AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March
March 2007
One win away
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By the end of the night, we could be in the playoffs.
However, I kinda hope that doesn’t happen. As excruciating as this little stretch run has been, you’d think I’d want to get in any which way … and, in a sense, I do. Yet, I love on-ice clinchings … on home ice, no less. And what would be better than to beat the Capitals on Wednesday to seal the deal?
That said, Toronto plays three games between now and then, and the Islanders play twice before then. One loss for each and we’re in. And I’ll take it with no complaints.
This game was worth of a clincher, anyway. Beautiful goaltending, nice chemistry on the lines, beautiful passing and a clutch goal from our rent-a-stud.
For me, there were three plays worth noting. The first, obviously, was Tkachuk’s game-winner. Big boy got himself in the right place at the right time and made no mistakes. The second was Dupuis’ pass to de Vries for the second goal. An absolute beaut, perfectly played … visions of the Dupuis we all liked during Minnesota’s big playoff run a few years ago.
The third play that stuck out for me was Jim Slater absolutely pummeling Jeff Hoggan, whom I’m pretty sure didn’t come back into the game. Slater has had one of the more disappointing seasons on the team, and to see him stick his nose in it to try to contribute in that way just speaks volumes. A guy’s season could turn on a play like that, and this would be the ideal time for it to happen to Slater.
Hossa could have easily made this a four- or five-goal game, but he got absolutely robbed on a couple prime scoring chances. It would be nice to see him get hot again about now.
And what can you say about Lehtonen today? (If you’re sendec, you can say Lehtonen is a rogue and a scoundral.) But if you’re anybody else, you can say he played a big-time game today. Very impressive, especially with the leg pads, kicking away shot after shot.
Anyway, I gotta run. Big night here at the AJC, something about a couple of high school basketball games downtown tonight. I’m not sure, but apparently it’s a big deal and we’ll be busy all night. But I’ll check in on your responses every so often.
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Words you never thought you’d hear: Sutton saves the day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the Thrashers finally clinch this too-long-in-coming playoff berth, even if it is by a single point, we will have Andy Sutton to thank. Especially if it’s by a single point.
Believe it or not.
For all the abuse the guy has taken here and elsewhere — some of it justified, some of it excessive — he made two of the biggest plays in one of the biggest games of the season. Not only did he take the shot that Slava Kozlov deflected in for a crucial goal, but Sutton had his goalie’s back at the exact moment we needed it most.
With Johan Hedberg woefully out of position after a save and a scramble, the puck came around the back of the net (was it Sundin?) and was surely headed for an easy wraparound goal. But Sutton flashed through the crease and got his stick in the way, knocking the puck aside right at the goal line.
Without that play, this game isn’t tied after regulation … it’s a loss. And this team would be sitting in the dressing room right now scratching their heads and wondering just how fast a ship can sink.
Instead, Kozlov plays the hero — AGAIN — in overtime for the two points that should virtually do it for us. At 91 points, six up on the ninth-place Leafs … we should feel a lot better about things than we would have otherwise.
Sutton was the hero of the moment, but Kozlov is fast becoming the hero of the season. For their superior numbers and far superior skills, Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa have not even combined for the number of absolute clutch goals Kozlov has scored this season — not only in regulation, but in shootouts. His poise is among the top three reasons this team is in the position it’s in. (I couldn’t tell you the other two without thinking about it for a minute, but I’m sure there have to be two other good reasons.)
The power play actually played with some purpose tonight, moving the puck well and getting off good shots. The physicality was tremendous, with bodies flying and Leafs hitting the ice with regularity. And Ilya really laid a lick on the door frame at the Thrashers benche. Ouch. That friggin’ hurts, dude, running into a door frame. One aspect of Ilya’s game that has been very, very underappreciated is his toughness. He is not a pansy sniper by any means. Since he hasn’t been scoring, I was happy to see him looking for other ways to contribute tonight.
Before I let you guys take the floor, I just want to give a shout out to the dude who kept standing up with his cellphone and waving to the TV cameras: Yeah, we see you, Dillhole. We see you! We see you! We see you! What are you … f’ing 3 years old?! We see you for Christsakes. You’re at the hockey game and you’ve got a cellphone. That’s tremendous. Guess you can die now. In fact, feel free.
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Guess Florida wasn’t a gimme
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first person to say, “Hey, at least we got a point” will get banned from the message board for the rest of their days.
This team is taking all the fun and excitement out of this race and turning it into an excruciating experience. When it was 2-1 for, like, forever, we were dominating play, and I kept saying to myself, “They need this game to not be a one-goal game.” The Panthers looked horrible, the game was constantly in their end, and yet you knew that if the Thrashers didn’t tack on that third goal it was going to get tied up.
And it did. And then we didn’t win in OT. And then we didn’t win the shootout. One point is better than nothing, there’s no denying that from a mathematical standpoint. But the utter lack of production from this team is scary.
Ready for me to blow your minds?
It is mathematically possible for the Thrashers to still win the division and claim the No. 3 seed and home ice in the first round … and finish with the NINTH best record in the East. It would be the biggest travesty in the history of sports, one of the biggest fiascos. It’s not likely, but it’s possible that a team with more points would miss the playoffs.
