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| Matt Murray is turning in an impressive rookie season between the pipes for the AHL Penguins. |
Matt Murray has been quite a story for the Penguins lately. He picked up his AHL league-leading 8th shutout this season with 18 saves - breaking an AHL Penguins single-season record for shutouts formerly held by Brad Thiessen (7). Murray now has shutouts in three straight starts and in five of his last seven starts dating back to January 30th. His goals-against average of 1.65 and save percentage of .936 are also tops in the AHL.
Murray now has a personal shutout streak of 185:22 after today's game but realistically, Murray could have given up a half dozen goals and the Pens would have still come away with two points.
In his first game back in the AHL since January 21st - after a brief stint in Wheeling - Josh Archibald tallied a game-high two goals for the Pens this afternoon. Brian Dumoulin and Andrew Ebbett added a goal and two assists each in the win.
The Penguins as a team now have points in ten straight games and are 12-1-1-1 in their last 15 games. Recap of the numerous goals after the jump.
It was a bit of a sluggish start by the Penguins in the opening few shifts against the Sound Tigers this afternoon. An uneventful scrap between Bobby Farnham and Brett Gallant 5:51 into the first period, with Bridgeport buzzing in the offensive zone, changed the momentum for the rest of the opening period.
A pair of back-to-back penalties shortly after on Bridgeport gave the Penguins a two-man advantage they wouldn't go by the wayside.
On the brief ensuing 5-on-3 Scott Wilson set things up and got the puck down to the right of the goal line to Andrew Ebbett, who found Brian Dumoulin between the face-off circles. Dumoulin flung a wrister on net tipped home by Tom Kuhnhackl to give the Pens a 1-0 lead 8:23 into the contest.
The Penguins weren't done there, increasing their lead to 2-0 about six minutes later after killing off a brief 5-on-3 of their own.
As the penalties were cycling out, Jayson Megna and Josh Archibald showed their chemistry together (former roommates in college at UNO). Megna dangled two Sound Tigers defensemen and sent a crisp pass on the money to Archibald in front of the net for an easy tap-in goal as David Leggio was caught sliding the other way.
The Penguins continued to pour it on in the middle frame, extending their lead to 4-0 on goals from Megna and Dumoulin.
First, Megna pounced on a fanned pass from Cory Conacher in the Sound Tigers defensive zone and beat Leggio 2:23 into the middle period. Megna's 16th of the season was unassisted.
Midway through the period, off of an offensive zone face-off to start a power play, the Pens made it 4-0. Ebbett won a face-off back and Wilson nudged the puck to the point to Dumoulin, who blasted one past Leggio seconds into the man advantage.
Things didn't get any better for Bridgeport in the third, as Scott Wilson rocketed one clean past Leggio 2:22 into the final frame to make it 5-0, ending any thoughts the Sound Tigers had of making a comeback.
The Pens added two more goals 57 seconds apart midway through the third period to complete the 7-0 final score, with Ebbett picking a corner on Leggio and Archibald tallying his second of the game on a 5-on-3 power play.
ROSTER NOTES
Matt Murray (18 saves - 18 shots) got the start in net this afternoon in Bridgeport for the Penguins. Jeff Zatkoff, who got the win last night in Hartford, got the afternoon off and served as the team's backup.
No changes on defense, as the pairings remained the same from Saturday night and Alex Boak remained a healthy scratch as the team's 7th defenseman.
The only other lineup change was rookie Josh Archibald back in the AHL lineup for the first time since being called back up from an ECHL stint with Wheeling. Adam Payerl was bounced out of the lineup as a healthy scratch to make room, while Bobby Farnham slid into Payerl's spot on the fourth line and Archibald slotted onto the right wing on the third line.
Lines
Conor Sheary - Andrew Ebbett - Tom Kostopoulos
Dominik Uher - Carter Rowney - Tom Kuhnhackl
Scott Wilson - Jayson Megna - Josh Archibald
Pierre-Luc Leblond - Matia Marcantuoni - Bobby Farnham
Brian Dumoulin - Taylor Chorney
Scott Harrington - Reid McNeill
Nick D'Agostino - Barry Goers
Matt Murray - Jeff Zatkoff
GAME SUMMARY
1st Period
5:51: WBS - Farnham, major (fighting)
5:51: BST - Gallant, major (fighting)
6:19: BST - (PP) Quine, minor (slashing)
8:01: BST - (PP) Lashoff, minor (roughing)
8:23: WBS - PPG Dumoulin (3) - Ebbett, Wilson
10:50: WBS - (PP) Kuhnhackl, minor (tripping)
12:45: WBS - McNeill, minor (delay of game)
13:37: BST - (PP) Persson, minor (tripping)
14:34: WBS - Archibald (3) - Megna, Chorney
16:33: BST - (PP) Collberg, minor (interference)
2nd Period
2:23: WBS - Megna (16) - unassisted
10:52: BST - (PP) Pulock, minor (interference)
10:54: WBS - PPG Dumoulin (3) - Wilson, Ebbett
3rd Period
2:22: WBS - Wilson (14) - unassisted
3:44: WBS - Farnham, minor (roughing)
3:44: WBS - Farnham, ten-minute misconduct
3:44: WBS - Leblond, minor (roughing)
3:44: BST - (PP) Gallant, minor (slashing)
3:44: BST - Gallant, minor (roughing)
3:44: BST - Lashoff, minor (roughing)
3:44: BST - Lashoff, ten-minute misconduct
6:39: WBS - Leblond, minor (unsportsmanlike)
6:39: BST - Zolnierczyk, minor (unsportsmanlike)
8:51: BST - (PP) Sundstrom, minor (boarding)
10:57: BST - (PP) Reinhart, minor (roughing)
10:57: BST - (PP) Reinhart, minor (boarding)
10:57: BST - Reinhart, ten-minute misconduct)
11:01: WBS - (PP) Archibald, minor (hooking)
12:59: WBS - Ebbett (14) - Dumoulin
13:40: BST - (PP) Sutter, minor (tripping)
13:56: WBS - PPG Archibald (4) - Sheary, D'Agostino
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