Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Pittsburgh Penguins had lost five straight games and six of their last seven…being outscored 24-8 and not being ale to score more than two goals in those games. They had just suffered a 4-0 spanking at the hands of the Rangers in New York the night before.
Fortunately for them, they came home to find a most welcome guest, the Thrashers, and beat them 3-1.
The Pens had gone 31 straight power plays with nary a goal going back over the last seven games. They scored two power plays goals against the Thrashers Tuesday night.
Sidney Crosby entered Tuesday’s game against Atlanta having gone four straight without scoring a goal. Over the past seven games, he had scored but one goal and in the past seventeen games he scored only twice. Crosby hadn’t scored a power play goal since November. 13th.
Sidney Crosby scored a power play goal against the Thrashers.
Pittsburgh played nearly the entire game minus one skater after Ruslan Fedotenko left with an injury having played but 35 seconds. They played the last half of the game with only 16 skaters after Pascal Dupuis left the game after playing but 6:53.
It didn’t matter as the Atlanta Thrashers proved to be the perfect prescription to what ailed the Penguins. I’m sure they will be feeling much better in the morning.
The Thrashers of late have proven to be quite the elixir for tired and weary teams as, for the third consecutive game, Atlanta faced a team on the back end of back-to-back sets. Those three teams have skated away with a total of five points. In fact, going back to the 2-1 loss to Boston two Sundays ago, the last four times the Thrashers have face opponents playing their second game in as many nights…Atlanta is 1-3-0, picking up two points while giving away seven.
Much like their last game in which a less-than-average Lightning team drubbed the Thrashers 4-1, a slumping Pittsburgh team scored all the goals that they needed for the night before surrendering a consolation goal late in the third period.
And exactly like Mike Smith of Tampa Bay did Sunday at The House Waddell Built, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped the first 27 shots the Thrashers took on him, before losing the shutout bid on the 28th and final Atlanta shot.
Kari Lehtonen is now 4-10-2 on the season with a .902 SV%. He lowered his GAA to 3.37 by allowing but 3 goals in 59 minutes of work. Kari is now 2-5-0 since returning last month from his back injury, allowing 23 goals in those seven games. Two of his four wins have come by way of the shootout, leaving him with only a pair of regulation wins in sixteen decisions over the course of half a season.
Atlanta is now 13-23-5 at the halfway point of the season. The 31 points put the dead-on to net 62 for the season. If so, that would be 14 points off last season’s pace…which was 21 points off the mark the year before that.
This, my friends, is what Bruce Levenson refers to as “moving in the right direction”!
The New Jersey Devils will be rolling out the red carpet for the Thrashers Thursday night as they will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Carolina.
Oh, There You Are Jason
With about four minutes remaining in the game up in Pittsburgh, I watched as a wide open Jason Williams fumbled a pass in front of the Penguin’s net. It was at that point that I realized…Jason Williams was in the Thrashers lineup!
He sure has a way of disappearing into the walls, doesn’t he?
Thus, I propose a new nickname for him…Casper.
Life Post Hossa/Dupuis Trade
Last February, as you’ll recall, the Thrashers traded away Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis to the team they just lost 3-1 to, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In return, they received Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen…future prospect Angelo Esposito and the Pens first round draft pick. They were 29-30-4 in the 63 games played on the day of that trade.
Since that day, the Thrashers have played 60 games and have a record of 18-33-9.
The next trade deadline in now eight weeks away.
Congrats Don
The 13-23-5 record the Thrashers have is a points winning percentage of .378. To put that in perspective, Atlanta’s second year in the league saw them play to a 23-45-2-12 which was good enough for a .370 points winning percentage. Congratulations Don, you have successfully set this team back to an expansion era franchise less than two years removed from it’s one and only playoff appearance.
That HAS to be some sort of record.
More Fun With Numbers
The Thrashers collected seven victories in the first sixteen games of the season. In the last 25…they have managed but six.
Four times this season Kari Lehtonen has been blessed with facing fewer than 30 shots on goal. He is 0-4-0 in those games.
