Murray: Hjalmarsson underrated, unsung hero for Hawks
With the Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning returning to Chicago Monday for a possible Cup-clinching Game 6, Troy Murray discusses the play of Niklas Hjalmarsson, the performance of the Hawks' less well-known players, the parity of the two teams, and the repercussions of Nikita Kucherov's potential absence.
Q: Niklas Hjalmarsson has been blocking shots consistently throughout the playoffs. How crucial is he to the Hawks defense?
A: As each year goes by and players play against Niklas, they get a good awareness of how good he really is. The way the he sacrifices himself to block shots is pretty amazing. I don't know if people realize how much it hurts to get hit by pucks. He's one of those guys that's willing to stand there and take those hits and take the abuse and be that type of player.
He's a very underrated, unsung hero who the Blackhawks are very fortunate to have.
Q: The third and fourth lines have been productive for the Hawks. What are they doing that's made them so successful lately?
A: They work hard. Both teams have been able to stifle the top players - the Patrick Kane, Steven Stamkos types - and are not getting offensive results that they would be looking for at this point in the series. That can change in a heartbeat, but depth is one thing the Blackhawks have always had in winning their Stanley Cups - the ability to roll all four lines and have everyone involved in the equation offensively.
Joel Quenneville likes to have that opportunity to roll four lines and mix-and-match different combinations, and that shows what the Blackhawks have been able to do throughout this whole process, losing a lot of players because of the salary cap implications since 2010 and still being able to find those players that are very significant in the long run of success for the team.
(Antoine) Vermette's line was great last night and so was Marcus Kruger's. That's a big reason why they were able to win.
Q: Every game in this series has been won or lost by one goal. What does that say about these two teams?
A: These are two great teams. I'll be the first to say that I'm very impressed. You don't see Tampa as much as you see some of the Western Conference teams, so you don't know how good this team really is. Some of their players, you really don't know a whole lot about - guys like Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn. We had probably no idea that Victor Hedman is as good a defenseman as he has shown here in the postseason.
These two teams are very, very close. Games have gone one way or the other based on one bounce or one play. It's two teams that deserve to be here. It's pretty incredible how both of these teams have given everything that they have.
Q: How might the injury to Nikita Kucherov change the Tampa Bay offense?
A: If Tampa doesn't have Kucherov available, that's obviously a big blow. That line of Johnson, Palat and Kucherov is considered one of the best lines for Tampa, not only in the regular season when they had some ungodly numbers but also in the postseason. Kucherov is the second-leading scorer in the postseason.
If he's not able to play, you have to rely on the depth in the organization and the players that they have.
• Murray is in his 15th year as a member of the Blackhawks broadcast team and his eighth as the color analyst for the team's radio broadcasts. The Selke Award winner was a five-time 20-goal scorer who played 15 years in the NHL. Follow him on Twitter@muzz19.