Poor Matt Murray. The much-ballyhooed goaltender, who backstopped the Penguins to two Stanley Cups while still a rookie, is having a tough season. His .907 save percentage is well below what is expected of him. He gave up 11 goals in his first two games. In one game he was pulled after allowing four goals on just nine shots.
You’ll notice it’s awfully hard to feel sorry for him when you lead with the “two Stanley Cups” thing, though. He made it even harder to feel sorry for him when he dismissed the eight goals the Canucks have scored on him in their two meetings as “weird bounces” or “lucky.”
Specifically, he was dismissive of Brock Boeser’s hat trick in their first meeting of the season. Then, when Boeser tallied another two goals on him Wednesday night, he suggested that the Canucks’ goals were once again the result of “weird bounces” and that they were “hilarious.”
It’s understandable for a goaltender to do this: so much of the position is about confidence and mental resiliency. Perhaps Murray has to believe that every puck that gets past him is the result of a fluke, a one-in-a-million chance that cannot be explained by anything other than pure, blind luck. Perhaps if he admitted culpability in a single goal against, it would shatter him forever.
If he is that fragile, I sincerely hope he doesn’t see this video, which overlays Murray’s words with footage of Boeser’s goals, as what we’re seeing directly contradicts what he’s saying. It’s a devastating, hilarious video.
This video was wonderfully put together by u/aneditor_ on Reddit. I think my favourite part is the delicate piano soundtrack that lends an air of tragedy to the entire affair, as if this was the most serious video of all time.
The repeated “Boeser...scores!” at the end is particularly well done, as is the transition from “just laugh” to Boeser and Alex Edler sharing a rare chuckle together after Boeser’s second goal from Wednesday night.
Kudos, u/aneditor_. This is superb.
