Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray won the Stanley Cup in each of his first two NHL postseasons. On Monday, he was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time at the hands of the Washington Capitals.

Murray allowed a goal to Evgeny Kuznetsov on an overtime breakaway in Monday's Game 6, ending the Penguins' season.

"Just empty, I guess, would be a good word," Murray told NHL.com of how he felt. "We battled right to the end, though. We left it all on the ice. That's all we can do. But it's tough, obviously."

The 23-year-old failed to perform to previous playoff standards this year. He finished the postseason with a 6-6 record and a .908 save percentage after posting a combined .928 save percentage in the previous two postseasons.

Murray stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced on Monday and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said goaltending was not the reason for the loss. 

"He made some big saves," Sullivan said after the loss. "He gave us a chance to win. That's all you can ask."

Like Murray in net, Sullivan won the Stanley Cup in each of his first two seasons behind the bench in Pittsburgh. Monday marked his first loss in a playoff series as a head coach since 2004, when he was with the Boston Bruins.

"I think sometimes we all learn more from our failures than we do our successes," Sullivan said. "I think this group knows how hard it is to win in the playoffs. All the teams are really good. There's a fine line between winning and losing. We haven't tasted this in a long time, and that's a credit to the group of players that is in that dressing room."

Defenceman Kris Letang, who missed the entire 2017 postseason, said the Penguins were not resting on their past accomplishments and simply fell short this year.

"I mean, we had a great chance to do it again," Letang said of winning the Cup. "The team we have, the way we were playing, I don't think we got dominated by that team. But we have to tip our hat to that group. They capitalized on the chances they got. In the few years, yeah, we've done great things.

"But we expect more."