Hawks' Murphy shows a bit of scoring touch
Connor Murphy knows his job description on the Blackhawks.
It's to shut down the opponent's top players. To get out of the defensive zone as quickly and efficiently as possible. And to be a relentless, shot-blocking machine on the penalty kill.
If Murphy excels in these areas, it bodes well for the Hawks and gives them a chance to win every night.
But that doesn't mean the veteran defenseman is going to pass up scoring chances when they present themselves.
"Everyone can get used to scoring, yes," Murphy said after the Hawks' 6-2 victory Sunday over Detroit at the United Center. "It's always something you have fun with."
Which is exactly what Murphy did after pounding home his second goal of the season after a puck slithered to him in the second period. After the shot found its mark - giving the Hawks a 3-1 lead - Murphy turned to the stands and gave an awkward-looking arm pump.
Normally, he would have been met by a sea of excited fans - all screaming their lungs out - as he approached the glass.
But that obviously won't be happening anytime soon.
"There's definitely a lot of emotion that goes into scoring with the fans and especially at home with our building and the goal song," Murphy said. "That's something that everyone misses. I imagine the guys that score a lot, like Kaner, miss that even more than when I get my here-and-there (goal)."
Those here-and-there goals are happening with a bit more regularity of late. During Murphy's first five seasons, he scored just 15 times in 334 games. That works out to 3.7 goals per season.
Over his last two-plus campaigns, though, Murphy has scored 12 times in 116 contests - or 8.5 per 82 games.
While no one will ever mistake him for Roman Josi, Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Burns or Dougie Hamilton, Murphy has nonetheless made a concerted effort to fine-tune his craft.
This off-season, for example, Murphy did plenty of on-ice work with Brian Keane, the founder of the locally-based Prodigy Hockey. They worked on producing consistent, flat passes up to the forwards out of the defensive zone and also tried to make him more dangerous while skating with the puck.
"You're always trying to add things or even just fine-tune things," Murphy said. "You hear about top players working a lot of basics. Try to follow that model to make sure you're keeping up with those things. If you don't have those things down, your game isn't going to grow."
Which it most certainly has since Murphy arrived in Chicago after general manager Stan Bowman acquired him from Arizona for Niklas Hjalmarsson in 2017. That first season was definitely a tough one, especially early on when Murphy was scratched three times in the first 12 games. He sat out three more times as well and ended up averaging a career-low 16 minutes, 22 seconds of ice time.
Although the injury bug has bit him a few times since, Murphy has done a nice job evolving his game to fit the frenetic pace of today's NHL.
An avid golfer, he's happy to tee up more and more shots on the ice in recent years as well. After averaging 1.1 shots on goal during his first four campaigns, Murphy has thrown 1.43, 1.62 and 2.02 shots on net over the past three seasons.
"He's put some work into it," coach Jeremy Colliton said. "He's grown a lot more comfortable being active, jumping in off the rush as the fourth guy, finding a way to get pucks through (on shots).
"A lot of times from the top in the zone, it's not so much about going bar down on point shots. It's finding the net, getting it past the first block.
"Typically a lot of good things happen after that. He's defending really well, so when you do that, the guys you're with have the puck and you have the opportunity to chip in a little more offensively."
By the numbers
<b>Connor Murphy's career stats</b>Season, team GP G A Pts. SOG TOI
2013-14, Coyotes 30 1 7 8 1.0 17:59
2014-15, Coyotes 73 4 3 7 0.99 16:48
2015-16, Coyotes 78 6 11 17 1.3 20:30
2016-17, Coyotes 77 2 15 17 1.05 19:11
2017-18, HAWKS 76 2 12 14 1.43 16:22
2018-19, HAWKS 52 5 8 13 1.62 19:29
2019-20, HAWKS 58 5 14 19 2.02 21:15
2020-21, HAWKS 6 2 3 5 1.83 22:27
GP: Games played; SOG: Shots on goal per game; TOI: Average time on ice