AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 02
Friday, November 2, 2007
STOP THE PRESSES!!!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got to tell you, I had this post written between the beginning of the third period and halfway though it. I was going to get this thing typed up and in the hopper then slide into the sheets by 11:00. The game, it was un-good. Up to that point, the only real highlight from the evening’s activities was the Boulton/Neil heavyweight bout that lasted longer then it took the Senators to score their first goal. To fully gain an appreciation of the dominance of the Sens over the Thrashers for the first two and a half periods, consider this. Kovalchuk’s goal, the first for the Thrashers, came at the 9:24 mark of the third. It was Atlanta’s 11th shot of the game. That would be E LE V E N shots on goal in 49 minutes and 24 seconds. Ottawa took 14 shots in the first period alone. The last place team in the conference trailed the first place team 5-0 halfway through the third. The Thrashers were D.R.T., (Dead…Right There).
Then…
The come back was on! All of a sudden, players wearing white jerseys were rushing Ray Emery harder and faster then Rosie O’Donnell does at an open buffet. It started with Kovy’s goal and three more followed in a span of eight minutes and three seconds. (For those of you from Livonia, Michigan, that’s almost a goal every two minutes). Ilya had a hat trick joined by Perrin’s tally. The last two goals coming on a 4 minute power play courtesy of Chris Neil’s ill-advised blow to the chops of Ken Klee. In a shorter amount of time then it took Zilla to buy a CZ at a pawnshop, it was a one-goal game with two and a half minutes to play.
The come-back bid fell just short as Ottawa scored an empty netter, but the team has to be feeling 100% better about themselves after this effort then they would have without the surge toward end the game.
Saturday night they will return to Tampa to play the Bolts ending the seven game road trip in the same building where it began. In between they sandwiched 3 wins in 5 games. They have within their grasp an opportunity to return home with a winning record on the trip if they are able to squeeze out a victory. Departing Tampa thirteen days ago after a less-then-stellar outing which deposited them at 1-7-0, that scenario seemed about as impossible as Brian and Bob sitting around a campfire together singing Kumbaya while toasting marshmallows and wearing “Hillary ‘08” shirts. Just wasn’t gonna happen, right?
While there are no columns for Moral Victories in the standings, tonight’s loss was a sight better then recent ones where they seemed to fold up once they got down. Hopefully Thursday’s third period play will accompany the team as they head south. If so, the Thrashers will have managed their way though the longest road trip of the year and, possibly, returned with more points then they dropped.
And that would be very nice for all of us when we…come back…to Blueland on Tuesday.
