weeks. He took a leave to be with his family following his father’s death, but returned eager to get back to the rink that he’s long considered a sanctuary.Murray ended up starting just 45 games and appearing in only 49, the fewest by the Penguins’ top goaltender in a decade. His goals-against average ticked up (2.92) and his save percentage ticked down (.907), both the worst marks of his brief three-year career.Yet the numbers don’t take into account the occasionally iffy play in front of him, particularly a penalty kill that finished a middling 17th in the NHL.Yet it’s not the missed backcheck or the inability to get a clear that people notice. It’s when the puck goes in the net.It’s also, however Adidas Matt Calvert Jersey , why Murray declines to get caught up in his stats. Feel free to point them out. Just don’t be offended when he deletes them immediately. The only shot that matters isn’t the last one, but the next one.”Every single play, every single shift, every single time somebody touches the puck, everything resets,” he said. ”What happened before doesn’t matter unless you allow it to.”Something Murray rarely does, part of his preternatural maturity that led the Penguins to make the difficult but necessary decision to leave Marc-Andre Fleury – the winningest goaltender in franchise history and a wildly popular figure both in the dressing room and the city – exposed to Vegas last summer in the expansion draft.Fleury and Murray took a potentially volatile situation in the spring of 2016 and turned it into part of the foundation that helped the Penguins become the first team in nearly 20 years to win back-to-back Cups.Sending Fleury to the Golden Knights meant Murray entered this season without the specter of Fleury waiting in the wings should he falter. At times over the winter Murray flip-flopped between dazzling and dull, kind of like his team.Yet Murray just shrugged his shoulders when asked if he’s worried about his play or staying healthy. He has no control over the latter – there are no guarantees when you make a living willfully putting yourself in front of a piece of rubber hurtling at you at various speeds from various angles – and he’s not concerned about the former.Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has long placed value on Murray’s ability to not get overwhelmed by the stakes.There’s a reason Sullivan turned to Murray at every opportunity in the 2016 playoffs – when the then-21-year-old took over after Fleury was diagnosed with a concussion on the eve of the postseason – and again last spring even though Fleury played brilliantly at times while filling in after Murray sustained a lower-body injury during warmups before Game 1 of Pittsburgh’s first-round series against Columbus.Murray returned and after a wobble in the middle of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final against Nashville, held the Predators scoreless in Games 5 and 6 . In the giddy aftermath, Fleury passed the Cup to Murray Adidas Conor Timmins Jersey , in many ways a literal passing of the torch from one generation to the next.There will be no debating this time around for the Penguins as they chase history. While Casey DeSmith picked up his first career shutout in the regular-season finale against Ottawa last Friday, Pittsburgh’s attempt to become the first team since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s to capture three consecutive Cups will depend largely on Murray.And for all his downplaying of the numbers, Murray is well aware of what having his name on the Cup for a third time in as many years would mean to both himself and the rest of Pittsburgh’s superstar-laden roster.”We know what’s in front of us,” Murray said. ”We know the opportunity is there for the taking. We’re here and now everything resets. For sure obviously we know what’s at stake.”— WASHINGTON — Two teams heading in opposite directions collide when the Nashville Predators face the Washington Capitals in a New Year’s Eve matinee Monday.The Predators are mired in a six-game skid after blowing a third-period lead in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers on Saturday. On top of that, Nashville has struggled away from home, dropping 10 straight road contests heading into Monday’s game — the start of a stretch of seven of eight games on the road.“We find ourselves losing a bunch in a row, and at times, that’s going to happen throughout the year,” Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis told the team’s website. “We’re going to have ups and downs; the injury bug or whatever it is. But, we’re not here to make excuses. We’re going to prepare the same way and work hard. We know it will turn eventually Adidas Ian Cole Jersey , and when it does, we’ll come out a better team because of it.”Article continues below ...The Predators have not been able to light the lamp during their skid, with only 10 goals during the slide. Viktor Arvidsson has returned from injury, but Filip Forsberg remains out and Kyle Turris is day-to-day with a lower-body issue, hampering Nashville’s offensive attack.Those offensive woes counteract the fact that the Predators have allowed the second-fewest goals in the league.“We can’t lose six in a row, not in this league and not in this division, not with the parity there is,” Nashville defenseman Nick Bonino said. “We’ve just got to get better.”On the other hand, the Capitals are playing as well as any team in the NHL, and are doing it with contributions from everyone. Washington won its fourth straight Saturday Adidas Philipp Grubauer Jersey , upending Ottawa 3-2 thanks to the first career goals from Madison Bowey and Tyler Lewington, and solid netminding from Pheonix Copley, not exactly household names.“It goes into the development process and just drafting the right type of players,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden told the team’s website, “and developing them in Hershey and then continuing to develop them here. It’s really an organizational job and a great job by our entire group.”Washington has won 16 of 19 to re-establish itself as a contender in a crowded Eastern Conference and done so while rarely using its true starting lineup. That will continue Monday as defenseman Matt Niskanen will miss a second straight game after a crash into the boards against Carolina. Fellow defenseman Brooks Orpik will be a game-time decision, after missing 27 games with a knee injury.Braden Holtby likely will get the start in net for the Capitals, though Copley certainly has held his own. The rookie goalie is 9-1-0 with a 2.37 GAA and a .921 save percentage in his last 11 starts, giving Washington confidence no matter who is between the pipes.“We’re extremely lucky to have two guys in this room who give us a chance to win,” forward Tom Wilson told reporters. “We have a pretty good team holding the fort down for us back there.”