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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v BLACKHAWKSMay 19, 2014Marian HossaBrandon SaadCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Marian, you talked about it a little bit coming into this series, playing against their top line for one game, you guys were able to contain them. What's the challenge moving forward of trying to stop them? MARIAN HOSSA: It's a big challenge obviously. The first line is really, really productive. They got top players, top scorers in the first line. You want to make sure you know where they are on the ice. I think in Game1 we did a pretty good job. Created some chances, but Crow was great for us. It's going to be a good challenge for us. Q. Marian, you know Gaborik really well. What element does he bring to that lineup with him now? MARIAN HOSSA: He always was a pure sniper. You give him a little time, he can surprise you. He got the unbelievable shot. His speed, when he gets going, you must know where he is, especially through the middle zone. He can use his speed extremely well. One second he's behind you, you won't catch him. You want to make sure you know where he is all the time. Q. You played with a lot of great players in your career. Now that you're playing with Toews for a lengthy period, given his leadership, defensive and offensive skill, is he the best all‑around player you've ever come across? MARIAN HOSSA: It's really hard to say. But definitely Jonathan, in his young stage in his career, he's definitely one of the top players I play with. I had a chance to play with really great players, with superstars. He's one of them definitely. Q. Brandon, Niklas was talking to us about not being able to talk the last two weeks. With him having to shut down communication, what does it say about him to still be able to play his game without being able to talk to you guys? BRANDON SAAD: I think every time I hear him talk it's in Swedish anyway. There's not that much communication (laughter). He's a great player. He leads by example by the way he plays. Regardless of if he's saying stuff or not, how he plays on the ice, blocking shots, playing defensively, it speaks for itself. Q. Marian, regarding defending the top line, what you've done this series, you do that all the time, how much does that take away from your offensive game either at the moment or over the course of a game or a series? MARIAN HOSSA: Some games are different than the others. I just feel if you doing good job, the best way to defend is playing in their zone. If you play in their zone, you got scoring chances. That's how I look at it. Q. Brandon, Joel obviously didn't switch up the lines too much. Do you feel like that sparked you when he switched up a little bit? BRANDON SAAD: I don't think we had to adjust too much. Q makes judgment calls throughout the game whether he wants a spark or not. I think our third line with Reggie there, we were playing well, creating chances with Steeger there. If he wants to switch me and Shooter there, that's something he makes a call throughout the game. I think we did a pretty good job. Q. Obviously Corey had a good year last year. It seems like he's been a different goalie this year. Can you talk about his development, maybe what the difference is this year. MARIAN HOSSA: I talk about Corey last time. I can say it again. I think year by year he just seems better. I think he's so strong mentally he's become one of the top goalies in the league. He was not just good, but he was unbelievable last year in the playoffs. This year I think he's even better than last year. That's just great for our team. We try to help him. He makes really big saves for us. Somebody chanting his name in different buildings, seems like it doesn't bother him at all. Q. Marian, it's hard to understand if you're a talented player, that your great satisfaction comes only from producing points. Do you get a thrill when you're matched up against the Kopitar line or other top lines? Is there an adrenaline rush that comes from shutting them down and denying them? MARIAN HOSSA: Yeah, like scoring goals, it's great. Getting points is great. Like you say, the challenge, when you got top productive players, you can steal the puck from them. That's kind of like challenge for me. I enjoy to do it. Obviously you got games where you are on top of your games, there's games where they're a little better. You can do little things, help the team that way, definitely that's a great thing for me and our line. Q. Seems like once a game you see Hjalmarsson go off shaking his leg or foot after taking a shot. Are you ever surprised when he comes back from some of the things he absorbs? BRANDON SAAD: Yeah, I don't think so. It's something he's always done. You see even when he takes the puck to the neck, he doesn't miss a shift. It's something we expect out of him. He does a great job of doing it. That's the type of game he plays. It's nothing new for us. Q. Marian, the Kings are in the Western Conference Finals for the third straight year. You have had success the last few years. Does this come from management, in a time when parity is governing the league, the Kings and Blackhawks are able to have such success? Is it from management, from within the room? MARIAN HOSSA: I think management did excellent job with the team. We got a great coaching staff. I think the whole organization, it's top class. Everybody when they got a chance to play for the Blackhawks, for any player it's great opportunity. I'm sure like Kings is a great organization also. They did excellent job last few years. They did it three times in a row. It's just amazing these two teams battling for the West again. Q. Marian, can you give us a hundred words on your background with Gaborik. What does it mean for hockey in Slovakia? MARIAN HOSSA: We know each other when we were real young. Obviously my brother grew up with Marian because they same age, three years younger than I am. When I was younger, I used to go watch their games when they play as young kids. Marian was always the one who was scoring goals. My brother was the passer. So I know him really when he was little kid. Now we neighbors. We live on the same street. We hang out in the summer together. So obviously we got lots to talk about every time we see each other. Right now came to the point where we not going to talk for two weeks. We try to do our business on the ice. When everything is over, we go back to friendship. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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