Hawks' on-the-job playoffs training going just fine so far

Before the start of this series with Calgary, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville told of how his young players would need to gain their playoff experience as they went along.

After two games and 2 victories, so far, so good.

"These last two games have been incredible experiences," Jonathan Toews said. "As a team we've done a good job of not getting too high."

It was Toews who scored 2 goals in Saturday's 3-2 win in Game 2.

Cam Barker was one of the best players on the ice in Game 1, while Dave Bolland set up Martin Havlat's overtime winner.

Dustin Byfuglien has played perhaps his two best games of the season in Games 1 and 2 with 14 hits.

"We still want to get them experience on the job here and get comfortable going into games," Quenneville said. "We know the battle level of every game is going to be higher."

There were a lot of questions surrounding how Patrick Kane would handle the physical treatment from the Flames. Kane has been a prime target, especially from Calgary winger Rene Bourque, but he has handled the pounding well to this point.

"Kaner knows that he's a targeted guy on our team," Adam Burish said. "If I was playing against Kaner, I'd try to do the same thing. It's something we have to do to (Jarome) Iginla, (Craig) Conroy and (Olli) Jokinen.

"Kaner's handled it. Obviously he's taken some shots he wishes he didn't, but we've got to get right back in Bourque's face and get in their skilled players' faces. That's the way you combat that."

Martin Havlat has been an even bigger target than Kane for the Flames' rough stuff, mostly from defensemen Dion Phaneuf, Jim Vandermeer and Adrian Aucoin. Havlat did take a swing at Vandermeer in Game 2, earning a roughing penalty, but Vandermeer went off with him for cross checking.

"I think Kaner and Marty have passed the test on how they can deal with the physical play," Toews said. "Those are the guys we need to keep battling through the physical stuff and not get off their offensive games."

After nearly every whistle, the Flames are trying to goad the Hawks into trouble.

"We expect that to be part of the game," Quenneville said. "We're both competitive. I just think we have to be smart and initiating is the way to go about it."

The Hawks can expect the intimidation tactics of the Flames to be dialed even higher with the series switching to Calgary.

"We feel great about the way things have turned out the last two games, but it's a long way to go to win four games, and we know that," Patrick Sharp said.