The Toronto Marlies are hoping for good news on goaltender Matt Murray after he left Saturday’s game against the Laval Rocket with an injury.
During the first period of Toronto’s game against the Rocket, Murray stopped a point shot from Logan Mailloux. Not even a minute later, in a TV timeout, the 30-year-old went to the Marlies’ room and Dennis Hildeby came in for relief.
Toronto fell to Laval 5-4 on an afternoon where Alex Steeves broke the club’s franchise points record. Hildeby stopped 19 of 23 shots after coming in for Murray with 4:32 left in the opening frame.
After the game, Marlies head coach John Gruden told the team’s play-by-play commentator Todd Crocker that there was no update on Murray.
“He tweaked something and unfortunately he had to come out of the game and hopefully it’s nothing too serious,” said Gruden.
Murray has played six games with the Marlies this season. In that span, he has a 2-1-2-0 record and a .912 save percentage, the second-best among AHL Toronto’s goaltenders this season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed Murray to a one-year, $875,000 contract on July 1. He played three AHL games last season — and none in the NHL — after recovering from bilateral hip surgery in Sept. 2023.
In the offseason, the goaltender appeared on Slangin’ the Bizkit Podcast with host Travis Ridgen and said he took a one-year deal with Toronto to prove he could stay healthy again, adding his hips haven’t felt this good in a long time.
“That was the goal, and that was the hope of getting the surgery done,” said Murray.
This is an unfortunate moment for Murray, however, the Marlies are hoping for the best possible news on their goaltender. Murray has a history of success, winning two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, but has dealt with numerous injuries in recent years.
The veteran goaltender has played 272 games in his eight-year NHL career. He has a 146-86-24 record with a .910 save percentage in that span, with the Penguins, Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators.
Pittsburgh selected Murray in the third round (83rd overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft.
