‘They threw a lot at him.’ Matt Murray goes nine rounds vs. Senators in Leafs’ first shootout win of the season

Saturday night in Ottawa, it was Murray’s turn in net, a chance to show what he can do — when healthy, of course.

In a word, Murray was terrific, the best part of a 5-4 shootout win over the Senators. As if a 48-save performance in regulation and overtime wasn’t enough, he faced nine more shots (stopping six) in a shootout that came to an end on Alex Kerfoot’s winner.

“Marathon game, super exciting game to be a part of,” Murray told reporters in Ottawa. “A lot of emotion out there. A lot of energy in the building. Nice to get that extra point. Nice to be a part of.

“You try to hold the fort as long as you can. I kept my head down when Kerfoot put that in. I wasn’t watching, just listening.”

The Leafs showed signs of exhaustion in the second game of a back-to-back, and fifth in eight nights. There were sloppy turnovers, uncharacteristic mistakes and untimely power plays that Murray ended up having to deal with. His save total was the second-highest of his career.

“It will do lots for his confidence,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “It was good that he was busy. We’ve been talking about how he hasn’t been busy enough in terms of the workload and even in games. Someone in this building must have liked him because he got about 10 bonus saves out of this one.

“They threw a lot at him. He handled it real well.”

The Senators were the better team and forced overtime in a crazy third period with two goals by Brady Tkachuk, one on the power play with 11 seconds to go, after the Leafs had built a 4-2 lead.

“(The Senators) were buzzing all game, pushing incredibly hard, all the way through the third period. Credit to them,” said Murray. “They tied it up. After that, it was just trying to reset for overtime. Once it gets to the shootout, anything can happen.”

Jake McCabe got his first as a Leaf, while Mitch Marner scored for the second straight night and has a six-game points streak on the go. Calle Järnkrok — playing like he wants to keep skating with Auston Matthews — scored twice to make it three goals in four games and 17 on the season, a career high at age 31.

Of the Leafs’ goalies, Samsonov has been the most reliable from a health standpoint and by the numbers (24-8-3, .917 save percentage). They have a healthy respect for one another, a developing friendship and a healthy competition. But Murray was able to make his case Saturday night.

“We want two goalies to be ready and pushing each other and feeling good,” said Keefe, “and we want our team playing well in front of them.”

Welcome Matt

Forgive the cynics among Leafs followers, but just getting into the crease against Ottawa seemed like a victory for the oft-injured Murray. His two biggest injuries this season came before he was supposed to play against his former team. He hurt his adductor in the morning skate on Oct. 15 and missed the next 14 games, then tweaked his ankle in warm-ups on Jan. 28 and missed 17. So, there was a collective sigh of relief seeing him get through the day in one piece.

Keefe brushed off the coincidences and expressed confidence in his goalie.

“One thing I know about Matt Murray is, he’s unflappable and extremely confident in who he is,” said Keefe. “First of all, it’s his nature. And secondly, once you’ve won two Stanley Cups, I don’t think you care about much else.”

As for the timing of those injuries: “What’s important to me is how he’s handled those situations. He’s worked extremely hard to get himself ready. We’ve been very patient with him, obviously. Our goaltending depth has allowed us to be very patient and work with him. He’s put in a lot of work. We’ve seen good progress in his game.”

Solid start

Murray did seem focused. He was terrific in the first period, when the Senators fired 19 shots while the Leafs managed just nine at Mads Sogaard. The period ended 1-1. McCabe opened the scoring, while the only shot that got by Murray was perhaps the weirdest bounce of the season. After a shot hit Julien Gauthier’s skate, the puck arced eight or nine feet in the air and over Murray. None of the players saw the puck until it bounced behind the goalie and into the net — hardly his fault.

“I couldn’t see it,” said Murray. “It went way up in the air once it was deflected. Pretty crazy bounce in the worst possible spot.”

Through the early part of the second period, Murray was easily the best Leaf. The Senators came at him in droves. A short-handed goal by Tim Stützle gave Ottawa a 2-1 lead, but it woke the Leafs up. Marner scored on that same power play at 6:09 (their first shot of the period). Then Järnkrok scored at even strength to give Toronto a 3-2 lead, even with Ottawa leading 37-20 on shots.

Nine shooters

For a while it seemed everyone was scoring, then no one could score until Kerfoot ended it, giving the Leafs their first shootout victory of the season.

“I was just ready to go home,” said Keefe. “When you get that deep, you don’t really have a plan. It was just based on feel.”

Giordano rests

The Leafs went into the game with quite a different lineup from the one that beat Carolina 5-2 on Friday night. Some of the change was thrust upon them with forward Noel Acciari (undisclosed) injured by a hit from Jesse Puljujarvi. It was a scheduled night off for Samsonov, who remained home nursing undisclosed ailments, so the Leafs called up Joseph Woll to back up Murray.

But as Keefe went back to a 12-forward, six-defencemen lineup, it meant Wayne Simmonds and Bobby McMann were back in, as well as Justin Holl. That meant taking out Erik Gustafsson and — hold the presses — Mark Giordano. The elder statesman (39) among NHL skaters hadn’t missed a game all season, and probably didn’t want to miss this one. Keefe was looking at the big picture.

“It was a chance for us to give Giordano a break,” said Keefe. “He’s played a lot of minutes this season, probably more than anticipated, just how much we needed him at different times. So, being a back-to-back at this time of year and the depth that we have with so many healthy defencemen, it gives him a break. We want to keep our guys involved.”

Keefe added that Acciari had a “positive day,” worked out on his own in Toronto and has not been diagnosed with a concussion.