The American Hockey League (AHL) season is only a week old, and it’s hard to read much into anything. Some players, however, have stepped up and look poised to make an impact in the NHL someday. One of those names is Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov. The Pittsburgh Penguins have had issues in the net for years, yet with Arturs Silovs stepping up in the NHL and Murashov playing great in the AHL, the unit can turn around in a few years to fast-forward a rebuild.
Through two games, he’s stopped 80 of the 86 shots he’s faced, helping the Penguins defeat the Hartford Wolf Pack 2-1 on opening night and 5-2 in Hartford on Oct. 17 (the place is called People’s Bank Arena but we all know it as the Hartford Civic Center). With the Penguins playing the second of a back-to-back, they turned to him again, and he delivered with 29 saves in a 6-3 win over the Bridgeport Islanders. “He’s the guy right now, and that’s no disrespect to (Filip) Larsson,” head coach Kirk MacDonald noted after the recent game that gave the team a 4-0 record to start the season.
After a promising rookie last season, he had a .913 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.64 goals-against average (GAA) in 16 games played. Now, he looks like one of the best AHL goaltenders, even at just 21 years old.
Murashov is Always in the Right Position
What stands out to the casual fan or hockey observer is Murashov’s positioning. He’s always in the right spot to make a save and play the direct shot on the net. With a great angle to the shot, Murashov rarely makes a highlight save because he’s in position to make the easy one. There are very few goaltenders who make it to the NHL on positioning alone. It’s something that’s given him a head start.
This comes in part due to his intelligence in the net. He’s one of the smartest goaltenders in the AHL and knows how the play is developing in front of him. An aside is that at 21 years old, he speaks fluent English, something few overseas prospects are able to do. It’s not a measurement of his ability to understand the play but he talks about goaltending in a much more technical way than most around the league. The goaltenders who understand the game usually have long careers, and Murashov looks like he’ll have a long one ahead of him as well.
Murashov’s Athletics
Murashov is 6-foot-2 and weighs 172 pounds. It makes him a rare goaltender, considering how most are developed these days. Most goaltenders in the AHL are eight 5-10 with crazy athleticism or 6-7 with minimal athletic ability. Murashov is a “tweener” in this regard but has the quickness to make him stand out. The Wolf Pack had a few quick chances in their recent game but each time, he got a pad or the stick on the puck to leave the opposition searching for answers.
One scout at the Oct. 17 game against the Hartford Wolf Pack, a game he stopped 26 of 28 shots, noted how athletic he is. He rarely needs to make a big save but when he does, he’s capable of doing so. Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin, two elite goaltenders who also came from Russia, have the same frame and intangibles. They won’t stand out and won’t make multiple incredible saves but when they are asked to, they deliver.
Where Murashov Still Struggles
The game against the Islanders showed his weaknesses, at least the early part of the game did. He allowed three goals in the first period and failed to stop the shots that came off of one-timers or East-West movement. Two of the goals came off quick passes where he was asked to reposition himself and try to stop the puck but couldn’t.
MacDonald noted that the three goals weren’t his fault. “None of those goals were his fault; two of them were backdoor chances,” he added. In a game with bad bounces or tough breaks, the Penguins gave up a few quick chances, and Murashov, who has been excellent otherwise, won’t stop them all. The other note is that aside from the first period, Murashov found his footing and looked excellent. Playing the second of a back-to-back had him shaky at the start but he settled down to stop 21 shots in the final two frames to seal the victory.
The Timeline With The Penguins
Last season was the acclimation year for Murashov. Like many prospects who come from overseas, it takes a season to acclimate to the new country, then there’s a season to develop. Murashov is in that season of development, one where he’ll prove he can be an elite goaltender at any level. “Now I can just focus on myself and my job. All these things are known for me,” he noted after the opening night win. The things are the extra stuff that we overlook or take for granted but go a long way for a prospect coming to North America (and the small towns that the AHL is based out of).
The first three games are a small sample size, and Murashov is looking to prove he can play like this throughout the season. The Wolf Pack have a hapless offense, and his two starts against them must be taken with a grain of salt for that reason. Likewise, the Islanders are unproven offensively, yet found the back of the net three times against him. It’s also worth noting that Murashov must step up on the big stage, notably the playoffs. It’s something he struggled with last year, allowing three goals in a loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms that ended the Penguins’ season, and it’s something Silovs proved capable of doing, leading the Abbotsford Canucks to the Calder Cup title last season.
For now, though, he looks great and can take over games for the Penguins. It’s allowing them to look like one of the best teams in the AHL through three games and a complete team as well. Last season, the team only scored but had questionable goaltending. Now, they have all the pieces in place to be a dominant team. “I think we defend a lot better than we did last season,” MacDonald added after the recent win, noting how a 4-0 Penguins team looks like a complete one with an elite goaltender leading the way.
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