In order to simply get to last season’s disappointing record of 34-40-8, Atlanta will have to go 21-17-3 in the second half of the season.
In order to simply have a “break-even” season…82 points…they will need 51 points in the last 41 games. That’s something like 24-14-3.
In order to qualify for the playoffs…about 94 points…the Thrashers would need to go 30-8-3.
Just sayin’…
And Finally…
Before we leave the subject of the Pittsburgh Penguins…I wish to share with you a most excellent observation that MB posted over on Mike Knobler’s blog. It has to do with the similar draft situations the Thrashers and Pens found themselves in between 1999 and 2003. Similar draft positions, similar positions picked…but look where the two teams are now.
Nicely done, MB.
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Putting 10,750 Into Focus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So…as I am one to do, I’m perusing through some lunchtime reading material earlier today and I trip up on this from Holly Gunning of the Thrashers Prospect Annex. She’s posted a few photos from the Thrashers embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Lightning Sunday afternoon, specifically the “crowd” in attendance.
If you were there, or watching on TV, the sight of this “partial sellout” won’t really come as a surprise…but looking at it from the angles that she took these shots, the pictures do indeed tell the story…the sad, pathetic story.
Although 10,750 was the official announced draw…the fact of the matter is that if you added up the fans in the seats, the players on the ice, coaching staffs, TV and radio broadcasters and crew, media types, those working concessions, security, 50-50 raffle crew and all of the homeless people outside of Philips…you would still be hard pressed to come up with 10,750.
Folks… frickin’ Elmo on Ice draws more than this on a Sunday afternoon.
Take a good look at Holly’s pictures…then reflect back just 24 short months ago…back to a Sunday afternoon in January at Philips Arena when the Thrashers were hosting the Philadelphia Flyers. At the time, Philly entered into that game with a record of 11-32-5 and the Thrashers were…now sit down for this…28-15-8 overall and 13-6-4 on home ice.
My family and I were among the 18,598 in attendance that afternoon. The place was indeed packed. Take a look at the video highlights here with the boxscore and check out the crowd. This is what Blueland looked like, sounded like…felt like. The place was rockin’…shakin’…it was the place to be!
My God, what Waddell and the Spiriteers have done to this franchise in just two years.
Now, the fans in Atlanta are sending a clear and concise message to Bruce Levenson and the Spiriteers. A message that should echo throughout Philips…which should not be too difficult given how empty it is. They are fed up with what they and Waddell have done to this team and they want a serious change made, specifically in the GM office, and they want that change made…NOW!
If not…then it won’t be too much longer before we look back at “10,750” in the same reminiscent fashion as we now look back on 18,598.
Rumor Mill A-Churnin’
I normally don’t “do” rumor mill stuff here…remember, the rumor mill had Hossa in Montreal last February and Ilya in Minnesota for Gaborik last month…so one tends to take things with a certain grain of salt, (DUH5).
But this one has sort of tickled my ear. I found this by way of FrenchCatalogues of The Blueland Chronicle…apparently thefourthperod.com says that there is a possible deal that would send Kari Lehtonen to L.A. for centerman Patrick O’Sullivan. They cite their source as the Edmonton Journal…reporting that Kari has fallen out of favor with the Thrashers.
Many of you have already heard of and discussed this rumor.
Hmmmm…OK, so we would send an injury-prone 4-9-2 keeper with a 3.39 GAA and .903 SV% who is on the verge of officially being declared a No. 2 pick “bust”out to SoCal in return for a 5’-11” 190 pound center with 9 goals, 23 points and a +5 in 37 games played who will turn 24 years of age next month.
Interesting.
Kari is currently under a 1-year $3 million contract and will be an RFA this summer. O’Sullivan is currently making $2.925 million and his contract runs to the end of the 2010-11 season. He’ll be a UFA after that.
Interesting-er.
Now if…IF…such a deal were to go down, that would leave Hedberg and Pavelec as the two goalies in Atlanta. Would we see Opie tossed out there and told, “It’s your gig now kid…go justify yourself”, or would we see Moose given the starting job for now while the kid is eased into it?
Interesting-er-er.
