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December 23
Hossa says Hawks must play a smarter game
From chicagoblackhawks.com: (link)
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| Marian Hossa |
Four contests into this best-of-7 series with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Chicago Blackhawks forward still needs two more victories.
Hossa, who is competing in his third consecutive Stanley Cup Final, mustered only two shots on goal in a 5-3 loss in Game 4 on Friday night at the Wachovia Center. Overall, he has a goal and three assists in the series, which is now tied 2-2 as it shifts back to Chicago for Game 5 on Sunday night.
The 31-year-old Hossa spoke with the media after the game.
Q: You guys were able to score during a two-man advantage, but you're now 1-for-9 in this series on the power play. Can you pinpoint what's wrong?
Hossa: I think we just have to keep things simple. Everybody tried to do too much. We just have to relax more and play more simple and have more traffic in front of the net on special teams.
Q: Can you talk about how this has suddenly become a best-of-3 series after being up 2-0?
Hossa: They've got a great team. We knew it was not going to be easy. We have to play smart hockey. In the first period, I think we were running around in our zone too much. We just have to be much more smarter.
Q: The juggling of lines seemed to work for you guys in the third period. Do you feel the moves were effective?
Hossa: Yeah at the end -- but like I said, we just have play smarter hockey and we'll be fine. But in our zone, we were running around too much. We just have to simplify things in our zone.
Q: You guys had a lot of breakdowns in the third period the last two games and struggled in the first period tonight. Is that frustrating to the team?
Hossa: It's not easy ... it's the Stanley Cup Final. We knew coming into the Final that it's not going to be easy. Sometimes, it's going to be frustrating. We just can not get frustrated and keep working ... stick with the system and don't try to do too much by yourself. We have to play more together.
Q: Do you need more from guys such as Dustin Byfuglien in terms of getting more traffic in front of the net?
Hossa: At the end, we had more traffic at the net, but in the beginning, we were shooting pucks and he saw everything. It was easy for him. If we're going to score, we need to get to the net more and get more traffic in front of him.
Q: Do you feel you guys are taking too many bad penalties?
Hossa: That's another thing ... we have to be smarter. This team, they've got a great power play and if we give them chances, most of the time they're going to score. We have to be smarter, definitely.
