What to expect on the road to the Stanley Cup
TAMPA - Troy Murray answers questions ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Blackhawks and Lightning.
Q: What makes Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos such a dynamic player and what can Hawks fans expect to see from him in this series?
A: He's just one of those players that just has a different skill set than most. He's going to go down as one of the great goal-scorers in the history of the NHL. Maybe the best one-timer, along with (Washington's) Alex Ovechkin, in the game.
He shoots the puck hard and there's no explanation for why it comes off so hard or how accurate it is. It's really tough to defend against him, even though you know it's coming. He finds those seams.
Like a Brett Hull, you can track him all over the offensive zone as much as you want, but he has that ability to sneak away from pressure and find those areas where he can let go of a shot.
He's a more physical player than a lot of people think; he's a great skater. … He's a very dynamic player and one of the best all-around players in the game today.
Q: How much advantage do the Hawks have in this series where Joel Quenneville has so much experience and it's Jon Cooper's first time in the Cup Final?
A: (Coaching is) a chess match as far as looking for opportunities to take any kind of advantage. I think that Joel Quenneville is as good of a coach as anybody in the NHL in recognizing those situations.
Ken Hitchcock from St. Louis said he always enjoys the chess match between him and Joel. That's something that you'll see here. I think that there's going to be some interesting decisions made by the coaches within the game because there's not a familiarity between Jon Cooper and Joel Quenneville in playoff competition.
When you go head to head a lot of times against a coach like Hitchcock, you get into his mindset of what he wants to do and you make adjustments accordingly.
These two coaches will have a feeling-out process in how he likes to coach; what matchups he's looking for; how does he take advantage of certain situations and how do you counter that?
Q: The Lightning's Triplet's Line (Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov) have combined for 55 points in the playoffs so far. What do the Hawks need to do so contain that line?
A: You have to be aware of their ability to create chances off the rush. Their speed is a major factor. The two guys on the wing (Palat and Kucherov) on that line are heavy players and they play strong in the corners. Tyler Johnson's not the biggest guy (5-feet-8, 183 pounds), but he competes fiercely. You know, you look at a guy like (the Hawks') Andrew Shaw and you say, 'Well, he's not that big.' It's not really all about size - it's how hard you compete.
And Tyler Johnson is one of those guys, the more you see him, the more impressed you are with his ability to compete against bigger players. In that (Eastern Conference finals) series against the Rangers, at times he was matched up against Kevin Hayes, who is 6-5. Didn't deter him from going right through it.
(The Hawks must) take away time and space, limit their opportunities and try to take away their creativity by putting pressure on them. The one thing the Hawks' defense is built for is to match speed. A guy like Duncan Keith is as quick as anybody at taking away time and space.
The Blackhawks are going to have to be aware of a very dangerous line that competes in all areas. … Obviously, it's going to be a big part of the series to see if the Blackhawks are able to shut down that line and limit their scoring chances.