AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 11
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thrashers lead division!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, so the headline of this blog entry is more than a little tongue in cheek. But it hasn’t been often that the Thrashers have been 1-0. How rare is it? Well, it happened only twice before.
So enjoy it, Thrashers fans. Enjoy the fact you’re leading not only Florida, Washington and 0-2 Tampa Bay in the standings but also have a better record than the defending Stanley Cup champions in Detroit.
Here was John Anderson’s message at the morning skate: Don’t get satisfied. Don’t look at the back-to-back games to open the season and decide that winning one and losing one is an OK start.
Anderson made an interesting choice for tonight’s game: Same personnel as last night, with neither Brett Sterling nor Nathan Oystrick thrown in for their fresh legs, and Kari Lehtonen back in net. It’s a go-with-your-best message, telling his team he’s serious about trying to build on Friday night’s victory over the Capitals instead of seeing that success as taking the pressure off for tonight’s game.
Anderson is aware of his team’s struggles last season in the second of back-to-back games. He has addressed it head on.
That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring the issues of back-to-backs. For example, he gave Mathieu Schneider the option not to take part in this morning’s skate, and Schneider took him up on it. Schneider’s not hurt; he’s just 39. Nobody in the locker room will begrudge Schneider the morning off, Anderson said.
