For Byfuglien, & Holmstrom, nothing better than blocking the view
DETROIT -- They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
So if people want to compare what Dustin Byfuglien has been doing for the Blackhawks in the playoffs to what Tomas Holmstrom has been doing for the Red Wings for years, that's OK with Big Buff.
Holmstrom is considered the best in the business at camping inches off the goal crease, barely legal, and bothering and screening goaltenders.
"He stands there and does his job," said Byfuglien, who was a force at the net for the Hawks in their playoff series wins over Calgary and Vancouver.
"That's a guy you've kind of got to look at and say, 'OK, let's try to learn off him, what he does.' You've got to look at him and pay attention to him and we have to try and do the same thing."
It so happens that Hawks senior advisor Scotty Bowman is the guy who helped Holmstrom develop his net skills when Bowman coached the Red Wings.
"He kept getting called for goaltender interference, and we were getting goals called back," Bowman said. "I finally said, 'Tomas, try standing a foot off the line and they're never going to be able to move you.'"
The 6-foot, 203-pound Holmstrom is almost impossible to move from in front of the net, especially with the new post-lockout rules in place that clamp down on interference.
"You can't interfere with him when he doesn't have the puck," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "It's not like the old days when you could just try and push him out of the way when he didn't have the puck.
"You have to tie up his stick more than anything, try and get the body positioning on him in the right spot wherever the shot is coming from. He's good at it. He's very tough to handle."
Holmstrom didn't score a goal against the Hawks in six games during the regular season.
"Maybe you can try and not let him get to the front of the net," defenseman Brian Campbell said. "I was watching (Anaheim's Chris) Pronger Thursday night with him, and he was just getting his stick in there.
"If you go after him and start mucking it up with him, especially on a power play, then it's a 4-on-3 situation for them. You've got to let him be as much as you can, but you also have to tie him up as much as you can."
Holmstrom is one of the many offensive weapons Hawks coach Joel Quenneville says the Red Wings can put on the ice.
"He's probably the most effective guy in the league at knowing how to screen a goalie and knowing where you can and cannot be," Quenneville said. "He finds that line and pushes it perfectly. We'll sort that out as we go along and how he manages where he is with his feet and all that.
"We have to be aware of him. It's going to be a challenge for us, especially on their power play."
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