Toews' 1,000th game only memorable part of Blackhawks' loss
Of all the heartfelt messages sent to Jonathan Toews congratulating the Blackhawks captain on his 1,000th game, one definitely stood out.
It came in the form of a letter and was posted on Blackhawks.com before the visiting Hawks dropped a 4-0 decision to the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
The author was none other than Troy Murray, who also wore '19' for the Hawks and has been doing color commentary on WGN 720-AM for the last 14 years.
"I've been lucky to watch you grow from a 19-year-old rookie to one of the best leaders this game has ever seen," Murray wrote. "But what I treasure the most is our friendship - a bond that is extra special between No. 19s. You have always found the time to talk, and a lot of those talks had nothing to do with hockey, just a conversation between two friends. Thank you for that!
"Congratulations on your milestone achievement and hoping for many more games in your tremendous career. You are a great player, a great person, and most importantly a great friend."
Truly a classy move by a classy individual.
Murray has been battling cancer since last fall and missed most of the first half of the season. He has been a steady presence in the booth lately, however, and will hopefully be at Sunday's game when the Hawks honor Toews with a pregame ceremony.
Other tributes came from former Hawks forwards Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Ladd and Dave Bolland, defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook and goalie Corey Crawford.
"It's your favorite winger here," Hossa said with a wide smile. "What a great accomplishment and I'm happy for you. Well deserved. I was lucky to play with a special player and a special leader like you are."
The Hawks did a few things of their own to recognize the achievement, including stacking pucks by Toews' stall so that they read '1,000'. They then made sure he was the last player to hit the ice for warmups and greeted him with wide smiles, high-fives and plenty of pats on the back.
The moment wasn't lost on the fans, either, as they greeted Toews with a rousing ovation during pregame introductions.
"Obviously it's special. I'm very grateful to make it to this point," said Toews, who became the eighth player in franchise history to play in 1,000 games. "Mostly just want to share that appreciation with my teammates. Not asking them for anything, but they were very good at giving me all the recognition and putting me on the spot with all that.
"Otherwise it was a special game, win or lose."
Despite the lopsided final score, the Hawks hung with Florida for a while and nearly tied it on back-to-back point-blank shots by Toews five minutes into the second period. Toews was unable to elevate the second attempt enough to get the puck over Sergei Bobrovsky's left pad.
Moments later, Ryan Lomberg flew into the offensive zone and gave Florida (46-15-6) a 2-0 lead when his shot zipped past Collin Delia (40 saves). Gustav Forsling then made it 3-0 at 11:46 of the second period.
The Hawks (24-34-10) were shut out for the seventh time this season. They play at Tampa Bay on Friday.