Sturm gets some praise from Murray

Terry Murray did little to hide his frustration with Marco Sturm last week, so it’s only fair to note that Murray’s assessment of Sturm in recent games has been much more kind. Sturm has one goal and two assists in his last three games and has also started to get some special-teams time. Murray was asked today about what he was seeing in Sturm’s game, particularly in terms of Sturm’s skating and timing…

MURRAY: “I’m seeing a lot better in everything you just mentioned there. The last two games, he’s been a different player for me. In my eyes, he’s skating, his spacing is much better now, he’s closer to the puck in all areas of the ice, certainly in the offensive zone. When he gets the puck on his stick, he sees the ice well and he makes some good plays. They’re not going to he highlight-reel plays, but he makes plays in tight spaces. He’s able to make passes through peoples’ feet, to the stick, over a stick, and that’s really good stuff, because you can attack with a lot of speed when you have a player who can do that. Now we’re using him on the power play, and there’s a little bit of penalty-killing time. We’re starting to see a versatile player, the kind of player we thought we were getting when the deal was made. He’s just getting his feet under himself. He’s starting to contribute.”