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The Buzzer: Ducks’ Boyle gets first NHL start, first win and first shutout

kevinboyle

Three stars

1. Kevin Boyle, Anaheim Ducks

Boyle, 26, made his first NHL start and was perfect in the game, stopping all 35 shots sent his way for his first NHL shutout.

The Boyle era began after John Gibson was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday with an upper-body injury. Chad Johnson, Gibson’s backup and the man who Boyle had to come in for in a relief effort on Saturday, is out with a head injury.

The game was also the first for Bob Murray behind the bench after he took over following the firing of Randy Carlyle earlier this week.

And the win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Ducks, who came into the game losers for 19 of their past 21.

And this reaction:

“I honestly don’t have many words, this is incredible,” an emotional Boyle said in the post-game interview. “It’s been a tough past couple of days for me and my wife and my family. To be able to come out here and get a win, it’s just incredible.”

The New Jersey native said he thinks he blacked out around the same time the Canucks pulled the goalie late in the third.

Boyle has spent the past three seasons with San Diego of the American Hockey League. He played college puck at UMass-Lowell.

He’ll get another start.

2. Matt Murray, Pittsburgh Penguins

Shot suppression hasn’t been something the Penguins have been all that good at over the past two games. Murray stopped a career-high 50 shots in a 4-1 win on Monday.

Two days later, Murray was back in the crease, and while the siege wasn’t as heavy, he still made 38 saves in a 3-1 win.

Getting pelted every night and only allowing a single goal probably isn’t sustainable, but Murray’s play is going to be a massive factor down the stretch of Pittsburgh is going to take another run at Lord Stanley. If he’s starting to heat up now, there’s not a better time to do so.

3. Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks

Markstrom only had one blemish on his record in the loss to the Ducks. He stopped 21 shots in his return after missing Monday’s 7-2 slaughtering at the hands of the San Jose Sharks with back spasms.

Markstrom has been solid recently, despite a subpar Canucks team in front of him. He’s had a .930 save percentage or better in four of his past six starts now.

Highlights of the night

The OG Mighty Ducks:

This one-two punch:

Factoids

Scores

Penguins 3, Oilers 1
Ducks 1, Canucks 0


Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck