Murrays Have Acts Together

There is a prospect for another wrenching struggle with the Murray Brothers. Or at least that’s how it would seem to a non-Murray. It would be risky to forecast, but it’s possible: Terry Murray vs. Bryan Murray for the Stanley Cup.

Terry’s Washington Capitals and Bryan’s Detroit Red Wings would be invited to participate as well, but the players would be the sideshow, at least until the puck is dropped.

Terry Murray, of course, laughs at this notion.

“I would love it, and I think Bryan would too,” he said of the chance both covet. “How it would be for the family back home watching? I don’t know. I’m sure they would be happy for both of us in that situation. But that’s a long way away and there are a lot of people and a lot of teams that will have things to say before that ever happens.”

Indeed, there is time to ponder. The teams’ overall records are close--the Capitals are 36-20-5, the Red Wings are 35-18-9. Earlier this month, the teams met for the third and final time in the regular season. The Detroit victory gave the Red Wings a 3-0 edge in the season series and left the sibling series tied 3-3.

Bryan, 49, is in his second season with the Red Wings, who made him coach and general manager in July 1990. That was about six month after he was fired by the Capitals and replaced by Terry, 41, who had been Bryan’s assistant and was then coaching a Capitals farm team, the Baltimore Skipjacks. The brothers continue to be surprised when told that people raise their eyebrows at such a sequence of events. But they are sticking to the story they’ve told since the day of the firing: It all made sense and Bryan was happy for Terry.

“I was tremendously pleased--despite everybody saying everything--that Terry got the job,” Bryan said recently in East Rutherford, N.J., before his Red Wings played the Devils. “Terry and I talked in the years leading up to when it happened, that, as a coach, you don’t last forever, for whatever reasons. And that he would hopefully be the guy given the opportunity. As a coach, he’s very intelligent and technically sound.

This season, both brothers’ teams have improved after both finished third in their divisions last season. Each team has hit mediocre patches, but each also has led its division for much of the season. The Capitals have 77 points, the Red Wings 79, placing them in the top four overall. If the results are surprising, so too are their methods. Both teams are scoring goals by the bundle.

The Red Wings “are playing good defense like we did (in Washington), but they have the scoring power to get the goals they need,” former Capital and current New Jersey Devils defenseman Scott Stevens said of the Red Wings. “I always believed the lack of scoring power hurt us in the playoffs.”

Several Capitals players who have played for both coaches said that though the forechecking system and defensive aspects have stayed the same under Terry, Bryan stressed a more traditional offense, with wingers skating up and down in their lanes. When Terry came in, almost from the first day, he encouraged a more free-flowing offensive style. Now the Capitals are scoring goals at a pace never before seen, particularly under Bryan Murray.

But as Bryan Murray is quick to point out, that is a function of the players on the team. He has better scorers on the Red Wings than he did with the Capitals, and the Red Wings lead the NHL, in goals scored, 263 to the Caps’ 261. His junior team in Regina and his AHL team in Hershey won big and scored a lot of goals.

“But then I went to Washington, and I didn’t have goal scorers,” Bryan said. “But I did have (defensemen) Rod Langway, Scott Stevens and Brian Engblom. So what do you do? You coach according to your talent. Now I’ve got a different type of hockey team.”

Murray inherited from Jacques Demers one of the game’s top five centers in Steve Yzerman, who leads the team in scoring with 85 points. Center Sergei Fedorov, already an all-star at 22, was in the pipeline as Murray was signing on to the franchise. Jimmy Carson is the third center and he once scored 50 goals.

“It might be the most explosive center-ice group to be seen in recent history,” Capitals General Manager David Poile said. “Right there, it’s not the same type of club (that Murray had in Washington).”

When he was with the Capitals, Bryan was included in most player personnel decisions. That experience, knowledge of the league and a wealthy owner, Mike Ilitch, have helped him add to the Red Wings’ lineup.