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Penguins' Matt Murray pulled early after another shaky start

Matt Murray has struggled mightily as of late. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Matt Murray has struggled mightily as of late. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

It hasn’t been a pleasant start to the 2018-19 season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the guy likely enjoying his time the least right now is struggling netminder Matt Murray.

During Saturday’s contest against the Ottawa Senators, Murray was yanked following the first period of play after surrendering three goals on just 10 shots.

Here’s a look at the three tallies that forced Murray to the bench to start the second:

It’s hard to blame Murray for all three of these pucks, but he had to have at least one or two of them — especially when the Penguins are falling as quickly down the standings as they are right now.

In 11 appearances this season, Murray has had a save percentage of .900 or higher in just three of those outings while surrendering four or more goals in seven of his 10 starts entering Saturday. It’s no wonder head coach Mike Sullivan had little patience for any shakiness out of the the slumping 24-year-old on Saturday.

The decision to pull him for Casey DeSmith did little to light a fire under the Penguins, however, as the backup netminder gave up two goals on the first eight shots he faced.

The play of Murray is just one of the issues hurting the Penguins so far this season.

Sure, the club is missing arguably the best player in the game as Sidney Crosby remains sidelined with an upper-body ailment for the second straight game, but with the team falling 6-4 to Ottawa, it has now won just one of its eight contests in the month of November while only netting 17 goals over that span.

Pens general manager Jim Rutherford recently signed a three-year extension, and although he just pulled off a move to acquire Tanner Pearson from the Los Angeles Kings, more deals may need to be made to lift the Penguins out of the Metropolitan Division’s basement.

But I would still advise against counting them out.

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