Murray: Not easy to limit Tampa's scoring chances
With the Blackhawks traveling to Tampa Bay for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, Troy Murray weighs in on how the Hawks can limit the Lightning's scoring chances, why the Hawks are so good late in series, the effects of Joel Quenneville's line changes, and whether it matters if Ben Bishop can start in goal for the Lightning.
Q: How can the hawks keep Tampa from getting so many shots at Corey Crawford?
A: Tampa was the highest scoring team in the NHL, so they've got a lot of firepower, they know how to attack, and they attack in different ways. They can score off the rush with their speed and their transition game. They're really good in their cycle down low. Their defense is very active. So it's not that easy to try to defend a team that had the most goals during the regular season.
The Blackhawks have to make sure that they have numbers, and they have responsibility at their own end of the ice, and try to force Tampa to the outside as much as possible to block out the shooting lanes.
Q: The Hawks have had a lot of wins in Games 5 through 7 in past playoff series. What makes them so successful in those types of situations?
A: They have that core group of guys who have been in that situation before. The Blackhawks core guys have been able to raise their game to a different level at the important times of series since they've been together here in Chicago. A lot of times, because of the skill that they have, when they match that intensity and work ethic and desire, their skill separates them from the other teams.
Q: Coach Quenneville changed up the lines significantly for Game 4. If he continues to do that in Game 5, what effect will it have on the team's play?
A: Q has always been a guy that switches lines period to period, shift to shift. He's a believer that you don't want to get stuck in the same rut with the same lines, and then if you have to make a change at some point for an injury, you like other players to be comfortable with one another. During the regular season, Quenneville likes to keep two guys together and then rotate in a third guy.
In the last game, he got away from the normal rotation he does with his lines, but when you're looking for different matchups, Quenneville is as good as any coach in the NHL at figuring out what matchup is going to give you a better advantage.
I wouldn't be surprised if the lines are adjusted again in Game 5, for a lot of reasons. Now you don't have that last line change, don't have the ability to get the guys on the ice during stoppage of play that you would like to because Tampa has to put their guys on first. He'll make some different adjustments going into the next game, I would assume, or go back to the lines everyone assumed he was going to start.
There's always a chess match in the mind of Joel Quenneville as to how he can get some advantages in different situations and get players together that he feels are hot or have some good chemistry.
Q: Does their strategy change on which goalkeeper plays for the Lightning, Bishop or Andrei Vasilevskiy?
A: It doesn't change. You've got a game plan in your head, and nobody's going to know (who will start) basically until puck drop. Obviously you've got a young goaltender who doesn't have the same experience that Ben Bishop has. You want to test the goalkeeper as much as possible.
Both goaltenders are good. Both goaltenders know what they need to do for Tampa, so whichever guy starts, you just pencil in the thought 'here's what we need to do for this guy.'
• Murray is in his 15th year as a member of the Blackhawks broadcast team and his eighth as the color analyst for the team's radio broadcasts. The Selke Award winner was a five-time 20-goal scorer who played 15 years in the NHL. Follow him on Twitter@muzz19.