By akademiotoelektronik, 20/12/2022
Senators coach exasperated by his goaltender
Infuriated by the poor performance of goaltender Matt Murray, Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with his job in goal following a loss to the San Jose Sharks, Wednesday.
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Located in the basement of the National Hockey League's overall standings with just nine points in 17 outings, the Ottawa squad dropped the first two games of a four-game road streak. In addition to the outbreak of COVID-19 cases that recently ravaged her ranks and forced the Bettman circuit to postpone three games, she must deal with the sluggish performance of her three goaltenders.
Yes, there is Filip Gustavsson, but he has had his ups and downs so far. Then, just like Anton Forsberg, Murray struggles, he who lost his five decisions. His 3.26 goals-against-average and .890 save percentage are a testament to his issues, and the situation didn't improve in San Jose, where he gave up four times on 27 shots in a 6-game loss. at 3. For Smith, it seems like the straw that broke the camel's back.
“We deserved better, that is to say a point or two. The difference was probably their goalkeeper,” the pilot told Sportsnet, judging the performance of James Reimer of the Sharks superior.
Then, the instructor was more incisive when a journalist asked him about the work to be done and the aspects to be polished by the whole group.
"I don't care about the details. I just think we need someone to take the net and start winning games for us when we give a good effort. We need a goalkeeper who can keep us in the game and who can hold on, he replied without mentioning Murray's name. We are a young squad that needs someone to steal wins.”
The more conciliatory captain
For his part, the captain of the Senators, Brady Tkachuk, was more diplomatic, preferring to look at the overall team play which needs to be enhanced in his eyes.
“No matter the goalkeeper in net, we have unwavering confidence in them and we will do everything to support them. We need to reduce the number of chances to score against us as much as possible,” he said.
However, the fact remains that Murray hasn't done the job since acquiring the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 7, 2020. Last season, he was 10-13-1, 3-average, 38 and a rate of .893.
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