Here’s how:
The Thrashers have 89 points right now. Let’s say they lose the rest of their games EXCEPT for the last one against Tampa Bay. That gives them 91 points.,
Now, let’s say Carolina (84 points) beats the Thrashers, splits a pair with Tampa Bay and loses the rest. And let’s say Tampa (86 points) wins only the one against Carolina. That gives both of them 88 points. Thrashers win the division and clinch the third seed.
NOW … in the meantime, let’s say the Rangers (87 points) beat the Flyers, Habs and Penguins: They would finish with 93 points. They’re in.
And let’s say the Leafs (84 points) win four of these games: Atlanta, Penguins, Rangers, Flyers and Montreal. And let’s say the Habs (86 points) beat Ottawa, Buffalo and Boston. And let’s say the Islanders (84 points) beat Buffalo, Ottawa, Toronto and Philadelphia.
That’s 92 points for each those three teams.
That gives the East something like this:
Buffalo 105-plus New Jersey 98-plus ATLANTA 91 Ottawa 98-plus Pittsburgh 98-plus Rangers 93 Montreal 92 Toronto 92 --------------- Islanders 92 Hurricanes 88 Lightning 88
Listen, I’m not saying it’s gonna happen. In fact, the odds are incredibly low. But don’t you think it’s amazing that it COULD?!!!! As if hockey needs the sports world mocking it any further.
So listen up, Thrashers, for the sake of your sport: Put some damn points on the board and take care of business.
The phones lines are open and hot, young girls are waiting to talk to you ….
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Like fine whine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First off, let’s set the record straight:
This is whining: Why do they have to play the music so loud at the areeenaaaa? Why is a soda eight dollars? I hate it when you sit next to some guy who doesn’t know anything about hockey and he just wants the team to score goals!
OK, that’s whining.
This is a critical hockey fan taking an honest look at his favorite team: Gosh, we sure got our asses whipped the past two games. Even though I still feel we have a good shot at making the playoffs, this definitely isn’t the way I want to go into the postseason. I don’t want to back in simply because other teams couldn’t catch us. I don’t want to fall back on beating crummy teams just to scrape up enough points to make it.
OK, that’s a fair and critical look.
Understand the difference. Now, I realize some folks chimed in with some comments the other day that read like “Chicken Little.” The franchise isn’t in ruins, by any stretch, a playoff berth is still very much in our own hands. But I’m not going to blame any Thrashers fans whose hands are trembling right now. They’re the ones who were paying attention last season, when we missed by two points. TWO POINTS. And if you blanketly think that CAN’T happen this year, then you haven’t been paying any attention to the past 10 days or so, because the teams behind us are storming the gates like rabid dogs. There is plenty of play in these standings with 6-7 games left.
And forgive me if I prefer to see the Thrashers take care of their own business without saying, “Well, Toronto plays Montreal twice, and the Rangers play the Islanders twice.” …. I mean, a week ago we were watching at our team play like a contender. Now we’re sitting here saying, “Well, we’ll beat Florida and Washington, so it doesn’t really matter what we do against the other teams.”
Funk that, my friends. It matters. It matters how you represent yourself at this stage in the season, it matters how you go into the playoffs. Teams that sit on a big points lead and piss away the last two weeks of the season are dead meat against a team that’s been scratching people’s eyes out just trying to get in.
After the San Jose game, we said, “Well, it’s just one bad game.” Now after the Pittsburgh game, we’re saying, “Well, it was just an unlucky bounce.” What will say Wednesday night if this team can’t produce more than one goal?
This is a streaky team. It has nine streaks of at least four consecutive wins or losses this season … and I sure don’t want to see this two-game losing streak turn into a five-game losing streak. Not with only six to play. On the flip side, the team had only three four-game stretches where it went W-L-W-L … In other words, we either win a lot or we lose a lot.
Ironically, a lot of these overtime and shootout wins that we’re so proud of could very well come back to haunt us, because our regulation-win total could come into play in a tiebreaker, if it comes down to that. Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?
OK. Lest people start asking to see my Official Thrashers Fan Membership Card, let’s turn the mood to the positive. This team has been resilient. This team has veteran leadership. This team has everything it needs to run the table if it wants to.
So let’s stop calculating the math of the LEAST that can happen and start counting by twos again and make the MOST of this run.
(Stepping off soapbox.)
Let’s leave on lighter note … all those “Slap Shot” references the other day made me remember something, and I’m not sure if I mentioned it before or not …. but a few weeks ago, I was watching the original “Miracle on Ice” movie, the one with Karl Mauldin as Herb Brooks. … and I’m watching it, and suddenly I go, “Hey, that’s Dave ‘Killer’ Carlson out there!’ … and sure enough, the same guy from “Slap Shot” is playing Les Auge in “Miracle on Ice.” … I was closely watching the practice scenes and the exhibition game scenes for any mention of “Waddell” but there was none. The story that he was the ‘last’ player cut from the ‘80 team is something of an exageration, I think. Not on his part, probably, but just you know how stories evolve over time. …
OK, people, positive thinking. The Thrashers are good enough. They’re smart enough. And doggone it, people like them.
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Aimless effort vs. Pens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dear God,
I don’t pray often … in fact, most of my prayers were the “If you help me live through this, I’ll never do it again” variety in college. You knew I was kinda kidding, right?
