‘A long road. A big mountain to climb’: Inside Matt Murray’s emotional journey back to the NHL

[ad_1] BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matt Murray seemed as much as the scoreboard above him, counted down the seconds as they disappeared and at last pumped his fist.

It had been 638 days since Murray final felt the sensation washing over him.

Bilateral hip surgical procedure compelled the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie out of the complete 2023-24 season, the ultimate of a four-year contract. There was no assure the oft-injured Murray would play within the NHL once more. A one-year contract supplied him a lifeline to proceed grinding far out of the highlight within the AHL, with just one objective.

And over a 12 months and a half later, Murray was again to the place he had fought to be: within the NHL win column after stopping 24 photographs in a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

“A protracted street. A giant mountain to climb. However I stored this second within the entrance of my thoughts on the times it felt powerful,” Murray mentioned.

The 30-year-old’s eyes grew extra pink with each phrase he spoke after the sport. His voice quivered.

“A giant launch,” he mentioned, struggling to search out the phrases to place almost two years away from the NHL into perspective. “A rush of feelings.”

The everyday goalie hugs with teammates after the win had been tighter, longer. In a bodily sport the place a participant’s profession can activate a dime, Murray’s return resonated much more closely than the two factors the Leafs additionally added on the day.

“It’s good to see (Murray) smiling,” Steven Lorentz mentioned, “as a result of you understand he’s again doing what he loves.”

Within the dressing room, Max Domi instantly handed Murray the crew’s WWE-style wrestling belt as participant of the sport. Murray’s up-and-down efficiency was secondary.

“He was getting that factor, one hundred pc, he deserved it,” Domi mentioned. “The flexibility to keep it up mentally, out of all these days that I’m positive he had lots of doubt, it’s a protracted street to restoration. We’re all tremendous pleased with him.”

It’s simple to quantify simply how lengthy Murray’s street again to the NHL was in days: 628 of them between his final two appearances.

It’s far harder to precisely describe simply how arduous that street is.

Accidents have dogged Murray all through his profession after profitable back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in his first two seasons within the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His video games performed tapered off each season from 2018 to 2022. After he was traded to the Leafs in summer season 2022, he struggled by way of his first season. It was truthful to wonder if hip surgical procedure can be the ultimate dagger in his NHL profession.

However Murray would nonetheless dangle round teammates on the Leafs’ observe facility throughout his rehabilitation final season, feeling so shut however so far-off from the league he as soon as conquered.

“The truth that he’s simply on his method again right here says rather a lot about his character, his dedication to the sport,” Lorentz mentioned.

Murray stored a stall filled with his gear at that facility that was by no means used. An necessary and humane gesture from the Leafs group, however nonetheless a reminder that Murray was not enjoying NHL video games.

Even after re-signing with the Leafs on a one-year, $875,000 deal, he felt just like the group’s No. 4 goalie. When the Leafs wanted a netminder to exchange the injured Anthony Stolarz, they referred to as up Dennis Hildeby. The lanky Hildeby is seven years’ Murray’s junior.

How might Murray not ponder whether his NHL return would ever come?

“There have been positively occasions when it felt actually troublesome,” Murray mentioned. “However at any time when I felt like that, I had a terrific group of individuals round me. That’s the one purpose why I’m right here.”

All Murray might do was work his tail off, far-off from public sight, quietly hoping for the return that lastly got here Friday night time.

“The feelings had been excessive as we speak,” Murray mentioned.

These feelings maybe ran highest earlier than the sport. The sometimes stoic Murray allowed himself to cease and respect how far he’s come.

“I used to be capable of take a second in warmups and in the course of the anthem and go searching and respect the lengthy journey that it’s been and consider all of the individuals who helped me get right here,” Murray mentioned.

It was the form of sport that reminded onlookers of the fragility of an NHL profession. Just some brief years separated Murray from being a Stanley Cup winner to being largely written off from the NHL, all primarily earlier than the age of 30.

