AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > December > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThrashers still show potential in loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
It says something when a narrow loss to the best team in the league isn’t good enough any more.
It says something when a franchise that is 0-for-life in playoff runs can fire 31 shots in the last two periods and doesn’t fall back on a moral victory like, well, “At least we fired 31 shots in the last two periods.”
The Thrashers aren’t there yet. But they can see there.
“Playing with the best teams, you don’t get points for that,” Bobby Holik said Wednesday night. “You’re not really playing with them until you can beat them.”
Earlier this season, the Thrashers went into Buffalo to face the Eastern Conference’s best team. They won. This time, they played host to Anaheim, which leads the NHL in wins, points, power-play goals and opponent humiliations. They lost 2-1.
They weren’t good enough to beat the best team in the league. But they are good enough, finally, to play more than 82 games.
The Thrashers are 18-9-5. They remain in first place in the Southeast Division, leading Carolina by seven points. Of course, that means nothing in December. But the lapses notwithstanding, it would seem they have the resilience — and the goaltending — to avoid a collapse over the next 50 games.
They went 12-3-5 in the first 20 games. When everybody starting planning for April, they lost four straight. When everybody panicked, they went 6-0-1 with five straight wins. Then they made the mistake of believing they were really good again. They lost at Tampa 8-0. They lost at home to Pittsburgh, 4-3 in overtime.
“I coached a Stanley Cup team in Colorado, and I know over 82 games you go through adversity in different ways,” coach Bob Hartley said. “We still have some learning to do. But one of the biggest qualities of this team is the leadership. It allows us to step back in form.”
It should be noted that the Thrashers are doing this despite missing two of their regular defensemen, Andy Sutton and Garnet Exelby. They also were minus captain Scott Mellanby against the Ducks.
Some cracks were evident early. Two early penalties led Anaheim to outshoot the Thrashers 14-4 in the first period. The Thrashers controlled the play thereafter, outfiring the Ducks 31-18.
They hit a couple of goalposts. They learned what it was like to shoot at a wall named J-S Giguere, who’s at or near the top of every goaltending statistic, except maybe for bad rebounds. They failed to score on their first six power plays, until Niko Kapanen tied it 1-1 at 11:49 of the third off a perfect pass from Ilya Kovalchuk.
And then … “A bad read and we leave one of the best scorers in the NHL wide open,” Hartley said. “That’s not acceptable.”
Less than a minute after Kapanen’s goal, defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski got caught out of position, leaving Teemu Selanne alone in front. Selanne buried his second goal of the game and 19th of the season.
“When we tied the game, maybe we should’ve been a little more careful,” Slava Kozlov said. “We got sloppy. It would’ve been nice to beat Anaheim.”
They went from a five-game winning streak to an 8-0 loss in Tampa Bay. That’s not a slap of reality, it’s an anvil falling on your head. In consecutive losses to the Lightning and Pittsburgh, the Thrashers allowed 12 goals on 81 shots and gave the opposition 12 power plays (resulting in four goals).
They were undisciplined in the neutral zone and sloppy in their own end. They failed to get the puck in deep and failed to forecheck. If you’re a novice to hockey, think of combining gasoline, dynamite, a barn and a blowtorch.
This game was a partial bounce back. Also a sign that they’re not falling apart.
“We have to make sure we’re not like a roller coaster, going up and down,” Marian Hossa said. “We’re trying to establish a winning track again.”
Almost … there.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
Comments
By Geoffrey Paul
December 14, 2006 12:29 AM | Link to this
FINALLY. I was wondering when you were going to write another hockey article Jeff. Any chance the AJC is going to hire any more puckheads?… I’ll wait till after college football is officially over to give my most scathing criticism of the AJC’s coverage of the Thrashers, until then I guess I will have to give the benefit of the doubt and say that coverage is lacking b/c of football… but I have a feeling coverage is just lacking (i’ve lived in atlanta my whole life and unfortunately there is a track record to support this thought). Nevermind, didn’t mean to rant. I just wanted to say thanks, and I enjoyed the article. I hope you will be writing one or two of these in May.