Anway, back on topic.
Dear God,
Please tell me an entire hockey season can’t come down to a goal like this. It can’t right? A guy takes a back-handed swipe at a loose puck, and it bounces off the end boards and over the goalie’s leg, landing on edge just inside the goal line for a game-winning goal … something like that can’t derail an entire 82-game schedule, can it? These guys don’t deserve it. They’ve worked too hard and put in too much effort to build this franchise to this point.
Of course … it’s happened before. Steve Smith, anybody? Didn’t Chris Osgood give up a 70-footer to lose a playoff series?
Wow. I can’t recall feeling so empty after a game in a long while. Maybe not since Terry Pendleton hit a HR off Roger McDowell in the third-to-last game of the ‘87 season to all but eliminate the Mets. That one hurt. This one hurt. That lucky sonofagun Staal …
So now the pressure is on. If indeed this is basically the first round of the playoffs, then we are down 0-1. We need to win four of the next/last six games, in my opinion. Or we’re gonna need some help. And so far, help has not been forthcoming.
We’ll need to channel some serious ill-will in Tampa Bay’s direction tonight; we need our old friend The Heater to help us out.
My one observation of this team over the past two days is this … and it’s a scary observation: Over the past two games, this team has reminded me of the Curt Fraser years. We’re not controlling the play in any facet. The action is always in our end, constant pressure … and we’re just playing for whatever offensive scraps fall off the table. There is no rhythm on offense, no sense of objective … just guys flying in on transition and looking for a lucky bounce. Our shots have a sense of desperation, like, please find a hole, please let the goalie bobble it. In short, we are not in control, like we’re waiting for the hand of God to come down and scooch us into the playoffs. And as we saw today, God clearly is not on our side.
Don Waddell did his job. He put the pieces in Bob Hartley’s hands. Now it’s up to Hartley to get these guys scoring goals again.
Game 2 is Wednesday.
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Land Sharks deliver a Candygram
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was a long, hard walk up the stairs to write this blog.
“Is the game over, Daddy?” asked my half-asleep 5-year-old, rubbing her little eyes, her hair reminiscent of Nick Nolte’s mug shot.
“Yes, the game’s over.”
“Who won?”
“The Sharks. The team in white.”
“How many goals did they score?”
“Five.”
“How many goals did the Frashers score?”
“One.”
“How come they only scored one goal?”
“I don’t know, kid, I don’t know.”
And so we went our separate ways. Ice Man to the office, Ice Kid to her room, one of us weeping like a little girl.
I mean, here’s what we know about the Thrashers. We have one of the brightest young goal-scoring talents in the league. We have a big, tough top-line center. And we have a sensational young Finnish goalie.
Unfortunately, what we learned about the San Jose Sharks is that so do they. And then some. Every one of our strengths was countered and topped tonight by a very fine-looking hockey team, a team that played the night before in a different city and then blew into town and blew away team that had been off for three days and sleeping their own beds.
Unfortunately, too, what we’ve learned is that these Western Conference teams are playing at a whole different level. Think back a few weeks when we got run out of Alberta and British Columbia. They done us but good, treated us like we ordered Budweiser at a roadhouse in Porcupine Plains.
The only consolation being this: Somehow, teams from the Southeast Division have summoned up the strength to beat those rough and tough teams from the Northwest corner of the continent in the past two Stanley Cup finals. Their magic powers melt in the Southeastern sun in June.
It’s best not to dwell on a game like this. This team will just have to get back on the horse next time out and take care of business. Short memories, boys, are what win championships in this league. Take my kid, for example. She’s gonna wake up tomorrow morning and not remember a single thing about this game, not the score, not the hideous officiating, not the slack-jawed awe with which we watched Jonathon Cheechoo (bless you) rush the net. Hell, she won’t even remember she was watching a hockey game.
If only the rest of us could be so lucky.
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Logjam in the East
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As off nights go, this was a pretty discouraging one. We could have gone a long way toward clinching a playoff spot if a few teams had taken care of business. Instead, Montreal, Tampa and Toronto all win, further jamming up the bottom of the playoff race.
How about those Islanders? They come back from down 2-0, go up 3-2 and lose in OT to give Tampa two big points. It hurts us, for sure, but it surely hurts the Isles more. They NEEDED that win, that extra point.
Toronto and Montreal are now nipping at the heels of the Canes.
And I’ll tell you this, too. My friend in NY, who covers a lot of Rangers games, IM’d me tonight about the possibility of the Rangers and Thrashers meeting in the playoffs.
“Good,” I said. “We’ll kill those guys.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “They dominated the Thrashers the other night, but just go stonewalled by Hedberg.”
“Oh,” I countered. “So they play a great game … and STILL lose to the BACKUP goalie of the team that WON’T? beat them in the playoffs. That’s solid logic.”
Then he backpedaled and said he was merely disagreeing with my assessment that the Thrashers would “kill” the Rangers. And maybe that is strong, but the Rangers are definitely one of the teams I would like to face in the first round. Them and the Devils, because of this weird little run we seem to be having against them. Ilya certainly seems to have Brodeur’s number sometimes.