Though it would be tough to part ways with the 2002 second overall pick in return for a 56th pick the following year, the official Rawhide/Ice Man position on this deal is…thumbs up.
But again…I do so with my saltshaker well in hand.
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Absolutely Embarrassing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Once again…the Thrashers failed to carry over any momentum from a win into the next game. This time it was the Tampa Bay Lightning that snapped the “streak” with a 4-1 win in Philips Arena. The Lightning used the win in Atlanta to leapfrog over the Thrashers for fourth place in the Southeast Division, thirteenth place in the Eastern Conference and leaving the Thrashers a mere three points north of the bottom of the NHL standings.
Thank goodness for those three wins against the Islanders, huh…otherwise, the Thrashers place in the standing would be really embarrassing, eh?
Tampa Bay came into the game sporting the league’s sixth worst power play, (14.2%), second worst goals per game stat, (2.34 G/G), second worst shots against stat, (33.1 SA/G) and their 2.97 GA/G was tied with Edmonton and Philly for only 22nd in the league. However, they went 2 for 4 on the man advantage against the Thrashers… Martin St. Louis and Steve Eminger did the honors for Tampa Bay… they scored four times, allowed but one, took 35 shots and allowed Atlanta only 28.
Folks, when a 10-18-10 team, particularly one with those stats, comes a-callin’ to your barn…on the tail end of a back-to-backer…having lost three games straight over a span of four nights… and they drop you to the tune of 4-1…it’s nothing short of flat out embarrassing.
Bolts goalie Mike Smith stopped the initial 27 shots he faced, but Erik Christensen’s tap-in with 21.2 seconds remaining in the games spoiled his shutout bid. Smith finished the day’s work with 27 saves on 28 shots for a .964 SV%.
On the other end of the ice, Kari Lehtonen wasn’t exactly having a Sunday stroll in the park as he allowed four goals on 35 shots. In the six games started since returning from his back injury that put him on the shelf for 21 consecutive games, Kari is 2-4 with a 3.31 GAA and .902 SV%.
Once Again, Win Streak Ends At One
Since the now-infamous five-game win streak that Don Waddell points to as proof that he has iced a “good team”… the Thrashers have won six games and netted 15 points over the past twenty-fours games. In fact, remove that five-game win streak of two months ago and the Thrashers haven’t won back-to-back games all year and are 8-22-5 in the other 35 games played.
That’s not good, Don. And trying to pawn off the team you are responsible for as such is…embarrassing.
10,750
That was the announced attendance at Sunday’s game. Yeah, that’s what they said…10,750.
Unless about 4,000 were all milling about in the concourse area all game…there is no way 10K-plus fans were in the building. The Spirit Clowns and Don Waddell should be nothing short of…embarrassed…at the sight of so many empty seats on a Sunday afternoon.
Several weeks ago, Don Waddell was asked if he was concerned about the attendance figures. He cited that the team normally struggles in this department early on but…once the football season ends and the lovely fall weather gives way to winter…folks tend to come out and watch the team he constructs at a much higher rate.
Well, the Falcons wonderful season came to an end Saturday, Tech and UGA played their bowl games last week and…last I checked…it’s been winter for a couple of weeks now. So now what’s the excuse?
Hey Donnie…here’s a thought. Maybe…just maybe…it’s the fact that the fans have seen what you have done to this team over the past couple of years and have decided it isn’t worth paying the higher prices that the Spirit Clowns put on tickets this year?
Just sayin’…
Keeping Up With The Bruins
The Thrashers have now surrendered 146 goals in 40 games played so far this season, which keeps them right on pace to see 300 get past Atlanta keepers. As awesome as the Boston Bruins’ offense is this year…they have only been able to produce 143 in 39 games.
“Give-A-Crap Level Was Like At Zero”
Those were the words of Thrashers head coach John Anderson after the 4-1 beat-down at the hands of the “mighty” Tampa Bay Lightning. He went on to add, “I’ve got to question whether anybody cares in that locker room. That’s a joke”.
Only, no one is laughing.
