So tell us, Stan Mikita, how did it feel to have your long-standing Black Hawk record for most goals in a season by a center broken twice in the same night?
”What took them so long, that`s what I want to know,” said Mikita. ”I don`t have many records left, but the way they`re scoring these days, it shouldn`t take them a quarter of the time it took us.”
Mikita`s 40-goal standard stood for nearly 18 years before Denis Savard and Troy Murray each hit 41 last week at Los Angeles.
Now, there is a good chance Hawk fans could be hearing about an even bigger hit in the record department from this duo.
With Savard at 97 points and Murray at 85 with 15 games to go, the Hawks could have two 100-point scorers in the same season–something that`s never happened in the franchise`s 59-year history.
Even in the Mikita-Bobby Hull glory days of the 1960s and `70s, the closest these Hall of Famers got was in 1968-69 when Hull collected 107 points and Mikita 97.
In fact, that was the lone year Hull finished with 100 or more points in regular-season play. The only other Hawk to hit triple figures has been Savard in 1982 (119), 1983 (121) and 1985 (105).
”I guess you have to look at the style of play,” said Mikita. ”Since Bob Pulford`s been here–and I played for him a couple of years–he`s stressed defense. That may have something to do with it.”
The offensive catalyst for the Hawks this season has been the 23-year-old Murray, whose best previous output was 66 points.
”Troy impressed me the first time I saw him as a real rugged kid, and he still is,” said Mikita. ”I think because everybody told him you have to play defense to make it in the NHL, he didn`t really believe in his offensive ability.
”Maybe he didn`t have the confidence at first to go the other way. Now, all of a sudden, he`s had his chances, the puck has gone in, and he`s figured out it`s time for guys to start checking him for a change.”
Murray and linemates Curt Fraser and Ed Olczyk have 11 goals in the last three games. They have 92 for the season, and Fraser has missed 19 games with a shoulder injury.
The Savard-Steve Larmer-Al Secord line has 100 goals.