But the odds are it will be either Tampa or the Rangers. And I DO NOT … DO NOT .. want to play Tampa in the first round. Bad mojo.
Another day off for the Thrash tomorrow. … We’ll fill the void somehow.
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More on hero worship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since we’ve been debating the merits of wearing a player’s jersey, complete with name … check this out for scary. This takes hero worship to a whole new level.
Can you imagine getting a tattoo of another dude on your arm? (Although I think a Mount Rushmore tattoo with the faces of The Band would be pretty sweet.)
Anyhoo, no TV again Sunday. I’m considering taking the kids to the game; they’ve been badgering me about going, and time is running short. Check out the bottom of the East standings after Saturday night’s games … a total logjam, which pretty much assures the Thrashers are in because those teams will be taking points from each other the rest of the way.
That said … Thrash need to finish strong. I liked Melrose’s comments in Craig’s story about how teams that had to fight to get into the playoffs hit the playoffs with a head of steam. It’s so true.
Check in with you later.
Zhitnik saves the day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How did we ever win games before? That’s what I want to know. Somehow, even before we had KT, AZ and EB, we were in first place. And, yet, since they’ve been here, they’ve pretty much carried the club.
Huge, huge goal for Zhitnik. Not just to win a game, but to prove that there’s still breath inside this otherwise lifeless corpse of a PP. … And who is standing in front of the net, but Tkachuk. That’s the kind of goal that doesn’t show up in your stats, but i’m guessing he had as much to do with it going in as Zhitnik did.
Hedberg played great. An amazing glove save while falling forward late in the third … might we see him again Sunday? Hmmm …..
Anyway, I am knee-deep in NCAA copy and have to get back to work. You guys carry the conversation until tomorrow. Another big game tomorrow, by the way, when my 5-year-old has her first-ever soccer game. Go Orange Team!
Face it, Flyers own us
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, I know who I don’t want to play in the first round of the playoffs.
Oh, that’s right … The Flyers would be going to the playoffs ONLY if they played the Thrashers about 20 more times. You’d think it was Bill Barber and Reggie Leach out there against the Thrashers. Pelle Lindbergh in net, Desjardins and Therien on D. I haven’t seen a bad team own a good team like this since Pharoah’s boys implemented a triangle (OK, pyramid) defense on the Israelites. But just as star center Moses declared, ‘Let my people go,’ so, too, do the Thrash exodus out of Philly until next season.
I tip my hat to them and call them my Daddy. Thank you, Pedro.
Let’s chalk it up to fluke. Like lottery numbers, “Titanic’s” Best Picture award or the success of Kevin James.
Let’s move on and not dwell on it. Let’s no dwell on Andy Sutton’s incessant poor positioning, which basically lost this game. On goal 2, he ends up on one knee inside the Thrashers net. On goal 3, he finds himself standing BEHIND the far post when the puck is scooting free in front of the net. Was that not dwelling on it enough? Did anyone else here choke on their pancakes the other morning when they read his agent’s quote about using Jay McKee’s $4M salary as a starting point for negotiations this offseason? “If I was DW, I’d offer $1M and listen to the dial tone on the other end,” I said. To which my friend Dolie goes, “I’d offer him $500K and hang up on him myself.”
Steve McCarthy must have been sitting up in the press box tonight going, This guy’s playing over me?!?!
I promised I wouldn’t dwell on it. And another thing …
Kidding.
Wasted in this loss was the phenomenal pass from Ilya to Dupuis for the potential tying goal late … Dupuis kind of heeled it, though, and it bounced right into Biron’s midsection. What a pass, though. If Ilya keeps creating like that, his line will be tough to stop. Another strong game from Tkachuk and Belanger. Those two are godsends. And I thought Lehtonen played well. Now he gets a few days off before Sunday’s matinee vs. Buffalo. We’ll see Moose tomorrow vs. the Rangers, a desperate team that absolutely NEEDS those two points.
Till then … leave your name and message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you, drive through …
Always room for Jell-O and new hockey fans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First of all, let me say, I’m sitting here rooting for the Leafs … and I’ve never felt so dirty.
I used to like the Leafs. They were sort of my secondary team — the tradition, the uniforms, etc … And being a Mets fan in the late-70s, early-80s, I think I related to the whole Toronto-Montreal dynamic of the Leafs living in the shadow of the Habs, much like the Mets did (do) under the Yanks. However, over the past few seasons, I’ve come to know this particular band of Leafs to be dirty, rotten scoundrals. I loathe them.
Anyway, playoff races make for strange bedfellows, and so tonight I must root for the Leafs.
A lot of talk the past few days about empty seats and neophyte fans … and I just wanted to chime in with this thought. Are we not talking out of both sides of our mouths when we urge Atlantans to show support by filling up Philips Arena … and then blasting them for being ‘bandwagon’ fans? Didn’t we plead with them to give hockey a chance? And now we’re offended at their lack of sophistication?
I just don’t see it that way. I’ll admit that Johnny-come-lately fans can be kind of annoying, especially when they turn something you cherish into just another ‘the thing to do.’ But at the same time, if we’ve been craving success and craving a hockey-supportive city, then this is part of the package. This is what we wanted. If you wanted to keep the Thrashers limited to the hockey-wise fan, then you should have been satisfied with crowds of 12,000. If you want that extra 4,000-5,000, then you’ve got to welcome the newbies. I mean, otherwise, what’s the alternative? You can’t just bus in 5,000 fans from Red Deer and Moose Jaw.
