That is how most opposing defencemen view trying to stop Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh Penguins forwards are the two top scorers in the National Hockey League, with 75 and 68 points, respectively.
So when Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson told Luke Schenn that he would be matching up against the offensive snipers, no one would have blamed the rookie if he chose to fake an illness or injury.
Not Schenn.
As he has done so many times already in his young NHL career, the teenager rose to the challenge and had what may have been the best games in a 5-4 win against the Penguins on Saturday.
"How many teams would assign a 19-year-old to cover basically the two best forwards in the game?" Wilson asked in his post-game news conference. "He ended up being the difference in the game."
Indeed, Schenn was named the game's first star.
The bruising defenceman had five hits - including one where he nearly sent Malkin into the Penguins' bench - showed offensive flair by setting-up a goal, and earned the sold-out crowd's admiration by winning a fight against the much-smaller Tyler Kennedy.
Most importantly, he finished the game with an even plus-minus rating.
"The play he made that put us ahead again, obviously the hit, the fight, just the overall physicality," said Wilson. "For a 19-year-old kid to dominate the game physically is unbelievable."
For Schenn, it was just another building block in what has been a breakout rookie season.
"They gave me the opportunity to play against Crosby and Malkin," said Schenn. "You always look forward to challenges like that. You want to step up and at the end of the night you want to say that you did a good job. So I looked forward to this game from the start."
The win, which was Toronto's second consecutive, snapped a four-game losing streak at Air Canada Centre.
From the start, the Leafs seemed more energized than the Penguins. Perhaps it was because Pittsburgh had lost 4-3 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils the night before. Or maybe it was because prior to Saturday's game, the franchise honoured past captain Doug Gilmour by raising his No. 93 to the rafters.
The teams were tied 1-1 - Ian White scored for Toronto and Miroslav Satan for Pittsburgh - after the first period. But in the second, Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky put the Leafs ahead 3-1.
It was midway through the middle frame when Schenn caught the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Malkin with his head down. Shortly after the hit, a scrum developed in front of the Penguins' bench. That was when Tyler Kennedy jumped onto the ice and challenged Schenn to a fight.
"I was on my way to the bench and he bumped me and said pretty much, 'you don't touch our players like that,' " Schenn recalled. "One thing led to another and we dropped out mitts."
What bothered Wilson was that Kennedy left the bench to instigate the fight.
According to the NHL rules, that is cause for a game-misconduct penalty. Instead, Kennedy was allowed to stay in the game, and ended up scoring in the third.
"We'll see what their investigation shows," said Wilson. "He ended up scoring, but it's a tough situation for the referees when everybody is going by the bench. But (general manager Brian Burke) called the league and they're investigating."
Crosby and Malkin, as well as Toronto's Matt Stajan, scored in the third. With the game tied 4-4, Jason Blake ripped a wrist shot past goaltender Mathieu Garon for his team-leading 17th of the season.
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