AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2005 > December > 27
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Garnett good enough to stay?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michael Garnett! Michael Garnett! Michael Garnett!
Can anyone say they expected this? Two straight shutouts, a franchise-record 149 minutes without a goal, soon to tie a record with 16 consecutive starts, and the owner of a 9-7-3 record. Never looked like that would happen — did it? — after his first NHL start, that 9-1 debacle against Toronto that seems like a million years ago.
With the Thrashers’ three more senior goalies being injured for a prolonged period, one of two things had to happen: Either the rookie goalies (and the team) would sink or they would swim. They have swum (if I have my tense right) right back into the playoff picture, only three points out of eighth, the spot currently occupied by Montreal. (Now for an aside: Talking to one Montreal writer last night, he applied a not-so-kind barnyard epithet about Les Bleus, Blancs et Rouges who are in danger of setting a franchise record if they lose their next game. They currently have lost nine in a row on the road, something they haven’t done since 1926. That’s mille-neuf-cent-vengt-six, in case there’s any French speakers, or readers, as the case may be, out there. So Montreal, which has won only 5 of its last 13 overall, appears to be in a free fall and has three more Southeast Division opponents awaiting it on this trip: Tampa Bay, Florida and Carolina, so don’t be surprised if the Thrashers are in playoff position sometime next week.)
But I have digressed. I was leading up to my original question which is: Should the Thrashers keep Garnett on the team once Steve Shields or Mike Dunham get healthy or should they send him down? Has the rookie proven he deserves to stay?