Fans have always had a sense of propriety, and I understand how those of us who have been going to games since Nelson Emerson was our only legitimate scoring threat can feel put off by a guy in a $200 Kovalchuk jersey at his first game yapping on his cellphone. But, guys, being a true fan is welcoming the growth of the team’s popularity. There’s no need for a Thrashier-than-thou attitude. You’re not going to get a button that says, “I was here when Scott Fankhouser started in goal.” Your long-time dedication is a source of pride, no doubt, and it shouldn’t be threatened by ‘bandwagon’ fans.
Bottom line: We want packed houses, we’ve got to accept the people who are packing it.
That said: This wave s* has got to stop NOW! And I agree with the bulk of the man-laws laid down on yesterday’s blog. By the weekend, we’ll draw up a full constitution and post it here, OK?
OK, moving on … we’re talking line nicknames, right? Clearly the Kovalchuk-Tkachuk line needs to play off the ‘Chuk thing. It’s too right in front of us not to. However, it’s got to be good. We can’t force it.
I have to admit. I’m not crazy about The Chuck Norris Line. He’s too creepy. And as a C-List Hollywood hack, I’m not sure he’s worth the honor of gracing one of the top lines in the NHL. Chuck Wagon isn’t THAT bad … remember, that thing did come whipping around the room like a bat out of hell in the commercials.
What else?
‘Chuk-Tkachuk-Goose? (Sim, being Goose, I guess.)
Two-Buck ’Chuk? In honor of Trader Joe’s cheap wine. (Love that store.) Or even Two-Chuk Buck.
‘The Sim Line’ would add a touch of irony, don’t you think?
I don’t know, guys, it’s a tough one. You can’t force these things, they have to evolve naturally. Fire away with your ideas, we’ll spitball this thing together ….
Two points in the bank
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That’s the kind of routine win over a lower-echelon team you like to see. Two points in the bank, everybody’s happy.
I, for one, was just happy to see some hockey again. Boulton had the game of his life, stepping in front of two passes and showing those soft hand we heard about when we acquired him. Serious teams get games like that out of bit players.
Holik’s goal was amazing. I mean, there are two really fun things in life: scoring a goal and sliding on ice on your stomach. He got to do both at the same time.
Tkachuk’s goal was equally cool. I loved his Brett Hull-like stance while lining up the angle. He didn’t quite go all the way down on one knee, but there were shades of Hully on that play, for sure.
At 3-2, I have to admit I sat a little more upright. Ovechkin (kid’s good, yo) is banking in goals every which way and just threatening to tie the game up by himself. And no sooner does Darren Eliot say, “Ilya Kovalchuk’s been kinda quiet tonight … usually he likes to get into a throwing match with his countryman Ovechkin,” and, boom, Ilya rips one. Yes, DE said “throwing match,” gotta watch what you say on TV.
Glad to see Mellanby back on the bench and then grinding in the final two minutes after being dumped in a heap ….
A lot of suggestions for line names …. let’s get into that tomorrow. Everybody think overnight and I’ll start a blog tomorrow and we’ll name the top line. Till then … keep on truckin’ on …
Deep-sixed … again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What is it that makes the six-game winning streak so elusive? What makes it so wily, so cagey? Is it its ability to adapt to any environment and survive in any climate … like Rambo? Is it its heightened intelligence? It’s sixth sense, if you will?
Once again it has slipped through our fingers, shimmying off into the shadows just when we thought we had a bead on it. It’s the Road Runner to our Coyote. The Moby Dick to our Ahab. The Trix to our Silly Rabbit. Well, I’m sick of being the damn Silly Rabbit. I just want to taste the damn Trix for once. I think it was Yogi Berra who once said, “You can’t win ‘em all … especially when you’ve won the last five.”
I’ll have to take your word on this game, as it wasn’t televised. Again. Tell me … when your average cable system has 600-some channels on it, how can you not find one to televise your major professional sports franchise in a heated chase for its first-ever playoff berth?!! For God’s sake, if I flipped through the channels, I’d see about six shopping networks, “Da Vinci’s Inquest” (what is this show? and why is it on a 24-hour loop on some of these networks?), and about 14 stations airing the “Greg Behrent Show.”
Long story short: This team needs to be on the TV at this time of year.
To make matters worse, I couldn’t get the NHL.com audio stream working. So I was left to watch this game through the eyes of a buddy, who IM’d me play-by-play as if he was my own personal GameCast. It sure read like an exciting game.
I was going to post the transcript of our IM account of the game, but too many times we diverged into filthy talk of coworkers and friends, saying things that if they were to be printed here, we’d have too much explaining to do to wives, employers and clergy.
Here was his best line, though:
(9:03:20 PM): xlb’s head is somewhere around his duodenum tonight
Now … I don’t know what a duodenum is. But I’m pretty sure I don’t want my head near it.
It was actually a pretty exciting way to follow the game. When Tkachuk scored to pull us within one, I could sense the deflated crowd, the anticipation of the Thrashers picking up the pace for a final charge. Sounded like Mellanby had Belfour dead to rights in the final scrum and just couldn’t get the puck up off the ice. Ugh.
