Improvement? Sure - but it 'wasn't good enough'
Troy Murray, who spent 12 years of a 15-year career with the Blackhawks and now is the team's color analyst on WGN 720-AM, offers his perspective on the Blackhawks-Red Wings series.
Q: Andrew Ladd said the other day he thought the Blackhawks were moving in the right direction heading into Game 3. Do you see that as well?
Murray: Well, I think they took a good step forward from Game 1 to Game 2, but Game 2 wasn't good enough. They're getting closer. They played well and you certainly have a lot of positives to take out of that game, but if there's a lesson to be learned it's that you almost have to be mistake-free against the Red Wings no matter how good you play.
Q: Is there enough time left in this series for the Hawks?
Murray: Oh yeah. Game 3 is huge. Game 4 is huge. You take care of home ice now and you go into Detroit for Game 5 and see what happens. Hopefully they are going back to Detroit in a situation where it is the best two out of three.
Q: What improvements did you see between Game 1 and Game 2?
Murray: I think they were smarter in a lot of areas. There was good puck management. As Joel Quenneville talked about after Game 1, especially late in the shift, I thought there was some real good decisions there. When legs were tired and people needed a line change, the puck went in deep, something that didn't happen in Game 1. You didn't see as many turnovers in the neutral zone. They were executing at a better level than they were in Game 1. The unfortunate thing is there were a couple mistakes in the game. That happens, it's part of hockey. Brian Campbell's mistake ...
Q: What was your take on that play?
Murray: It was a great play by Samuelsson, but in my mind in overtime, you can't force the issue to make that play. I always say and I was taught when I came into the NHL, in certain situations you live to fight another day. That means you have to take the safe play sometimes even though you don't want to make that play. To me the safe play is that the puck goes in deep and if Detroit is going to beat you, you want them to beat you from behind their own net all the way down.
Q: What do you need to see from the Hawks tonight?
Murray: You expect that Detroit is going to be better in Game 3 and you have to understand that what you had last game, even though it was good and close, it wasn't good enough. That's the bottom line. You were close, you could've deserved better, but the bottom line is that you're down 2-0. You have to go into the game thinking, 'We have to play our best game for 60 minutes and further - if that's what it takes - without making mistakes.'
• Mike Spellman interviews Troy Murray before each playoff game. Murray is in his sixth season as color analyst for Blackhawks radio broadcasts on WGN 720-AM.