I am not sure I'd say I am surprised to see him do well, but what I will say is I am surprised that Matt Murray looks to have returned to his once dominating form.
He truly looks outstanding.
I said at the beginning of the season that I felt like his style would be the perfect fit to mitigate our defensive issues from years past. He plays very large in the blue paint which allows him to stop shots through traffic that we once struggled mightily with. He's also able to handle most redirections as a result. Also something our goaltenders have struggled with in the past. I think the one thing that has truly come as a surprise to me is how athletic Murr can be when he needs to be. He is a goalie that bases his entire game on being positionally sound and allowing pucks to hit him, but when he does need to move laterally and make an athletic save he's been very good at it. Something I can't say I was expecting at all, especially given his lengthy injury history. I foolishly thought that aspect of his game would either be completely gone or severely hindered. Whether it was by virtue of not having that skill in his bag, or just hesitancy to lay out and potentially get hurt again. But he's shown no lateral inability at all.
All n all, I just feel so confident with him in the cage. Maybe it's his Stanley Cup pedigree, or just his personality. He just doesn't ever look flustered in the net.
I love soupy, and I do believe he is a very good goalie as well, but this level of mental stability is something we've not seen in a Leaf goalie for a very very long time. Not since Freddy's first year as a Leaf when there was literally zero expectations of him or the team.
I know it's super early on in Murr's tenure as a Leaf, but I think he really can be the answer for us. He's only 28 Years old