Also sounded like the PP was terrible, Lehtonen let in two softies and bobbled several others. I’m beginning to really believe he has depth perception problems.
Anyway … I’d love to hear your accounts and assessments of the game. We’ll be right back at ‘em Monday vs. the Crapitals … on Versus, no less.
Simon says, Duck!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That was some seriously ugly stuff from Long Island last night, with Chris Simon basically trying to decaptiate Ryan Hollweg. By now, most of you have seen the video and I know it’s been kicked around on our blogs all day, but I’ll just quickly tell you why I think it’s the worst of the recent incidents and why I doubt we’ll see Chris Simon play another NHL game.
If we’re going to look at Simon’s Samaurai swing, McSorley’s slash to Brashear’s head and Bertuzzi’s sucker punch on Steve Moore as the big three of recent NHL black eyes.
I know a lot of people regard Bertuzzi’s attack on Moore as the worst because he basically ended the guy’s career. And it’s the only one of these three incidents that wasn’t necessarily goon-on-goon action. But the fact is that Bertuzzi was trying to start a fight; he wasn’t necessarily trying to do what ultimately happened. He got overanxious and jumped Moore in an awkward position, instead of waiting until they were face to face. The fact that Moore fell and broke his neck was more a result of the clumsiness of the situation that the attack itself. Ugly, uncalled for and worth of the suspension he got, but as for outright intent, I rank it behind the other two … if for no other reason than the other two involved stick work.
McSorley’s hit on Brashear appeared to me, again, to be a guy trying to pick a fight. We’ve all seen enforcers kind of whack each other across the arms with their sticks as they acknowledge that it’s time to drop. McSorley made the mistake of getting the stick up high and he tapped Brashear on the head instead of the arms. Again, worthy of the penalties imposed, but the intent wasn’t to knock Brashear off his feet like that; it was to get his attention.
Which brings us to Chris Simon, who basically wound up and swung his stick on a horizontal plane right at Hollweg’s Adam’s apple. He could have killed him with the chop to the throat, not to mention the fall to the ice. He swung that stick with the pure intention of swinging the stick. And that’s why I see it as the worst. I imagine he’ll get the same one-year deal that Bertuzzi got, and that should all but end the career of a tough guy with limited skills who will be almost 37 by the time he’s eligible to play again.
Looking around at the other sports, what do you consider the worst act of aggression?
Kermit Washington’s punch of Rudy T is pretty much the standard bearer in the NBA, although the Pacers-Pistons brawl was pretty ugly. In baseball, my dad has told me several times about the time Juan Marichal knocked Johnny Roseboro over the head with his bat because Roseboro had been throwing the ball back to the pitcher by whizzing it by Marichal’s ear. Several Giants came out of the dugout with bats as well in a very tense, ugly scene. And in the NFL, it’s a tough call because out-of-control violence was legal for so long. They actually had to come up with rules against head-slapping and clothes-lining. But I do remember watching the game live on TV when Reggie White picked up Jim McMahon after the whistle and threw him down on his shoulder. It was bizarre to see something happen so far away from the play and so long after the whistle.
Have you ever seen a famous incident like that live? And what do you regard to be the most flagrant acts of violence in sports?
A commendation for Officer Tkachuk
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A while back I wrote: “… do I think [Keith Tkachuk] is some kind of “missing piece” that completes this team? Uh, no.”
Let me take this opportunity to say: I take it back. Completely and unreservedly. I take it back with humble apologies.
Over the past five games we have seen first-hand how a big-time NHL player plays. Though perhaps past his prime, Tkachuk still has a combination of speed, power, skill and ill temper the likes of which we, as Thrashers fans, have not really seen. He has that certain greediness that great athletes possess, the greediness that lets him decide when and where he’s going to plant himself on the ice, defying you to do something about it. It’s his space, his game.
For years, we have lamented about a certain soft element on this team, a tendency to watch opposing players skate a little too close to our goalies without offering any kind of in-house policework. For the past few seasons, we’ve watched opponents dump Slava Kozlov with only Ilya Kovalchuk coming to the rescue. How many times has Ilya come looking for a hit on somebody who had taken liberties on Kozzie or Hossa? On Thursday night, Tkachuk basically said, ‘That’s not how it’s going to work around here anymore.’
It was reminscent of Jarome Iginla during Calgary’s run to the ‘04 Cup finals, when he would fight the other team’s best player in each series. Just as a way to say, “I’m the best player on the ice tonight.” In the first round, he fought Mattias Ohlund in the final minute of a Game 3 loss to Vancouver … and Calgary won in seven games, with Iginla scoring twice in Game 7. In the conference semis, he fought Detroit’s Derian Hatcher in the final minute of Game 2 … and Calgary won three of the next four. In the conference finals vs. San Jose, he ran Evgeni Nabokov in the final minute of Game 4 as the Sharks were about to tie the series 2-2 … Calgary won Games 5 and 6. In Game 3 of the Cup finals, he fought Vinny Lecavalier and beat him up pretty good …. although Tampa would go on to win the Cup.
