Matt Murray robs John Tavares with tremendous glove save (Video)

Matt Murray is a save of the year candidate after robbing John Tavares with an unbelievable glove save. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the New York Islanders 5-3 on Wednesday. However, the Pens nearly pulled off an amazing comeback thanks to goaltender Matt Murray. With Pittsburgh down two goals in the second period, Islanders captain John Tavares got what he believed to be a wide open net. Murray had other plans, robbing him with an outstanding diving glove save.

That’s the kind of diving stop baseball fans see from third basemen. Murray looked every bit as good as Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and Manny Machado with that glove save. He might have had a rough night, allowing four goals (the fifth goal was with an empty net), but that’s about as good of a save as you’ll ever see from a goalie.

The save was nearly not completely meaningless. Pittsburgh was able to fight back in the third period to score three goals and tie the game. For a while, it looked like the game was definitely heading into overtime and the Islanders would have to answer for another third period collapse. However, thanks to a late goal by Anders Lee and an empty net goal by Nikolai Kulemin ensured the Isles of a 5-3 win. Thomas Greiss was strong in net when he needed to be to help them get a much-needed win.

For the second straight game, defenseman Thomas Hickey was the hero. Following an overtime goal against the Calgary Flames on Monday, he set up Lee’s game winning goal on Wednesday. Lee was able to deflect in Hickey’s initial shot from the point. The Islanders will try to get their first three game winning streak of the season on Thursday when they travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Capitals.