Joe Murphy’s goal drought has become particularly severe in the last two games against Ottawa. In 125 minutes of play, the right wing generated one shot on net. He has three goals in his last 16 games.
So the experiment in Monday’s 1-0 victory in Ottawa, which had Murphy spending a sizeable portion of the game with center Christian Ruuttu before being reunited with Jeremy Roenick in the third period, was less than a resounding success.
“Inside the blue line, Roenick and Murphy play well together,” coach Darryl Sutter said. “But they both want to carry the puck through the neutral zone. Jeremy’s not a premier playmaker, but he has other attributes.”
Sutter probably isn’t finished examining how Ruuttu and Murphy interact. “Ruuttu’s capable of getting Murphy the puck,” he said.
Mr. Everything: The saying “Johnny-on-the spot” has been changed by the Hawks to “Jeremy-on-the-spot.” Roenick played all three forward positions Monday and probably will do more of the same as the trip continues Wednesday night in Vancouver with the second of nine games.
“I like to play a lot like that,” Roenick said. “It keeps me in the games. I play my best this way. I hope he does it more often.”
But can Roenick and defenseman Chris Chelios keep up their torrid on-ice pace? Sutter relies on both stars so much that the question is going to be raised about whether they will be burned out by the April playoffs.