Nevertheless … point made. And until now, we have never had anybody make those kind of points. Let it be known henceforth: You shall not take runs at Hossa and Kovalchuk.
Tkachuk has brought a level of seriousness to this franchise in just five games. The Thrashers are no longer the hapless little expansion franchise that is finding its way through its first run at the postseason. Suddenly, we are a team with a mission statement, with careers at stake in this postseason.
And it’s a trickle-down effect. Ilya’s been better the past five games. Jon Sim scored twice tonight playing with them. The power play has more direction, now that defenders expend their energy trying to remove that stubborn SOB from in front of the net. Did you see Mellanby put the puck right on Tkachuk’s tape in the crease the other night against Florida? It was perfect. KT held his ground and just redirected it into an empty net.
So I take it back. It’s been a treat to watch an old pro at work the past few games.
Ka-ri’s bet-ter!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is how playoff runs begin. The top line starts to generate points, the defense clears the zone effectively and the goaltender is the best player on the ice.
Let’s not mistake the Florida Panthers for a good team, but they’ve been playing like a good team. Four wins in a row coming in, Ed Belfour playing every night just like the old days. But we put a stop to that right quick. Two more points in the bank to temporarily jump back into the three-seed, pending Tampa’s game later tonight.
The difference between winning the division and not is huge, as we all know. It’s the difference between beginning a first-round series at home against a lower seed and beginning on the road — likely against a top-three. (Of course, if the playoffs began at this exact moment, we’d be home against Tampa Bay … and I don’t think any of us want to see Tampa Bay in the first round; although, we’d much rather it start at home.)
The difference tonight was palpable. Tkachuk and Kovalchuk have been building a little relationship in their first couple of games together, they almost connected a few times. And tonight, the dam broke. Three points for Ilya, two goals for Tkachuk. The breakout pass was a thing of beauty, and Tkachuk put a veteran move on Belfour. You can see positive chemistry with KT and IK … I wonder if Ilya reminds Tkachuk of when he played with Selanne when they were kids in Winnipeg.
A few minutes later, Florida had a breakaway of its own, and Lehtonen gloved that sonofagun and established himself. His reactions tonight were a whole level above where’s he’s been the past few weeks. He was a lot more fluid, he was able to anticipate shots like he used. He had been just reacting recently, and it was good to see him dictating the play again. The second goal against was unstoppable. Dude just wound up on a loose puck from eight feet away. No goalie is stopping that. Lehtonen stopped 38 of 40 shots. That’s a playoff performance. (We’ll give him a pass on botching that play behind the net which nearly led to a go-ahead goal at 2-2).
Of course Hossa checks in with his obligatory goal. He’s the master. If he doesn’t garner a bunch of Hart and/or Pearson votes, it’ll be a shame. Bobby Holik nearly scored his first goal since WWII, but Pascal Dupuis’ leg got in the way. I had a bad feeling after that bad-luck play, but the Thrashers never wilted.
There’s a definite spring in the step these days, something that was lacking in our prior losing streak. I can see this team coming together, new guys, old guys …
Last note of the day: Great blogging yesterday; a lot of interesting and varied opinions on kind of a weird subject. Let’s call this the bottom line: Don Waddell has guided this franchise with a steady hand through some seriously adverse situations, and though it hasn’t paid off with a playoff berth (yet) the team has been markedly improved every season. And he’s done it in a humane and professional manner, representing the team and the city well. IF this team indeed can put together a little playoff magic, it’ll be just desserts for one of the good guys in this league. And what’s more, if DW finds a little success at the end of the rainbow, he certainly won’t throw it in the faces of those of us who have critiqued his shortcomings. And even though guys like sodapants and jason could use a little brushup on their social graces, I do think it’s neat to be in a town where fans can love their GM and their team so unconditionally. I’m a natural cynic, as are many of our people on this board, and I kind of always see the yin and the yang of a situation. To those of you who see flowers blooming in the turds, I salute you.
Anyhoo …
Big game against playoff-wannabe Montreal on Thursday — desperate Habs. Then a crucial stretch against some teams with nothing to lose. Gotta win those. Thrashers have to bear down and get into the mind-set of a playoff run; winning the division is the goal now (baby’s first banner) … and we want to make that season-finale with T.B. a moot point.
Cancel my subscription to Forbes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I heard on the radio this morning that Don Waddell had been named the sixth-best GM in hockey, I did a classic Danny Thomas spit take with my morning coffee.
When I then realized that, no, in fact, Don Waddell had been named the sixth-best GM in all of sports, I accidentally swallowed my coffee mug whole, getting it lodged halfway down my throat in a horizontal position, so that you could clearly see the outline of the handle framing my Adam’s apple. It took paramedics 45 minutes to remove the coffee mug and another 45 minutes to restrain me after I lunged at the radio with an oversized BBQ fork in an attempt to expel the demons that had obviously possessed its frequencies.
Before I go on, let me just say that I like and respect Don Waddell. When I covered the NHL for SI.com, I found him to be accomodating and honest and humane. I always felt the decisions he made were always with franchise AND player in mind. He’s the kind of GM a player could trust and the kind of GM who wasn’t going to undercut his superiors or abandon his underlings.
