Murray, on the goalie switch

Here’s what Terry Murray said today about making a switch in goal, from Jonathan Quick to Erik Ersberg, who will get his second start of the season. Interesting to note that Murray isn’t automatically going back to Quick. An attempt to create some competition might be the best thing that could happen to both goalies.

MURRAY: “I made the decision based on the last game. There were several goals, I think, that Quicker would like to have a re-do on. The other part of it is, we’ve had very few practice times since we came back from that six-game road trip. There’s been nine games, I believe, and few practices. He’s a young goaltender, and when you get away from the fundamentals of the game, it shows. It just gives him an opportunity to work with Billy (Ranford) for a couple days and focus in on one or two areas so that he can get back on top of things again. And it’s (Ersberg’s) time. I said that he would get a game sometime on this road trip, and it’s his time to step in and give him an effort.”

Question: Do you do this with the understanding that Quick will be back in for the next game?

MURRAY: “No. Ersberg is playing here tonight, and there’s nothing else that needs to be interpreted into that. It’s just, we’ll see how things go here tonight, and I’ll get a feel for Quick as we watch practice again tomorrow, and how Billy is making out with him.”

Later, in response to a question that was actually about Carolina goalie Manny Legace, Murray again addressed his goalie situation…

MURRAY: “I’m not laying all of the responsibilites on our goaltender by making the change. It’s a team game, and we need to be good in front of him. We need to cut back on the quality scoring chances and play the right way. It works both ways.”