“You are feeling for a man like that as a result of he works so arduous and he desires it so dangerous,” Lorentz mentioned. “We’re all rooting for him.”

<img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-6010489 size-full" src="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260.jpg" alt="" width="2406" height="1606" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260.jpg 2406w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260-300x200.jpg 300w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://static01.nyt.com/athletic/uploads/wp/2024/12/20233938/USATSI_25036493-scaled-e1734756000260-2048x1367.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2406px) 100vw, 2406px"/> Matt Murray saved 24 photographs in a 6-3 win over the Sabres, incomes his first NHL win in 638 days. (Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Pictures) Murray moved effectively sufficient in his return. He swallowed a lot of the 27 photographs the Sabres threw at him, trying each bit the veteran he's. Murray had two objectives in opposition to referred to as again upon video overview. His sprawling save on Sabres ahead Alex Tuch was a reminder of the athleticism he can present now that he’s absolutely wholesome, too.

They’re all qualities Leafs followers may need forgotten. However they’re qualities which might be nonetheless entrance of thoughts for Murray’s Leafs teammates.

“It hasn’t been forgotten in my thoughts what he’s completed on this league in his profession,” Leafs ahead Max Pacioretty mentioned, himself no stranger to debilitating accidents that threaten a profession. “It’s arduous to nearly bear in mind what you’ve executed, what you’ve completed as a result of it looks as if all of the noise is at all times within the second, whether or not it’s the damage or what has occurred these days.”

Maybe the Leafs win might have been predicted forward of time. Positive, they had been enjoying a reeling Sabres crew that has now sputtered by way of 12 losses in a row. And so they had been buoyed by an upstart, white-hot line of Max Domi, Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson. They’re the third line in identify solely: The trio mixed for 3 objectives and 6 factors in opposition to the Sabres.

However the opponent shouldn’t denigrate what was entrance of thoughts not only for Murray but additionally for the Leafs in Buffalo. They wished to do proper by a participant who has executed all the things in his energy to return to the NHL. You didn’t need to squint to see a defenceman like Jake McCabe throwing Sabres out of Murray’s crease with a bit additional gusto.

“It provides you some incentive to go the additional mile as a result of you understand (Murray) has gone that additional mile simply to get again to this place to the place he’s at proper,” Lorentz mentioned. “It’s not like he half-assed it to get again so far and he anticipated to be right here. Surgical procedures and accidents like that, that he went by way of, that may stunt your profession for a very long time. You may by no means be capable of get better to your outdated kind.”

However Murray is engaged on getting again to the Matt Murray of outdated. And the Leafs’ want for Murray gained’t finish once they head north on the QEW again to Toronto.

The earliest Stolarz will possible return from a knee damage might be mid-to-late January. Hildeby doesn’t precisely have the complete confidence of the Leafs group proper now after permitting a couple of mushy objectives throughout a latest call-up in opposition to the Sabres at house, mixed with a less-than-stellar AHL season thus far. He’s possible going to be an NHL participant down the street, however there’s room for him to develop and develop extra confidence in his sport.

However Murray has what no different goalie within the Leafs group has: expertise. And that issues to Brad Treliving and Craig Berube: Each worth video games performed and would reasonably lean on veterans at any time when potential.

They’ll lean on Murray due to all the things he’s executed, and gone by way of, in his profession.

After Friday night time, that profession appears to be like drastically totally different.

“In actuality, you’ve obtained to take every day because it comes and also you by no means know when it’s going to be throughout,” Pacioretty mentioned. “So that you don’t need to take days with no consideration.”

After Murray had dried his eyes and slowly taken off the kilos of goalie gear heavy with sweat, he sat on his personal within the dressing room. The Leafs tools workers all stopped unloading baggage from the dressing room to offer him a quiet pat on the again.

Murray seemed as much as see a word written on a whiteboard within the dressing room. The Leafs bus can be leaving in 20 minutes. There was one other NHL sport on the horizon.