The thing that Waddell has done the best in his time with the Thrashers is keep the team moving forward. There is something to be said for that. He didn’t trip over his biggest draft picks — Kovalchuk, Heatley, Lehtonen — and he made the most of some pretty bad and unusual situations. Folks, getting Marian Hossa for an unhappy Dany Heatley was as brilliant of a move by a GM that you’ll ever see in your lives. Getting Bob Hartley in the wake of Curt Fraser was part-luck, part-coup.
That said …
What ancient spell of the dark arts did Forbes invoke to name him the sixth-best GM in all of sports?
Oh, I read the criteria. That didn’t help.
I don’t know much, but I know this much: This is a franchise that has never played a postseason game, a franchise that would need to win its next 82 regular-season games (that’s an undefeated season to you and me) just to break even. This is a GM who has drafted exactly two players — Garnet Exelby and Pasi Nurminen — outside of the first round who have made any kind of impact on the team. This is a GM who just traded two his past four No. 1 picks just to get his team into the playoffs just so he wouldn’t lose his job.
Now, OK, next to somebody like Hawks GM Billy Knight, Don Waddell looks like Red Auerbach. Of course, next to Pete Babcock, Billy Knight looks like Moses (son of Amram, not Malone). But next to somebody like John Schuerholz (14 straight division titles, on WS title), Waddell looks like a crab scuttling across the ocean floor. You might say, well, Waddell took over an expansion team and had to start from scratch. Ahem, do you remember the ‘90 Braves? An expansion team would have been preferable. And Schuerholz ends up 42 or some such thing on the Forbes list.
Let’s face it, formulas are for schmucks. And this is coming from a guy currently enrolled in a mathematical modeling class and who knows how to plot the points of two linear equations. Formulas suck, OK? That’s why you can take all your Bill James disciples and your SABRmetric D&D dorks in baseball, with their VORP and their OBP+OPP=TNT nonsense, and send them adrift into the ocean of obsolete. You can make numbers prove almost anything if you bend them the right way. My friend Rob Neyer at ESPN.com could take Nino Espinosa’s stats in 1977 and ‘prove’ him to be a superior pitcher to Tom Seaver.
So, Forbes magazine, may I offer you this piece of advice: Stick to money, would you? Don’t try to outsmart yourself, don’t try to revolutionize the way we assess our sports GMs. We like our shiny trophies and our champagne celebrations, not ‘salary cap manipulation in relation to the previous GM.’ It’s nonsense.
Even Don Waddell knows it, bless his heart. Nice man, pretty average GM.
OK, I’ve teed it up … swing away at the poor guy.
P.S. nice win on Sunday, eh?
Thank God for the new guys
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry, it took me a while to get this post up. As you can imagine, quite a busy night at the AJC with all the hoops, hockey and such, not to mention buses flying through the air and Barbie Bandits, etc … A weird mix of news, to say the least.
I was listening to the radio broadcast tonight online (Nice TV programming, with four of five not televised in the middle of the playoff push.) In fact, I didn’t even have the radio on until the second period. My first indication that something was going wrong was when my buddy Dolie IM’d me with, ‘F*in Heatley.’ … A few minutes later, I wrote the same thing back to him.
Team certainly appeared flat and dead in the water after two. But Eric Belanger, bless his heart, got us going. Slava finally decided to score one with players on the ice. And then, my new favorite name to say, Pascal Dupuis, ices it. I seem to recall somebody saying this guy was good for a big goal or two.
Third period sounded completely different from the second in terms of the Thrashers being in the flow of the game, perhaps some of you who saw the game can confirm or deny that.
And can somebody please remind Ilya that we need more than one goal every eight games if we’re going to make a serious run here. He’s got me really concerned about his clutch factor heading into the playoffs. He has not taken over a game in weeks, maybe months. He hasn’t had a multi-point game since Jan. 30, and he hasn’t had three points in a game since Dec. 21. In fact, he’s had only four three-point-plus games all season. Not a good resume for ‘the league’s most exciting player.’
And Nic Havelid seemed real shaky again.
And I turn the floor over to you guys.
A quick look around
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You got to give the Edmonton Oilers credit, man. When they tank, they go all out. They tank to the very depths of the human soul, leaving their fans with nothing but to stare out into the cold, dark, desolate Alberta night.
The Oil hasn’t scored since moving Ryan Smyth’s mullet to the Islanders. After getting blanked on home ice by former Oiler Curtis Joseph on Tuesday, the Oilers went on got themselves blanked on home ice by Minnesota’s third-string goalie on Thursday night. It was the second shutout in four career games for Josh Harding, who had to shower quickly, dress and help lug the equipment back on the bus. Two shutouts in four starts? Damn. Of course, you or I could have blanked the Oilers tonight. Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra each scored twice. The last time two Slovaks scored that much, George and Yortuk Festrunk were cruising the New York club scene looking for foxes to admire their bulges.
Meantime, Mr. Smyth notches a helper for the Isles, who nevertheless blow a lead and settle for one point in an OT loss to the Blues. Tampa picks up two points in a shootout, as do the Penguins.
Now is the time for teams to prove they want and deserve to be in the playoffs.
Which brings us to tonight. And to Sunday vs. the ‘Canes. Thrashers need to win these games, especially against Carolina. But you already knew that.
Post your gameday thoughts below.
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