Left has been all right for Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy

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Connor Murphy has been playing on the left side for the last four games. (AP Photo)

PITTSBURGH — Connor Murphy called his mom before Wednesday’s game against the Rangers, as he often does, just to say hi. It quickly turned into a coaching session.

“She was telling me to stop drifting over to the right side,” Murphy said with a laugh. “And my mom, nothing against her, but she doesn’t know a lot about hockey. It’s pretty funny that she noticed that. So I guess I was drifting a little bit.”

Occasional muscle-memory relapses aside, Murphy has adapted well to playing the left side for the first time in his career. Saturday’s game against the Penguins will be his fifth straight game on his off side, and he’s coming off one of his best games, playing a season-high 17 minutes, 35 seconds alongside Brent Seabrook in the win over the Rangers.

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A sudden glut of capable right-handed shots, thanks to the emergence of Jan Rutta and Cody Franson, prompted Joel Quenneville to give Murphy a try on the left. And while Murphy was skeptical at first, he’s been pleasantly surprised.

“It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be,” Murphy said. “It’s not as awkward as I thought. You just get in the flow of it. You carry over a lot of the same concepts of defending your position on the right side, and sometimes it ends up feeling a little easier to defend in certain ways. At the end of the day, it’s still defending, and it’s still just playing hockey.”

Winging it

Nick Schmaltz still considers himself a natural center. Quenneville still projects Schmaltz as a center. But a move back to the wing has done wonders for the second-year pro, who had five assists in the Hawks’ last two games.

By freeing Schmaltz from the defensive responsibilities of playing in the middle, it’s allowed him to use his speed to generate scoring chances again.

“Maybe [I have] just a little more energy off the rush, or not as much energy spent in the defensive zone,” Schmaltz said. “So I’m able to stretch the zone out, whether I’m getting a pass out of the zone with speed and I’m able to turn it up, or make plays off the rush. I don’t know, it’s just a different look.”

Of course, the last time the Hawks played the Penguins, on opening night, Schmaltz had maybe the best game of his career, with two goals and an assist while centering Ryan Hartman and Patrick Kane. But while Schmaltz remains the Hawks’ second-line center of the future, he’s happy to play alongside Artem Anisimov, the Hawks’ second-line center of the moment.

“He looks like he has the puck more [on the wing],” Quenneville said. “The speed is the thing that has been noticeable the last couple of games, how much he has had the puck. Maybe his job defensively is passed over to [Anisimov] a bit more, but at the same time, we still have the luxury of having him in the middle in the course of games, and in the future, as well.”

Winter Classic official

The league officially announced that the Hawks will play the Bruins in the 2019 Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium, as expected. This will be the Hawks’ fourth Winter Classic and sixth outdoor game. Eight teams have never played outdoors, and 10 more have only played once. The Hawks are 1-4-0 in outdoor games.

Keith watch

Duncan Keith, who missed the last two practices and Wednesday’s morning skate while battling “a bug,” according to Quenneville, was back on the ice Saturday. At age 34, Keith has been averaging more than 25 minutes per game; the only other Hawks player averaging more than 20 is Brent Seabrook (21:32). A fitness fanatic, Keith seems like he can play forever. But Quenneville would love for his other defensemen to take on larger roles, so Keith can take a slightly smaller one.

“It’s something we’ve watched over time with him,” Quenneville said. “But I don’t want to forecast that he’s going to have these minutes every game going forward. I would think we’d like to get him a little lighter [workload] when we can. That’s what we’re trying to do, or looking to do, but every game is different.”

Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

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