Back in November Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray was embroiled in what was a major cheating scandal when he was openly accused of intentionally dislodging his net from its moorings. Those accusations stemmed largely from a pair of games against the New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild in which Murray appeared to dislodge the net himself several times, with Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason even publicly calling Murray out over his behavior.
“100 percent. The second one, for sure, he literally … and Freddy Chabot said it’s a trend with that goaltender. You can’t knock the net off three times and not get anything out of it,” said a frustrated Evason. Back in November. “It doesn’t make any sense. We have offensive time in there and sustained time. We could get more opportunities and all of a sudden it stalled out and momentum’s gone and whatever. I don’t understand it. I don’t. It’s hard to ask them. You don’t want to yell at refs all the time, but it didn’t make any sense how a goaltender could knock it off three times and there’s no repercussion.”
Although the incidents caused quite a bit of controversy and made many fans on social media very angry, nothing would really come of it… at least not until now.
It would appear as though the Maple Leafs veteran goaltender has once again come under scrutiny for his behavior when it comes to his own net, except this time it would appear as though the National Hockey League might be getting involved in the matter.
On Monday, Minnesota Wild insider Mike Russo, who was extremely critical of Murray after the incidents back in November, revealed that the NHL situation room caught Murray messing with the net on Sunday night and plans to address the issue.
Russo, who was accused of being bitter by a fan, responded that it wasn’t him who was upset with Murray but rather the league itself that was displeased with his recent actions.
Russo, who is one of the most credible journalists in the sport of hockey, claims that he was actually physically standing in the situation room itself as this was being discussed by league officials so there is no doubting his sources here.
Of course this may not be a black and white issue, especially not as far as Murray himself is concerned. It’s worth noting that Murray did appear to be having an issue with the way the net was placed on Sunday night and even tried to bring it to the attention of officials on the ice.
While that may very well be the case, it is now clear that the NHL itself is viewing this as a serious issue that needs addressing.
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