Penguins goalie Matt Murray diagnosed with concussion

This is bad news for the Penguins, but the team’s backup goalies should be up to the task of holding down the fort until Murray returns.

The Pittsburgh Penguins Twitter account announced today that starting goalie Matt Murray has a concussion.

The tweet also specified that no further information will be available until coach Mike Sullivan addresses the media after practice today.

This is obviously not what the Penguins wanted to hear, as the two-time Stanley Cup champion Murray is the team’s best option in goal. Still, the Penguins’ backups are pretty solid and should be able to capably man the net until Murray is healthy enough to get back on the ice.

The Penguins had an enviable goalie situation during the team’s two Stanley Cup championship seasons, with Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury being about the best goalkeeping tandem a team could ask for.

Fleury is, to the chagrin of Pens fans, now a Las Vegas Golden Knight, which means the team now has to turn to backups Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith for salvation. Honestly, the situation could be worse.

DeSmith doesn’t have a tremendous amount of NHL experience, but he did help lead the Pens to a 6-4 record during the 10 games he started in goal during the 2017-18 season. That’s too small a sample size to project anything about his performance going forward, but it’s a good start at least.

The same goes with Jarry, though his sample size is at least marginally better. He went 14-7 during his starts last year, which again isn’t spectacular but shows he’s good enough to get the job done for a limited time frame.

It’s not worth speculating about the severity of Murray’s concussion or the timetable for his return until the Penguins release more details about the injury. At least Pens fans can rest easy knowing that Murray missing a few games won’t be the end of the world. Any more than that, however, should be cause for serious concern.