By @darenmillard
There may be a reason why the Pittsburgh Penguins have started the season by allowing 5.5 goals per game to start the season. Matt Murray has been diagnosed with a concussion. The puzzling part of the announcement is netminder finished both games for the Penguins which makes the exact cause of the injury more difficult to nail down. Murray did take a leg to the mask on Saturday night on the sequence that resulted in Brendan Gallagher scoring in Montreal’s eventual 5-1 upset.
Murray’s stats are rather Millardish to start the season. Posting a 5.47 GAA with a .831 save percentage in two games
This marks Murrays 2nd concussion in under ten months and third diagnosed concussion of his NHL career. Casey DeSmith and Tristan (tom and .. ) Jarry will probably share the duties during Murray’s absence.
Two thoughts on this.
The timing could be a bit better considering Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights are in Pittsburgh on Thursday. While Jimmy Rutherford absolutely made the right call on his goaltending the presence of Fleury will cause a stir.
The lack of an apparent cause of the injury makes me worry about increased susceptibility to concussions. Even if that is not the case Chicago lost Corey Crawford for a majority of the season last year and the veteran is just now approaching a return. Reason for Pittsburgh to be extra cautious. Of course, they have dealt with a high profile head injury in the past, so Penguins personal probably don’t need my advice.
Daren Millard
Daren has interviewed Tiger Woods to a “C” Flight winner at a local small town golf tournament and more than a 1000 in between. He is a career broadcaster from Manitoba and spent 20 years at Rogers Sports net where he ascended to the role of national host of the NHL. As one of the first announcers hired by Sports Net in 1988, Millard was assigned to such events as the PGA Tour, ATP and WTA Tennis, Memorial Cup tournaments and the Olympic Games. His early career in radio helped refine a skill set that put Millard in front of a coast to coast Canadian audience for two decades. Career highlights include hosting the Hockey Panel at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver; heading up Toronto Maple Leafs broadcast on Sports net for 15 seasons and hosting Wednesday Night National NHL games for four years. He also had appearances on Hockey Night in Canada and Daren conducted the only broadcast interview after Tiger Woods hit his famed 6 iron bunker shot that helped him win the 2000 Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. Daren is married and lives in Markham with his wife and two adopted daughters.