Although I have to agree 100% with the coach’s comments, let’s be honest here. The current general manager for the team has had 8-1/2 seasons with zero playoff wins to show for it…only 251 wins in 696 games…and has set the team back years due to his last two trade-deadline dealings.
If the Spirit Clowns refuse to hold that type of failure accountable, what makes anyone in that locker room fear that they will be?
Little Rib Injury
Bryan Little…and his team-leading 19 goals… left the game late in the second period with contused ribs and did not return. Coach Anderson indicated that he did not know how long Little would be out, but said that ribs are normally something that need weeks, not days, to heal.
Joy…rapture.
A Good Day For Mike Smith
On Sunday, the Associated Press named Falcons head coach Mike Smith NFL Coach of the Year. A few hours later, Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Mike Smith comes within seconds of a shutout in Atlanta during a 4-1 win against the Thrashers.
So, it was a good day in Atlanta for those named Mike Smith.
Happy Ending Despite Swedish Twins’ Domination
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Sedin brothers…Henrik and Daniel…accounted for all three Vancouver goals and each finished the night with three points. Fourteen of the Canucks thirty-eight shots on goal came from players named Sedin, Henrick with eight and Daniel with six.
However, despite the Swedish twins’ domination…the Atlanta Thrashers that came out on top, whipping the Canucks 4-3 in the shootout.
Early on, Vancouver experienced a case of the Crabbs as Joey fired a short-handed laser blast past Jason La-la-la-la-la-LaBarbera, who was acquired last Tuesday from the L.A. Kings after Curtis Sanford went down injured. LaBarbera stopped 34 of the 37 shots he faced including all four the Thrashers managed to get on goal in overtime.
OK, stop right there…you did read that correctly. Atlanta scored a short-handed goal and they took 37 shots on goal. Given that and the fact that they are undefeated so far in 2009… the New Year has definitely gotten off on a positive note.
Ilya Kovalchuk’s thirteenth of the year, and second in as many games, tied the score at two with 7:36 remaining in the second and Slava Kozlov’s sixteenth’s of the season gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead at the 3:46 mark of the third while the Thrashers were on the…wait for it…POWER PLAY!
Kari Lehtonen, making his third start in the four games played this week, turned away 35 of Vancouver’s 38 shots, (.921 SV%), and looked very impressive doing so. One of the three he surrendered was on a 5 on 3 Vancouver power play.
However, the Thrashers needed the skills competition exhibit known as the shootout in order to procure the two points on this night. It took an extra round of shots but Slava Kozlov and Erik Christensen were successful on theirs while Vancouver converted only on their first attempt.
The Thrashers are now 2-0 in shootouts this season.
Make no mistake, this was no pushover the Thrashers beat Friday night. Even with the OTL, Vancouver is still 21-15-4 and their 46 points is good enough to be but 2 points off the pace in the Northwest Division behind Cal-Gary’s 48 and they currently sit in fifth place in the Western Conference.
For Atlanta, it was only the fourth win and ninth point captured from teams that currently hold playoff positions in the NHL. So, it was a good night with a happy ending indeed.
Well Now, That Didn’t Take Long
It only took four seconds for Eric Boulton and Mike Brown to drop the gloves and have a go at one another. The puck had hardly even been dropped when the two decided that they had just had enough of each other.
Special Shout Outs
It was pleasure to have met Mr. J nes Friday night…thanks for introducing yourself and for the kind words.
To the two Alabamastan chicks who sat behind my brother and I that were attending their first ever NHL hockey game…you saw a darned good one. If the team is gonna win whenever you’re in the house, please return again soon.
Oh, and it sure looks like Melissa and her party were having a good time in 104-P.
And to Emma and Lizzie, who held me to my promise to get ‘em some ice cream if they screamed their heads off and helped the Thrashers get a lead…well done young ladies! You certainly did your parts.
2009 Predictions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta wound up CY2008 with a record of 27-41-12…a points winning percentage of .412. I can’t predict an exact record for CY2009 since I do not know next season’s schedule yet…but I will predict the Thrashers will win a total of 30 games this year. 15 the rest of this season, 15 next fall.
