Thrashers

By Russian

October 15, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

Kovy needs to stay on point. It is his place for PP. Good call. I am just wondering, if Bogus will play at Thursday.

By Mike

October 15, 2008 3:06 PM | Link to this

I hope Oystrick is benched. He looked awful and was directly responsible for the third goal last night. He needs to sit down and let Bogo play. I wouldn’t mind seeing Moose on Thursday night.

They are practicing the powerplay because Bobby Holik is coming to town and he is always good for about two penalties a game, as we all know.

By Mike

October 15, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this

I hope Oystrick is benched. He looked awful and was directly responsible for the third goal last night. He needs to sit down and let Bogo play. I wouldn’t mind seeing Moose on Thursday night.

They are practicing the powerplay because Bobby Holik is coming to town and he is always good for about two penalties a game, as we all know.

By Sara

October 15, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this

I’ll give coach the benefit of the doubt I suppose but I do NOT like that he put Kovy back on the point. Schneider can one-time it just as well as Kovy can (basically) and now everyone can cheat back to focusing on an essentially stagnant Kovy on the PP point. Maybe not - maybe Hainsey will shoot more than Enstrom did, but I swear if I start singing “the puck on the ice goes round and round…” during our PP, I’m gonna be p**.

By BAF

October 15, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

I like different looks on the PP. That was one of my biggest beefs with BH and last year with DW.

Putting Kovy on the point and with three other forwards and I like him being with Little and Slava (not sold on White on PP #1) is the right move. Then 2nd half of the PP, bring in Schneider and Enstrom at point, move Kovy down and add Williams and EC if you leave White on PP#1.

Great to see a coach trying new things instead of practicing the same thing that isn’t working up to potential.

By our 1st line center

October 15, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

5th?

By Russian

October 15, 2008 3:57 PM | Link to this

to Sara They have to fix PP. Coach wants to see if he bring back Kovy to point. Something needs to change.

By MB

October 15, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this

Sara, I’m pretty confident that with Hainsey back there on the PP, you’ll not have to sing the puck song very often. So far, he’s shown the offensive skills that we hoped for…let’s hope we see few of the defensive lapses that we fear.

Mike, I’m surprised to hear that you thought Oystrick looked awful. He pooched the play that led to the breakaway, no doubt, but I thought he played pretty solid for the rest of the game. Maybe I missed things that were more evident on TV.

In truth, I thought Havelid was our worst blueliner out there last night. He just looked lost, and was making bad decisions left and right.

On another note, were the refs over-officious, or was that just my impression, along with the other 27 people in attendance?

By ranallo10 (in AT)

October 15, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this

MB — It’s O’Rourke, he does that every time he refs our games. I think he makes up for being the “hometown” ref by blowing everything that resembles an infraction.

By Smoothie

October 15, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this

Since we have a paucity of right-handed defensemen (1 = Bogey), perhaps Coach would like to have a righty on the left point in Kovy (who has proven he CAN play the point) along with a lefty on the right point (Hainsey / Enstrom / Schneider). I’m sure we’ll see a fresh rotation at the right point so Hainsey doesn’t get worn down.

I would think using 1 righty and 1 lefty makes it a little easier to pass the puck up top at the blueline. But make no mistake, I think you’ll still see some experimenting in which Kovy moves around. But truth be told, I feel better having Kozlov out there with the 1st PP unit so I think this is a step in the right direction.

By Sara

October 15, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this

Russian I get that the PP isn’t working. But it also isn’t just going to up and fix itself in one day either. I’m a bit concerned about Anderson making too many changes too often instead of showing a bit of patience.

I look at the last two seasons of having Kovy on the PP point and our PP sucked because all it was was trying to set up the Kovy one-timer from the point and any PK with half a clue just pressured and blocked Kovy until someone coughed up the puck and they could clear it. So how does suddenly putting Kovy back on the point help? What’s different? Unless coach gets Hainsey to shoot as well and the other three moving around creating other chances it’s doomed. But if he’s going to go with that strategy (which is the right one) then I think it needs to work with the personnel we had. Schneider is solid on the point (frankly the point hasn’t been our problem at all - getting set up and getting more action going down low have been the problems). Kovy is more creative than Kozzie is. Nor have they tried screening the goaltender either - I’m still waiting for someone in blue to step up and play Holmstrom.

By Toby

October 15, 2008 4:55 PM | Link to this

Well…if the PP is priority #1…I hope the PK is #1a. I’m at the point where I’m thinking a penalty on us=a goal for them=heartburn for me.

By Mike Knobler

October 15, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this

FWIW, John Anderson said he thought Oystrick had a pretty good game. He liked him on the penalty kill. My impression was, aside from that one play, I didn’t notice him one way or the other much of the time. You can say worse things about a defenseman, especially one who is paired with Mathieu Schneider, who will get involved in the offense a lot.

By kracker

October 15, 2008 6:11 PM | Link to this

Coach has to try the PP formations this year with these units to see how his instruction/ideas are executed. Is practice + a game + a film session enough time to evaluate? Maybe, I don’t know. But having worked on a variety of differing formations and personnel in a few games will allow for in-game changes to be made, particularly at home where you set your lines last.

BTW, we are supposed to be waiting 8 or 10 games, some say 20 games or on into January, to see how effective is this team. 10 games takes us through the end of October so I’m sort of waiting until next month to form a real opinion. It’s just too darn early after three games.

By ranallo10 (in AT)

October 15, 2008 6:38 PM | Link to this

It’s just too darn early after three games.

Agreed.

By lordstan57

October 15, 2008 6:41 PM | Link to this

Doesn’t make a bit of difference who’s on the point if everybody else just stand around! Move your feet boys, move your feet!

Oyster was just fine w/ that one exception. Schneider was far worse.

Not worried about Bogy. Not worried about the attendance. Were you all not paying attention to the STH revolt?? or did you think they were just kidding?

Too soon to be drawing conclusions about much of anything concerning play on ice just yet. With very few exceptions, the hustle is there…… I’ll wait awhile longer before jumping anybody.

By Midfield

October 15, 2008 8:21 PM | Link to this

Schneider should be at the point. It worked against Washington, the only game Thrashers won and did well on PP. Yes, Schneider has been far from error free, but his play making and offensive skills are undeniable. The team needs to utilize them.

By David

October 15, 2008 11:50 PM | Link to this

I definitely agree with Sara, Powerplays are successful because you have the opportunity to create a miss-match. Kovy at the point isn’t one in my opinion. He is most useful as a shooter AND maybe more so as a passer now. He’s got people around him who can shoot. I think he becomes a more valuable piece at the boards where he can either shoot when somebody is foolish enough to leave him open, or pass it.

The reason dmen like schneider are so valuable is that they can play the point on the PP as efficiently as a guy like kovy and you don’t have the defensive downside of a forward.

By DobberHockey.com

October 16, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Here’s a crazy thought. How about playing your top goal scorer of the preseason and former AHL rookie of the year?