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Less than a minute into the second period Sunday afternoon, with a place in history on the line, Springfield Falcons forward Sean Collins got behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defense and skated alone up the right wing.

Goalie Matt Murray was on the verge of setting a league record for longest shutout streak, and this was going to be Springfield’s last, best chance at snapping it.

Collins fired. Murray deftly swatted the puck away to the corner. About two minutes later, the record was his.

Murray stopped 32 shots to win his seventh straight decision, beating Springfield, 4-1. He ran his shutout streak to 304 minutes, 11 seconds before Dana Tyrell snapped it late in the third period.

The record of 268:17, set by Abbotsford’s Barry Brust in 2012-13, fell a little less than three minutes into the second period. Before Brust took the record, it was held by Hall of Fame goalie Johnny Bower for more than 50 years.

“To be mentioned with a guy like (Bower), that seems a little ridiculous to me,” Murray said. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near guys like that yet. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around it, but it’s nice. I’m really proud of the way the team played to get the win today.”

Murray said he saw a mention of the record on Twitter after he blanked Manchester, 3-0, on Saturday night, but he wasn’t aware of exactly how many scoreless minutes he needed to break it.

So when Collins took his shot from the right wing, Murray didn’t necessarily realize the gravity of the situation.

“I just knew that was a big point in the game,” Murray said. “We were up, 1-0, at

that point. I knew I had to make the save and keep momentum on our side.”

He made that save and 30 others before Tyrell scored on a breakaway with 1:11 left in the game.

Tyrell faked to the forehand, went to the backhand and slipped a shot along the ice just inside the right post. Murray actually stopped the initial shot with his left pad, but it pinballed in between his pads for a goal.

“It’s one that I should have had, I think,” Murray said. “It’s not like the guy made a great shot or anything. I made the first save and it kind of went off his skate and got past me. It’s one that I could have made and probably should have made. Just annoys me a little bit.”

That attitude — being annoyed by one goal allowed after more than 300 scoreless minutes — is probably a big part of what allowed Murray to break the record in the first place.

“I hate getting scored on, I guess you could say, so I’m always competing,” Murray said. “No matter where the shot’s coming from, no matter what the situation the in the game, I try to always be ready and always compete and try to make the next save. That’s really how I look at it. One save at a time.”

Murray, who made one more save after the goal, said he also looks at it as a team record, giving credit to his teammates for their defensive efforts.

On Sunday, their offensive efforts weren’t bad either.

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on the power play in the first period when Tom Kostopoulos redirected in an Andrew Ebbett pass with his skate.

They made it 3-0 with a couple of highlight-reel goals in the second. Adam Payerl knocked the rebound of a Scott Wilson shot in out of midair at 6:38 and Ebbett took a pass from Conor Sheary in the slot and scored on a backhand shot as he was being knocked to his knees at 16:37.

Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond tacked on his second goal of the season in the third.

“There’s no chance I could do it by myself,” Murray said. “The team’s so committed to defense. I say it every time, but it’s so true. They’re so committed to blocking shots. Our D corps always plays so solid in front of me. It’s definitely a team achievement for sure.”

MR. PERFECT

Here is a breakdown of Matt Murray’s AHL record shutout streak, which began in the third period of a game Feb. 8 at Bridgeport and ended in the third period of a game Sunday in Springfield. All told, he stopped 129 shots over 304 minutes, 11 seconds.

Date Opponent Svs Time Result

Feb. 8 at Bridgeport 4 5:48 3-1 W

Feb. 13 Portland 23 60:00 3-0 W

Feb. 21 Providence 22 60:00 2-0 W

March 1 at Bridgeport 18 59:34 7-0 W

March 7 at Manchester 32 60:00 3-0 W

March 8 at Springfield 31 58:49 4-1 W

SUPER STREAKS

The three longest shutout streaks in AHL history

1. Matt Murray, Penguins 2014-15 304:11

2. Barry Brust, Abbotsford 2012-13 268:17

3. Johnny Bower, Cleveland 1957-58 249:51