At some point in calendar year 2009 the Thrashers will name a team captain. Seriously, they will.
When asked about the Thrashers going from 43 wins and 97 points two years ago…to 34 wins and 76 points last year…to about 27 wins and 63 points this season, Bruce Levenson will indeed once again use the phrase “I believe we are moving in the right direction”.
Blueland will come closer to “becoming one” than “becoming 18,545”.
The Boston Bruins will win the Stanley Cup Finals. Since Detroit will not win it back-to-back, this will spare Sara’s yard from being TP-ed by RStroz, Brendan and myself.
Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen experiment will come to an end sometime this year. The #2 overall draft pick in 2002 now has a career record of 78-69-16 with a 2.86 GAA and .912 SV%. So far this season, Kari is 3-8-0 with a 3.30 GAA and .902 SV%. He’s missed almost twice as many games due to a back injury than he’s started so far this year. If he was to use this season to prove that he’s still worthy of the “goalie of the future” tag for the Thrashers…he now has only half a season to prove it.
We will indeed witness Nikita sporting a toga at Blueland. Maybe about the time the Thrashers win game number XX…sometime in mid-February.
The Chicago Wolves will once again win the AHL championship this spring. New head coach, same GM…just like the Thrashers. Go figure…
The Thrashers will finish low enough in the standings to own a lottery pick, (DUH5), and they will actually win the lottery to pick first in the draft. However, Don Waddell will pass up the opportunity to draft John Tavares, instead opting for Sven Sfadittlehoffen…the little-known 18-year old Swedish goalkeeper who has a 17-39-14 record with a 4.56 GAA and .841 SV% in Sweden’s Semi-Juniors. He’ll be eligible to play in the NHL after his 4-year stint in the Swedish Military. Waddell will refer to Sven as…the diamond in the rough that has gone under the conventional radar.
Bryan Little will end the season with more points than Ilya Kovalchuk. Ron Hainsey will end the year with more points than Jason Williams. Nathan Oystrick will end the season with more points than Erik Christensen.
We will enjoy watching all of these former Thrashers in the playoffs this spring… Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis, Braydon Coburn, Glen Metropolit, Marc Savard, Shane Hnidy, Eric Belanger, Andrew Brunette, Frantisek Kaberle and Bobby Holik. But not Dany Heatley. Ken Klee’s Coyotes will just miss out on the fun.
Despite seven losing seasons in nine years, not making the playoffs for the eighth season out of nine, icing a team that finished worse than the season prior for the second straight year, and tying the franchise record for playoff victories after a season… ZERO…Don Waddell will not be relieved of his general manager duties at the end of the season. Why? Well, see the Bruce Levenson prediction made earlier and you’ll get a glimpse of the type of mentality we are dealing with here.
The Blue Crew uniforms will become even skimpier. Five_Hole and Alan will attend more games. How the two are related…shrugs…I dunno.
Ilya Kovalchuk will be an Atlanta Thrasher on Dec. 31, 2009. After that…well, you’ll have to check in a year from now for that prediction.
Latest comments
Very true, Stroz. But what I was driving at was this: The players don’t feel any sort of reponsibility towards this team … because they feel DISCONNECTED from it, largely or in part because the ownership doesn’t... read the full comment by Brendan | Comment on Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens Read Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens
With all the empty seats in the arena combined with Schneider’s 5.75 million salary, I imagine the Spirit Clowns have told Waddell to dump Schneider as soon as possible. Frankly, the Spirit Clowns can’t afford Schneider any longer and his salary... read the full comment by R. Stroz | Comment on Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens Read Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens
Brendan - You can’t wash the car if there are water restrictions, or in this case money restrictions, such as being out of money.... read the full comment by R. Stroz | Comment on Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens Read Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens
Don Waddell says, and Ilya “echoes,” … “We can’t take nights off. Guys have to give 100%, every night (TM, Atlanta Spirit, LLC, all rights reserved).” Well, do you buy that? Or … is that simply... read the full comment by Brendan | Comment on Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens Read Thrashers Perfect Rx For Ailing Pens