For the most part, Matt Murray (11-6-1) has been really good. He has
played a ton of hockey during the past two seasons, and while he hasn't
been at his best this season, he's still been the horse for them and
been good. The Penguins lost Marc-Andre Fleury to the Vegas Golden
Knights during the offseason, but I spoke to Pittsburgh goalie coach
Mike Buckley earlier in the season and he Alex Bregman Youth Jersey said Murray has been putting more work into the new role of being a No.
1 starter.
Most of their stars are healthy, especially Sidney Crosby. That's
something that they're not used to.The long playoff runs are what you
want as a team, but not getting a lot of rest can wear on you.
Pittsburgh played 107 games last season and 106 in 2015-16. That doesn't
count the World Cup of Hockey 2016, in which a handful of Pittsburgh's
top players took part. All that hockey is definitely Andrew Aplin Youth Jersey draining and perhaps it's showing so far this season; the Penguins have
11 wins in 23 games.
Pittsburgh has been inconsistent this season. They also play on
Saturday, the second game of a back-to-back. The Penguins are 0-4-2 in
the second game of back-to-backs and have been outscored 35-12. The 19
back-to-backs are tied with the Ottawa Senators for the most in the
League.On Feb. 11 last season, Boston's backup goaltenders were 1-10-2.
This season has been vastly different: Andy Pettitte Youth Jersey Anton Khudobin is 6-0-2 with a 2.13 goals-against average and a .938
save percentage. He's started and won Boston's past three games.
Khudobin made 40 saves on Wednesday in a 3-2, 11-round shootout win at
the New Jersey Devils. It's been a long time since they've had that kind
of backup goaltending behind Tuukka Rask, who has struggled this
season.
The Bruins have been getting meaningful contributions from young players
like forwards Danton Heinen, Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk and
defenseman Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. There are jobs to be had
right now. Unfortunately, that's because of injury, but very few times
are this many jobs available for young guys on the same team.
The Bruins have been without forwards David Krejci, Brad Marchand,
Patrice Bergeron, defenseman Torey Krug and Rask at different times this
season, but they've managed to find a way to stay in the Stanley Cup
Playoff race. They're one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for third
place in the Atlantic Division.
