The Pittsburgh Penguins just played two games with the Nashville Predators in Sweden. It was a homecoming for Penguins' Erik Karlsson and for the Predators' Filip Forsberg. While the Penguins and Predators split the two-game series, Sergei Murashov joined an exclusive club in the Penguins' 4-0 win on Sunday.
According to NHL Public Relations, Murashov became just the third goaltender to have a shutout in an NHL regular-season game outside of North America. Murashov saved all 21 shots he faced in the 4-0 win over the Predators. Meanwhile, the Penguins had just 22 shots, but still scored four times in the game. The Predators also had four powerplay attempts, but still did not score.
The first shutout on non-North American soil in a regular-season NHL game came from Antti Niemi. He stopped 23 shots for the Chicago Blackhawks in Helsinki, Finland. They defeated the Florida Panthers in the win. Then, in 2010, in a game in Prague, Czech Republic, Tim Thomas stopped all 29 shots he faced in a Boston Bruins win over the Phoenix Coyotes.
There have been other shutouts outside of the United States and Canada, but those were all in exhibition games. This includes the New York Rangers shutting out the Bruins in West Germany in 1959, plus the Minnesota North Stars shutting out Djurgarden Stockholm in 1980.
This was just the second start of Murashov's NHL career. In his first start, he gave up three goals on 27 shots in the loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Murashov was the 118th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Penguins. After time in the MHL and KHL, he joined the Penguins franchise last season.
Murashov was outstanding in both the ECHL and AHL during the 2024-25 season. He was dominant in the AHL this year before getting the call up, going 5-2-1 wth a 1.73 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.
The Penguins are now 10-5-4 on the year, which is good for third in the Metropolitan Division. They return to the ice Friday night to host the Minnesota Wild.
