Hawks prevail thanks to power play, Byfuglien
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-Canucks series.
Q: You've always said they have to capitalize on the power play, and the Hawks sure did that Saturday.
Murray: That was a great example of how a power play can make the difference in a hockey game. When you're playing a team like Vancouver and they're not giving you a whole lot of opportunities, you have to be able to take advantage of the situations that are given to you.
Q: Where would the Hawks be without Dustin Byfuglien?
Murray: He's playing very well. He's such a big body and such a unique package; it's something that Vancouver has to focus on - he's playing that well. Even on the goal that Dave Bolland scored, Dustin Byfuglien was standing in front of Roberto Luongo. I don't know if he saw the pass clearly, but he looked as if he was a little slow in reacting and the reason was Byfuglien was in front of the net.
Q: Do you expect the officials to call a tighter game tonight?
Murray: I don't know how the game is going to be called, but the one thing Vancouver and the Blackhawks have to be very concerned with is one bad undisciplined call could be the difference in the game.
If there's pushing and shoving after the whistle and you're the guy that gets caught, and that goal makes the difference ... in an elimination game there's a little bit of a different approach to it. You have to be so careful what you do.
Q: From the Blackhawks perspective, what's the one thing that concerns you about tonight's game?
Murray: Well, it's always the hardest game of a series to close it out. You look at that last game in Calgary, it was because of Nikolai Khabibulin that they were able to move on.
You know that Vancouver is going to give it everything they have. There's no tomorrow. This is their last kick of the can. When you have that opportunity to do something at home in Game 6, make the most of it. Don't take this lightly and think the series is over because we still have to win another game.
Q: The Hawks will clinch the series tonight if ...
Murray: Their will is more than Vancouver's will.