Murray or Fleury? Penguins weighing options in goal

Penguins weighing options in goal

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has been stressing for weeks that his team has multiple goaltenders capable of taking the franchise to the Stanley Cup.

Rookie Matt Murray’s precocious postseason play came to a sudden and abrupt halt in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night.

Sullivan pulled the 21-year-old after two periods in which the energized Tampa Bay Lightning forced Murray to dig the puck out of the net four times.

In came well-rested Marc-Andre Fleury, playing for the first time in seven weeks, a sabbatical that began while he recovered from a concussion suffered on March 31 and continued long after he was cleared, thanks to Murray’s steadying presence.

Fleury stopped all seven shots he faced in the third as Pittsburgh put together a frantic rally before falling 4-3 as the Lightning evened the entertaining series at 2-2 heading into Game 5 on Sunday.

In Murray the Penguins have watched their goaltender of the future evolve into the goaltender of the present.

In Fleury Pittsburgh has a goaltender whose name is already on the Cup and who handled Murray’s rise with customary class.

The timing of his injury down the stretch was unfortunate.

[...] as flat as Pittsburgh looked over much of the first 40 minutes on Friday to squander a chance to take firm control of things, the Penguins were just as dominant in the third while nearly pulling off a comeback that — if completed — would have delivered an emotional punch Tampa Bay would have found difficult to overcome.

The Penguins may have to move forward without defenseman Trevor Daley, who sustained a lower-body injury after colliding with Tampa Bay’s Ryan Callahan and had to be helped to the trainer’s room.

Lightning 3, Penguins 1

Penguins 3, Lightning 2

Penguins 4, Lightning 2

Game 4 Lightning 4, Penguins 2