Murray 'excited' about special tribute

Former Hawks player and current Hawks radio analyst Troy Murray knows which highlight he will be most looking forward to during Thursday night's video tribute to him, part of the Blackhawks' Heritage Night series.

"I would say the goal I scored in the last game of the season in overtime against Toronto (1989) to get us in the playoffs," Murray said. "We went on a really nice run after that and lost in the conference finals to Calgary."

Murray, who played parts of 12 seasons with the Hawks, ranks 14th on the team's all-time assists list with 291 and is 15th in points (488). Thursday will be his night to receive some well-deserved kudos.

"I'm excited," he said. "It's an honor to be recognized in front of 21,000 people. It's pretty special, and I'm very appreciative to everyone involved in the process."

Fighting mad: Think it was unusual to see Hawks captain Jonathan Toews drop the glove recently?

Evidently it's spreading.

In Tuesday's loss to St. Louis, Columbus captain Rick Nash went at it with the Blues' David Backes. It was Nash's first fight since his November 2007 tilt against former Hawk Jim Vandermeer.

Ouch: Andrew Ladd was sporting four stitches above his right eye after taking a hit in Sunday's loss to Anaheim.

He said it: Captain Jonathan Toews on what he did at the conclusion of the Hawks' recent stretch of 18 games in 33 days: "Sleep it off. Hang out. Spend some time at home. Kick back a little bit. It does a lot of good and makes you want to come back to the rink and work hard."