Translations by Tomas Jandik
Hlinka Interview -MF Dnes - 21-May-01

Who will play against Sykora, Arnott & Elias?

It depends on whether Robert Lang is healthy. It could be his line.

But Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev were on ice during almost all the NJ goals..

But is was with Hrdina playing there. Lang is stronger, more experienced, and can play against Arnott who is physically strong. Definitely we should play just one defensive pair against them, I think that Kasparaitis is exactly that type of a d-man who should "beat them up". But what is it worth when they win most of the battles in the corners and ultimately out-number us in the front of the net…

Both games on the home ice ended up as a debacle for Pittsburgh. Can your team even be any decent opponent for NJ?

We knew even before the play-offs that we lack a d-man able to put in regular 20-30 minutes. Somebody like Blake, Bourque, or Stevens. It's tough for us to play against teams who have them. Ultimately, we were able to at least get a good goalie. I think that even getting into the Stanley Cup semifinals is a success for us. But we want to get further.

But that means 3 victories for Pittsburgh. How do you want to accomplish that?

We can't lock them in their zone for a minute. We don't have players for that, plus they'd be able to beat us during their counter attacks. Our only chance is to play patiently from the back. To eliminate their best line and wait. What we need is patience.

Can Lemieux and Jagr play together? They are pretty different types of players…

That's why they can complement each other well. They played together during the regular season, and I don't see why they could not play together now. One bad game simply means nothing.

Tomas Jandik is the resident Czech on LetsGoPens.com and is a man who unifies all the goodies of the American dream - meaning, of course, being a Pitt graduate, a Razorback, and a Penguins fan.

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