Matt Murray had a great weekend in Manitoba with the Toronto Marlies.
The 30-year-old stopped all 23 Manitoba Moose shots on Friday, helping the Marlies win 3-0. Murray also started Sunday’s game against the Moose, stopping all 32 shots, and the Marlies won 5-0.
Murray posted back-to-back shutouts and three this season with the Marlies.
The goaltender finds himself tied for the second-best save percentage among goaltenders (.933) in the AHL this season, alongside Calgary Wranglers netminder Devin Cooley. Murray’s goals-against average of 1.74 is the lowest among AHL goaltenders this season.
“There’s so much you don’t control. So really, you just have to focus on taking things one step at a time, one development at a time. The rest will take care of itself,” Murray told Marlies. Sunday, play-by-play commentator Todd Crocker.
“When the team plays in front of you like they have these last two games, then obviously that helps a lot too. Congratulations to the guys in front (of me). Two hell of a games and we’re looking to keep it going here.”
Murray is expected to be the Marlies’ number one goaltender for the foreseeable future with Dennis Hildeby alongside the Maple Leafs and Artur Akhtyamov out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
The Marlies played two of their eight games on the Boat Show road trip and will return home after their game against the Bakersfield Condors on February 1. They’ll see a lot of Murray behind them, and his experience will benefit a young AHL. team.
“He’s unflappable out there,” Marlies head coach John Gruden told Crocker on Sunday.
“And again, he’s won a few Stanley Cups, he’s been around a long time and it’s contagious through the team and the defense. It trickles down and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Murray was called up by the Maple Leafs in mid-December, playing his first NHL game in nearly two years on December 20, a 6–3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres. The goaltender did not appear in the NHL roster for 638 days after undergoing bilateral hip surgery in September 2023.
He played in two games with the Maple Leafs – posting one win and an .879 save percentage – before being sent back to the Marlies. Since returning to the AHL, the veteran goaltender has racked up three wins and a .935 save percentage in six games.
Murray signed a one-year contract worth $875,000 with the Maple Leafs on July 1.
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