AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 18
Sunday, November 18, 2007
To-BEE-us And Tampa Bay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Very quickly before I opine, this will be a busy week with 4 games and T-Day as well. I will try to keep up and provide a forum for discussion after each game. Now then…
The All Star Case for Enstrom
There was some clamor last week regarding Thrasher rookie defender Tobias Enstrom and the All Star Game ballot. To be honest, if there is one blue liner on this club deserving of such consideration it is the young Swede. Let’s consider some of his contributions thus far.
To-BEE-us has played in every game for the team and has arguably been the biggest success of the group of rookies that landed positions on the team. His +/- ratio of +7 ties him for the top spot on the team with Niclas Havelid, (not bad considering the team is up-side-down in GF vs. GA). His Time On Ice average of 22:58 is tops for the Thrashers. Added to that are his 2 goals and 7 assists. Unfortunately there are no real stats for positioning, back checking and hustle, if there were he would be right up toward the top of all of them. Personally, I cannot think of a sub-par game from him thus far. It seems like every game we just wind him up, toss him out on the ice and watch him perform at a level we might have hope of him 2 years from now.
Now, compare Enstrom with the following:
22:45 TOI, -4, 3 goals and 6 assists. Those stats belong to the Penguins Ryan Whitney. Numbers like -6, 24:12, with 3 goals and 6 assists belong to Bryan McCabe of Toronto. Both of these players are on the ballot.
All Star voting in any sport is never an exact science and making the case for a defender on a team that is dead last in GAA and shots per game isn’t exactly an easy sell, (though one could also point out that it makes his efforts stand out all that much more). But, seeing that this is our year in the spotlight, we might as well use it to illuminate one of our brightest players that otherwise might go unnoticed.
So, here is the link to make your All Star selections. Oh, and don’t forget Kovy, Hoss and Kozzy while your there. Vote early and vote often.
Blueland Braces for Bolts
The Tampa Bay Lightning enters into Blueland Monday night to take on the Thrashers. The Bolts have won five straight and have not allowed more then two goals in that stretch. They currently sit in second place in the division and sixth in the conference with 21 points. They are tops in the NHL with a 3.41 GFA and have 108 assists, (fourth best in the league). However, they are 22nd in team defense giving up 2.99 goals a game.
You will remember the last meeting with Tampa Bay. It ended the 7 game road trip with a brilliant 6-4 come from behind win in which Atlanta scored the last 5 goals of the game and Kovy notched his second consecutive hat trick. The Thrashers are 5-1 since that time and have been playing their best hockey in many a moon.
Tampa owns a 2-1 season-series edge on the Bruisers of Blueland and, outside of the last period and a half of that game on November 3rd, has looked like the more powerful team of the two. But of course, two of those match-ups were during that span of games that we don’t discuss here anymore.
So, given the two teams ability to score, we should look for a 5-4 game.
Of course, now that I’ve gone on record saying that, it’ll be 2-1, right?
