AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 19
Friday, January 19, 2007
Going down swinging
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I chatted with Bob Hartley after this morning’s practice about his in-game strategy while down three goals last night against Montreal. If you look at the minutes of guys like J.P. Vigier and Brad Larson, each played about five minutes less than in the win over the Kings on Tuesday.
We saw Slater centering the Hossa/Kozlov line for part of the third period (Kapanen was back there during practice today) and some double-shifting of guys like Kovalchuk and Hossa. The result was a franchise record 45 shots on goal, although Cristobal Huet stopped 44 of them.
Here’s what Hartley had to say about the strategy:
“Whenever I’m down in a game, I’ll go down swining, I never get caught looking. I’ll never sit in my office after and say I should have done this or should have done that. We have to act before the fact, after the fact it would be so easy to coach.”
With the loss, Saturday afternoon’s game in New York becomes a little bigger. The team doesn’t want to head into the break on a two-game losing streak. It’s much easier to enjoy a vacation if you head into it winners of three of the last four games, versus a team on a two-game slide.
