Matt Murray worked on conditioning drills with goalie coach Curtis Sanford before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs for morning skate on Tuesday.
When Ilya Samsonov went down with a knee injury on Saturday, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe’s interest in Matt Murray’s recovery heightened.
Now it appears the goaltender could return in the not-to-distant future.
“I’m told physically he feels good,” Keefe said of Murray following the team’s morning skate on Tuesday. [We’ll] just continue to monitor that and see how that goes.
Murray began the morning by working with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford and fielding shots and pucks delivered by defensemen Victor Mete and Jordie Benn on Tuesday. He then joined Keith Petruzzelli in the visitors’ net during the team’s morning skate prep ahead of Toronto’s game against Vegas.
The 28-year-old Murray sustained an adductor injury ahead of his scheduled start against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 15. Acquired from the Senators by the Leafs in July, Murray has been limited to one game this season, a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 12.
The Leafs are going to be cautious not to rush the oft-injured goaltender back in his return. Erik Kallgren will get the lions’ share of starts in the immediate future.
Kallgren picked up his first win of the season in a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs signed and called up Keith Petruzzelli to back up Kallgren in the interim. Depending on Murray’s recovery, it’s possible that Petruzzelli could make his NHL debut on Saturday with the Leafs scheduled for a pair of back-to back games against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday followed by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.