From beginning the year as an intriguing prospect in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization to collecting his first career Stanley Cup as their playoff starter (and game stealer at times), Matt Murray will have a chance to show off his abilities on the international stage come September at the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
Handing in his Penguins jersey for the two-week tournament, Murray will be sporting the orange, black and silver of the North American team – a team made up of Canadian and American players under the age of 23.
While the jerseys for the event (and Murray’s team) were unveiled a while ago, everyone knows that goalies love to sport a new mask for these major events. Murray is no different.
On Friday, the 22-year-old Thunder Bay native took to Twitter to show off his new mask that he will sport when he takes to the ice with the young North American World Cup team.
https://twitter.com/mattmurray_30/status/766677003848282112
While there’s no guarantee that he’ll start for the under-23 team with Anaheim’s John Gibson and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck as his colleagues in the crease, Murray’s Cup win this past season could go a long way in pushing him into the number one spot.
Murray played 13 games during the regular season for the Penguins in 2015-16 posting a 9-2-1 record with a 2.00 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. But it was in the playoffs that the young goaltender had his coming out party. He notched 15 wins in 21 starts notching a 2.08 average and a .923 save percentage on his way to the Cup.