For a fleeting moment, Brent Seabrook seemed puzzled when asked how the Blackhawks can stop the Calgary Flames' hottest scorers, Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen.
"I don't know," the Hawks defenseman said quietly before regrouping a bit. "You just have to be prepared and ready to go every shift. Iginla and Jokinen are two great players. Jokinen has a great amount of speed. We have to try and figure that out. With Iginla, his shot makes him so dangerous. Any time you lose him for two seconds he seems to get the puck on his stick and bury it. We have to work on containing him more."
Seabrook can be forgiven for not having the formula. Few teams did as the pair combined for 64 goals and 82 assists during the regular season. Along with Mike Cammalleri, who had 39 goals and 43 assists, they are the Flames' most dangerous offensive weapons heading into Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Saturday night at the United Center.
While Cammalleri has been relatively quiet with three assists in the first four games of the series, Iginla and Jokinen combined for four goals and two assists Wednesday night as the Flames tied the series at two games each with a 6-4 victory in Calgary, Canada.
"You're not going to hold Iginla and Jokinen off the scoreboard in a series like this -- it's impossible," Hawks forward Adam Burish said. "They're too good. They're going to get their chances and their points, there's no other way about it. You have to try to limit them."
In the first two games of the series -- both Hawks victories -- Iginla and Jokinen were held to three points, with Iginla recording a goal and an assist and Jokinen an assist in Game 1.
On their end of the ice, the Hawks are counting on their big guns to reload at home for Saturday's pivotal game. Top scorers Patrick Sharp, Martin Havlat, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews combined for a goal and an assist in Wednesday night's defeat.
"If you look at the series, our better guys have been pretty good for us too," Kane said. "Guys like Toews, Sharp and Havlat, if you look at their stats they've been producing, so we have to keep that going."
Sharp and Toews have five points apiece in the four games, and Havlat has four.
Kane likes to bask in the spotlight of a big game, and the winger would like nothing better than to be the one to outplay Iginla, Jokinen and the rest of the Flames.
"These are the best ones to be part of [with] more people watching," Kane said. "It's pretty special to be a part of right now. You obviously want to play well and bring your best effort.
"It's a big game for us. If we win this one we put ourselves in pretty good position to win the series with two games left and one at home."
"I don't know," the Hawks defenseman said quietly before regrouping a bit. "You just have to be prepared and ready to go every shift. Iginla and Jokinen are two great players. Jokinen has a great amount of speed. We have to try and figure that out. With Iginla, his shot makes him so dangerous. Any time you lose him for two seconds he seems to get the puck on his stick and bury it. We have to work on containing him more."
Seabrook can be forgiven for not having the formula. Few teams did as the pair combined for 64 goals and 82 assists during the regular season. Along with Mike Cammalleri, who had 39 goals and 43 assists, they are the Flames' most dangerous offensive weapons heading into Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Saturday night at the United Center.
While Cammalleri has been relatively quiet with three assists in the first four games of the series, Iginla and Jokinen combined for four goals and two assists Wednesday night as the Flames tied the series at two games each with a 6-4 victory in Calgary, Canada.
"You're not going to hold Iginla and Jokinen off the scoreboard in a series like this -- it's impossible," Hawks forward Adam Burish said. "They're too good. They're going to get their chances and their points, there's no other way about it. You have to try to limit them."
In the first two games of the series -- both Hawks victories -- Iginla and Jokinen were held to three points, with Iginla recording a goal and an assist and Jokinen an assist in Game 1.
On their end of the ice, the Hawks are counting on their big guns to reload at home for Saturday's pivotal game. Top scorers Patrick Sharp, Martin Havlat, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews combined for a goal and an assist in Wednesday night's defeat.
"If you look at the series, our better guys have been pretty good for us too," Kane said. "Guys like Toews, Sharp and Havlat, if you look at their stats they've been producing, so we have to keep that going."
Sharp and Toews have five points apiece in the four games, and Havlat has four.
Kane likes to bask in the spotlight of a big game, and the winger would like nothing better than to be the one to outplay Iginla, Jokinen and the rest of the Flames.
"These are the best ones to be part of [with] more people watching," Kane said. "It's pretty special to be a part of right now. You obviously want to play well and bring your best effort.
"It's a big game for us. If we win this one we put ourselves in pretty good position to win the series with two games left and one at home."