By Lew39
December 14, 2006 06:10 AM | Link to this
There is no doubt this team has talent and the ability to win. As a team they know they need to start the first period well and they continually come out flat, why? They skated with Anaheim, played with skill and came up one goal short; two for the win. Imagine how well they would have done if they skated well in the first period. As for hockey coverage, I always go to the back page of the sport section, the AJC has trained me well. The paper needs some competition.
By brian
December 14, 2006 07:48 AM | Link to this
THIS MAY BE OFF POINT BUT IS ANYONE GOING TO THE CAPS GAME???? FOR THOSE WHO ARE DO YOU REMEMBER LAST TIME WE PLAYED THEM? GOOD WE NEED TO HAVE A GOOD CHANT FOR BRASHEAR, AND GLEN HANLON!!!!!!!! OPEN FOR ANY IDEAS. AFTER THAT LAST GAME THEY PLAYED I WANT TO SEE BRASHEAR TAKEN OUT ON A STRETCHER!!!!!!!!!!
By DBH 1
December 14, 2006 08:28 AM | Link to this
Since 1972, for hockey coverage in the AJC, expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.
By Gene
December 14, 2006 09:08 AM | Link to this
There is no doubt in my mind that the Thrashers have a better chance of a championship than any other Atlanta team. Atlanta was lucky to get Bob Hartley.
By Buzilla Baby Blues
December 14, 2006 09:37 AM | Link to this
your still a putz jeff
By trashfan99
December 14, 2006 09:37 AM | Link to this
Anyone know what’s going on with Hartley’s contact? He’s in his last year and if we are still leading the SE division around the All-Star game then I am sure he will have some pretty sweet offers on the table.
By Brendan
December 14, 2006 12:54 PM | Link to this
Jeff, it’s always great to see you writing more hockey articles. Why won’t Ronnie Ramos (AJC Sports Editor) let you do more? Allright, I get it. The AJC sells itself with football (College, pros, High school) articles and a smattering of Braves coverage. If the AJC sold itself based on hockey coverage, it’d go out of business. Still, there has to be some “happy medium” here.
Is it against some unwritten rule that there shalt be no more than two hockey articles per day in the AJC Sports Section? It takes an OWNERSHIP SCANDAL to get a 3rd article in there. And well, that’s technically basketball AND hockey there. Tim Tucker does cover it well. But I digress….
Driving home last night from Philips Arena … I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t OVERLY disappointed, either. I’m sorry the Thrashers lost, but they had a good 2nd and 3rd period against arguably the best team in hockey. They were without Sutton and Exelby, and McCarthy is just coming off an injury, as is Slater. The Captain of the team was also absent. Would I have rather seen the Ducks come to town in the 3rd week of October, when the team was healthy and fully-assembled? YES!! That would have been better. But the results just may have been the same. Nothing to hang our heads about. Atlanta is trying to make the playoffs. Atlanta is approaching the upper echelon of the league. But it’s not there yet. One step at a time.
Yeah, I hear ya, longtime Thrashers fans. YEAR SEVEN!! If this team had progressed on schedule, it’d be looking at a Conference Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and been in the playoffs three time (3x) by now. Dame Fortune has not smiled on this franchise or its ownership, since its inception. But things do change. Let’s all try to enjoy this ride. The Thrashers are wayyy ahead of where even General Manager Don Waddell thought they’d be at this juncture in the season. And if HEEEEEE can say that, then we “fans” can say it. This has been a great season. Now, let’s SMACK the CAPS around on Friday night. They’ve got it coming, don’tchu think???
By Brian
December 14, 2006 03:39 PM | Link to this
Be careful, I was about to type that the Caps are exactly what we need right now to bounce back. But they have been hot lately, only regulation loss in the last 7 coming to those same Ducks. I watched their game against Pitt on Mon (the famed Sid/Ovechkin matchup) and the Pens came back on them, so it was a big letdown loss for them. Maybe we can send them into a skid again, not sure how they will react.
By Alex
December 14, 2006 03:48 PM | Link to this
I hate the capitals, they think they have a rivalry against the trashers but they don’t! The Trashers will kick their tales again…bring them on, and I hope the fans get on their coach, who was acting like a 5th graded the last time the two teams faced each other in Washington.