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Garth Murray appears to very slowly be working his way into the Canadiens lineup, one shift and one weekend at a time.

The 23-year-old native of Regina might have even had to sharpen his blades yesterday morning, which would have been a stride in the right direction.

Murray could have worn skate guards a week ago, having ridden the bench Dec. 3 for the entire 60 minutes against the Los Angeles Kings, his first game in a Canadiens sweater.

But he earned his shower Saturday, and only partly because he pedalled the stationary bike after the game. Called up for the second time in as many weekends from the Canadiens' Hamilton Bulldogs farm club, Murray logged 2:54 of playing time in Montreal's 5-3 loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

He was given four shifts by coach Claude Julien, playing 1:24, 52 seconds and 38 seconds in the three periods. Murray was the most lightly used player on either team, skating for less time than it took him to clear airport security Friday in Hamilton for his now weekly flight to Montreal.

But he didn't look out of place on a night when most everyone wearing the CH, playing their first game in a week, seemed to forget this wasn't a practice.

And there was no plane ticket back to Hamilton awaiting him. He was at the Bell Centre yesterday noon for full-team off-ice work and to review Saturday's ugly videotape, and skated for an hour at Verdun with injured forwards Saku Koivu (groin) and Alex Kovalev (knee), defencemen Francis Bouillon and Mark Streit, and goalie Cristobal Huet.

Murray seems likely to be still in Montreal tomorrow, when the Canadiens play the Phoenix Coyotes before heading west to Edmonton and Minnesota for games Thursday and Saturday.

The Canadiens bench has been shortened lately by groin injuries; Radek Bonk is out indefinitely, and Koivu, in the dressing room postgame Saturday to greet a group of young cancer patients, is carefully working back into shape.

So Murray has seized his opportunity, no matter how it's come, and hopes his stiff legs aren't filled with cement when he's finally sent onto the ice.

Even if you blinked and missed it Saturday, he'll never forget his Canadiens debut.

"The legs sometimes weren't following the brain out there, but I got it going a bit," he said, "I was pretty excited, obviously."

Murray joined the Canadiens on Sept. 30, arriving from the New York Rangers in a trade for Marcel Hossa. A strong defensive forward, he was assigned to the AHL Bulldogs, where in 26 games he has one goal and one assist, with 46 penalty minutes.

It was his first trade ever, from junior through the pros.

"It was a weird feeling," he admitted. "But the guys have been great in Hamilton and here,as well. It's been an easy transition. They've made me feel at home."

The former captain of the Regina Pats was selected by the New York Rangers in the third round of the 2001 draft (79th overall). He was a premier power forward in the Western Hockey League, and played on Canada's silver-medal winners at the 2002 world junior championship.

Murray spent most of his Rangers life with their AHL affiliate in Hartford, but did play 20 games with New York in 2003-04, scoring a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins 21 months ago for his one and only NHL point.

That puck is at home, mounted on a plaque by the Rangers.

"It's waiting to go up when I get a house," he said, laughing.

Murray was first summoned from the Bulldogs a week ago Friday. He never left the bench in the Canadiens' 3-2 victory over the Kings, and was immediately returned to Hamilton.

History - his own family's, certainly - will record that he was a Canadien for 69 minutes before he took his first shift against the mightier-than-Montreal Ducks, on a line with Steve Begin and Niklas Sundstrom. He bobbled a pass to start, but then sent an Anaheim opponent into his own time zone with a crushing check.

"I figured I'd get a couple of chances," he said. "(Julien) just expected me to be strong defensively, to try to get some energy going for the guys, get some hits, to do the little things out there."

And if Murray has spent most of his two games on the bench, sitting is hardly a tragedy for this patient young player. He was much closer to the real thing in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001.

He was an 18-year-old attending the Rangers training camp that morning, undergoing a physical when two hijacked jets slammed into the World Trade Centre. He could see the skyscrapers ablaze from outside Madison Square Garden.

"People ask: 'Where were you on 9/11?' and I say: 'A few miles up the road,' " Murray said. "It was nuts. I'm at my first-ever NHL training camp and my eyes are wide open enough, seeing (Rangers stars) Mark Messier, Theo Fleury, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter.

"And then ... this. It was a totally different world, panic and fire trucks everywhere."

Things were calmer in Montreal on Saturday, though family and friends in Regina might have been a little worked up.

"There are lots of Canadiens fans back home," he said, grinning. "I'm playing this by ear, and I do what they tell me.

"I'm excited to be part of this organization. I just have to be ready when my time comes."

At least the ice is no longer just a rumour in Montreal.

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005


Canadiens centre Garth Murray checks Anaheim Mighty Ducks defenceman Vitaly Vishnevski during his first shift Saturday.