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Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray deflects a puck over the net during the first period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Washington Capitals on Monday.Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press

Matt Murray wasn't the first, second, third or even the fourth goaltender taken at the 2012 NHL draft. Nine goalies went ahead of Murray that day at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.

Few could have predicted then that only four years later, Murray would be starring for the Penguins in a second-round playoff series while franchise netminder Marc-André Fleury sits on the sidelines.

Heading into Wednesday's Game 4 against the Washington Capitals, Murray is 5-1 in the postseason with a .944 save percentage, stealing Game 3 for the Penguins with a 47-save performance. The 21-year-old Thunder Bay native and 83rd overall pick is 12-1 in his last 13 starts dating back to the regular season.

"Matt was amazing," Penguins defenceman and long-time teammate Derrick Pouliot said of Murray's Monday performance. "He's been phenomenal all year and last year, too. His compete level, his composure, his work ethic day in, day out, it's something you don't see very often."

Murray isn't the only rookie making a difference for Pittsburgh these days though.

Undrafted out of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 23-year-old Conor Sheary is lining up to the left of Sidney Crosby on the Penguins top line. Sheary helped set up Pittsburgh's first goal in Game 3, securing his fourth point of the playoffs. One of the few Germans to ever play in the NHL, 24-year-old Tom Kuhnhackl also continues to build his resume, scoring the second goal in Monday's 3-2 win.

It was the second goal and fourth point of the playoffs for Kuhnhackl, a fourth-round pick in 2010.

Then there's 23-year-old American winger Bryan Rust, who scored twice and added an assist in the Penguins' first round series-clinching Game 5 victory over the Rangers.

Murray has been the star, though, his playoff performance keeping a now-healthy Fleury out of the Penguins crease.

Pittsburgh's 2009 Stanley Cup-winning goaltender has been cleared to return from a concussion, but there's little chance of Pittsburgh switching course for now and with good reason.

The Capitals had 85 shot attempts in Game 3 compared with just 36 for the Penguins, controlling the puck and play all night long. Murray managed to keep the second-highest scoring team in the league at bay for most of the evening, Washington's second goal coming with only 56 seconds left in regulation.

According to War-On-Ice.com, a hockey analytics website, Murray was forced to make 16 medium-danger saves and seven high-danger saves, those stops defined by their location and quality. Braden Holtby, by contrast, had to make only five medium-danger saves and only one high-danger stop, yielding three goals in defeat on only 23 shots.

Murray's success shouldn't come as too big a surprise. Last season he set the AHL record with a shutout streak lasting 304 minutes 11 seconds, a stretch that was sustained for one month. He finished that year with 12 shutouts in 40 games and a AHL-leading .941 save percentage.

Murray carried those theatrics up to the NHL this year, posting a .930 save percentage in his first 13 NHL starts.

"I wouldn't say it surprises me," Sheary said. "Especially playing with him a whole year last year and [seeing him] setting records down in the AHL and seeing how he plays and seeing him in practice every day, it's not that surprising."

Fleury seems anxious to return. He hasn't played since March 31 and is now the unlikely backup to Murray.

"It was long. Every day felt long," Fleury said of sitting out with injury following practice on Tuesday. "I always woke up hopefully feeling better. That did take a while to come and it was definitely frustrating just not being able to play, but [also] not feeling normal every day. So it was frustrating definitely."

For now he continues to wait. If Murray's roll continues, it could be a while.

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