PITTSBURGH — The question wasn’t about Jeff Zatkoff. The question was about Matt Murray — and Jim Rutherford, clearly, had no problem giving an answer about Matt Murray.
Murray’s got everything you look for in a young goaltender, Rutherford told Sporting News on Tuesday: size, fundamentals, mental toughness. He smiled at the opportunity to bring up his 21-year-old safety net. He glowed.
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A bit before that — and it seemed shoehorned in at the time — Rutherford brought up Jeff Zatkoff, the backup goaltender Murray unseated, the assumption went, for good in March and April.