AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 12
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Good start but room to grow
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Admit it, if someone had told you the Thrashers would have three points in the standings after opening against Washington and then playing at Florida, most Thrashers fans would have taken it, no questions asked.
But there are some questions to ask. Such as what happened to Atlanta about midway through Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to Florida? The Thrashers were outshot 18-5 in the third period and 4-0 in overtime, and those numbers were in keeping with the way things looked on the ice. It wasn’t like the Thrashers were shooting and going wide of the net, or spending a lot of time in the attacking zone passing the puck in search of the perfect shot. (By the way, those five shots came in a third period during which the Thrashers were on the power play three times.) Second game in as many nights isn’t much of an excuse when your opponent is in the same situation.
Did anybody else notice it seemed to be a tough night for Tobias Enstrom, especially in the first period?
I know Niclas Havelid has four assists through two games, but have the Thrashers had a more effective and useful player than Ron Hainsey? He has a goal and two assists, the second on a brilliant pass to set up Jason Williams’ goal Saturday night. Hainsey led the team in ice time with about 24 minutes Friday night and then played almost 28 minutes on Saturday, with key roles on the penalty kill and the power play. Hainsey doesn’t play a very physical game but plays a very intelligent one. Two games in, I’m questioning those pundits who said the Thrashers overspent for him when they gave him $22.5 million for five years.
Did anybody have a good view of the play where Ilya Kovalchuk got called for diving? I missed the replay, and in live action I didn’t see it as a dive. The referee spent a long time talking to Kovalchuk about it, and Kovalchuk at one point stood up from his seat in the penalty box and demonstrated his view of what happened. I didn’t get a chance to talk with Kovalchuk after the game. I got stuck waiting for and then riding in a slow elevator and was lucky I got down in time to speak with Kari Lehtonen and Williams.
It’s 1:37 a.m., and I’ve got a 7:30 flight, so I’m going to catch some sleep.
