David Alter of Sports Illustrated is reporting that Matt Murray is set to take the role as the Toronto Maple Leafs third goalie as they get set to begin their second-round series against the Florida Panthers. The Thunder Bay native joined his Leafs teammates at practice today for the first time since he suffered a concussion on April 2 during a 5-2 Toronto loss against Detroit.
The 28-year-old will fall behind Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll on the Maple Leafs goaltending depth chart and will likely travel with the club when they head to Florida for games three and four. Murray has an exemplary track record in the playoffs having backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups as a rookie in 2016 and 2017.
A lot has changed since those two championships as Murray has been relegated to an afterthought since being traded by the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators in 2020. Murray never found his footing in Ottawa as he battled inconsistency and injuries and was eventually traded last summer to Toronto in a salary dump.
Murray had an uneven first season in Toronto posting a 14-8-2 record with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. While he hasn’t posted elite numbers in years, he does offer Toronto a strong backup option should Samsonov stumble.
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