AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > December > 21
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thrashers “Out” Ottawa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ottawa…consider yourself “outed”!
That’s right, out shot, out hit, out hustled, out skated, out checked, out intensified, out foxed, out maneuvered, out played and out scored. Now, out the door with you!
In essence, The Atlanta Thrashers out “Ottawa-ed” Ottawa.
Thursday night the Atlanta Thrashers played their finest game of the year against the best team in the Eastern Conference. The home team came out shooting the puck at a dizzying rate, out shooting the Sens 21-7 in the first period alone. To put that in it’s proper prospective, last Saturday the Thrashers took 25 shots all game against this same Ottawa team. Atlanta wound up with 45 shots on goal, (tying the franchise record), to Ottawa’s 30. Forty-Five shots…that’s normally week’s worth of shots for these Thrashers!
Hey, didn’t someone around here predict Ottawa +15 on the shots? Well, you had the 15 right. (To be fair and honest, I placed the line at OTT +10.5 as you will recall).
As well as the Boys of Blueland played, they still found themselves trailing 1-0 deep into the second even though they were out shooting Ottawa 26-7 seven minutes into the period. But that’s when the fourth liners gave the team a boost via Eric Boulton’s 3rd goal of the season. Then, after falling behind 2-1 with three minutes left in the middle frame, the MVP of the league, (yeah, I’m already declaring it), Ilya Kovalchuk got it even again just 46 seconds later with a back-handed flip into the goal, his 28th of the year.
Then, after Todd White’s go-ahead power play goal 47 seconds into the third….it was Kari Time! In his second straight quality start, the Finn stopped 28 of 30 shots including all 14 he faced in the final stanza. A few days ago I asked, “Would the real Kari please stand up”. Well, if this is truly he…he may remain standing!
Not to be overlooked is the solid play of the Thrasher blue liners. McCarthy looked good again, Ken Klee played well and Tobias Enstrom tossed in his normal workman-like effort with 28:46 TOI. And then there is Alexei Zhitnik…he has had his best week in a Thrasher uniform since just after arriving here just prior to last season’s trade deadline. His game has greatly improved ever since Craig Custance wrote that piece on him.
Hmmmmm…Hey Craig, can we get a piece on Slater still being goal-less so far?
Nine players got points Thursday night, but none had more then one. Very fitting as it was a total team effort.
But most importantly, for the first time all year, the Thrashers this game… this week …have come to the ice at Philips with an attitude. From the drop of the puck to the final horn, they played with purpose and resolve. They skated with a mind-set as if to say:
“This is OUR home ice, these are OUR fans. You will NOT have a good time tonight! We will pressure you. We will attack your net! We will pursue you, hunt you down and hit you so hard your parents will be sorry they even MET! We will chase down every puck. We will knock you down and laugh when we make you cry like little girls! We don’t care what your record may be or from where you came! When you play your next game, whether that is tomorrow…the next day…or the day following, you will still feel what we did to you tonight!
We do this because this is OUR ice!
Because THIS is Thrasher hockey!
These are OUR fans!
THIS is BLUELAND”!
This is how they need to play every team, every game from here on out!
Maintenant, provoquer les habitants de Montreal!
