Team North America letting competition play out before naming No. 1 goalie

PITTSBURGH – Matt Murray has yet to play in front of a Pittsburgh crowd as a Stanley Cup champion. He could get the opportunity on Wednesday afternoon if he’s chosen as the starter for Team North America’s final World Cup of Hockey exhibition game against the Czech Republic at Consol Energy Center.

The 21-year-old Murray, who backstopped the Penguins to the Cup title last spring, wasn’t ready to reveal whether or not he’d be in goal.

“I don’t make lineup announcements. You can ask coach about that,” Murray said with a wry smile Tuesday afternoon from the Penguins’ practice facility.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Hockey: Sign up and join a league today!]

Team North America head coach Todd McLellan said he would make a decision on the game’s starter with his staff later in the afternoon and wasn’t ready to automatically call Murray’s number because they’ll be in front of a sold-out crowd of Penguins fans.

“We can’t satisfy all of those personal needs. Obviously having him start here would be a great thing, but we’ve still got to make that decision as coaches,” McLellan said. “It’s the unfortunate thing when you only have so many games and we’re playing in a hometown, it’s more about us getting prepared and getting ready than it is to satisfy family and friends. We’re not going to apologize for it, but that’s just the way it is.”

Murray played the full 60 minutes of Team North America’s first exhibition game against Team Europe, a 4-0 victory. John Gibson backstopped the entire 7-4 win in their second meeting with Team Europe on Sunday leaving Connor Hellebuyck the only goaltender to not get any action so far.

Given McLellan’s goalie usage through two games and Murray’s success with the Penguins last season and his one start with Team North America, does that automatically make him the No. 1 when they drop the puck against Finland on Sunday? Not necessarily. Playing three games in a short span could affect a decision, as could the potential importance of their final round robin game against Sweden.

“There’s still competition,” said McLellan. “We feel like we have three that can play at any given time. But we’ll find a starting point and if that individual plays the way we think he can perhaps we run them all the way through. The other variable that comes in is three games in basically two and a half days. We play back-to-back and then an afternoon match. We’ll have to consider that when we look at the workload that the goaltender’s getting.”

– – – – – – –

Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy