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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The big hit and its aftermath
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ottawa’s Chris Neil delivered one heck of a shoulder to Bryan Little 18 minutes into the second period of Tuesday night’s game. Little had his head down, and Thrashers coach John Anderson called it a clean hit, but his players clearly went out to defend their teammate.
Eric Boulton challenged Neil to a fight, and Neil declined, Anderson said. Boris Valabik wagged a finger and talked some smack from the bench. Jim Slater took on Jarkko Ruutu in a fight that showed lots of moxie on Slater’s part considering his substantial size disadvantage. Boulton ended up tangling with Mike Fisher.
Little was able to play 6:30 in the third period.
Colby Armstrong’s two goals 31 seconds apart weren’t a Thrashers record (John Sim scored 22 seconds apart when he played for Atlanta against Carolina in October 2006), but they were a heck of a shift.
Big game for Ondrej Pavelec. Just when you thought the Thrashers’ goalie situation was becoming clearcut, after Pavelec started to struggle, he comes up with one of the team’s best goaltending performances of the season. Now, barring a trade, what do they do with their goalies when Kari Lehtonen returns, possibly this weekend?
I was lucky to make it out of my hotel parking lot this morning. Quite the snowstorm overnight, and it’s still falling outside. The Canadians are pretty ho-hum about it; they deal with this all the time.
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Reasoner returns to Kovalchuk line
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Centers Jason Williams and Marty Reasoner have swapped lines again, with Reasoner rejoining Ilya Kovalchuk and Chris Thorburn and Williams back with Eric Perrin and Colby Armstrong. The two centers were switched for the game at Boston and part of Friday’s game against Boston in Atlanta, as coach John Anderson tried to get Williams’ offense back on track.
Ondrej Pavelec is in net tonight, returning to action two games after getting pulled after giving up three quick goals against the Bruins Friday night. Pavelec has a history of being able to bounce back from things like that.
Angelo Esposito is a big story today in papers throughout Canada. The Thrashers prospect made the Canadian junior team after getting cut three times (a record he shares with Daniel Cleary of the Red Wings). Here’s a good example of what reporters here wrote.
It’s cold here in Ottawa, but no colder than it was in Boston on Saturday. Snow is forecast for tonight, with two inches expected before it stops Wednesday afternoon.
