Matt Murray made 31 saves in a 2-1 win for the Maple Leafs against the Predators, but none were more spectacular than his sprawling stop on Nashville’s Tanner Jeannot.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray found himself in a duel with Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros on Wednesday night. But it was Murray who set the tone with a sensational stop on Nashville's Tanner Jeannot in the first period.
Just over two minutes had passed when Murray was caught out of position when making a pair of saves. That's when Jeannot found himself with an open net, only to be denied by the two-time Stanley Cup champion.
"Yeah, that was a crazy play," Murray said. "I just got spun around with some contact there so I was looking over my shoulder and I saw the guy made the pass to the back door so I knew I kind of just had to get something over there. I just kind of spun."
Murray's save set the tone for the remainder of the night and he helped keep his team in the game until the final couple of minutes when Mitch Marner broke a deadlock with a power-play goal to help the Leafs down the Predators 2-1.
"For me, he was full marks tonight," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Murray's night. "I'm not sure there's been a game (this season) where I've left thinking the goaltender won us the game and in a lot of ways you can say that here tonight."
Murray improved to 11-4-2 this season with a .916 save percentage and has surpassed some expectations with Toronto after a difficult tenure with the Ottawa Senators.
The Leafs acquired Murray from the Senators along with some draft picks in exchange for future considerations back in July, The Sens also retained 25 percent of Murray's $6.25 million salary cap hit.
Along with Ilya Samsonov, Toronto's goaltending tandem has exceeded expectations throughout the first half of the season, suppressing one of the biggest questions heading into this season... the quality of their goaltending.
Samsonov has an identical record of 12-3-1 this season with a .916 save percentage. Signed to a one-year, $1.8 million contract by the Leafs in July, the 25-year-old is expected to start in goal against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.