AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March > 18
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
155 Days Later
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The last time the Thrashers played in Philadelphia was 155 days ago. On that night, they lost giving up 33 shots on goal and taking 31 of their own. It was the last time Bob Harley coached the team. Tonight…they lost to the same Flyers giving up 47 shots and taking 19.
“Incremental progress”?…”Moving in the right direction”?
To be fair, tonight’s game was made very interesting at the end as Ilya Superchuk scored his 50th goal of the year with 30 seconds left in the game to bring the Thrashers to within a goal. Then, in the dying seconds, he got off a shot from the slot that Antero Nittymaki was able to steer away.
As Maxwell Smart would say, “Missed it by THAT much”!
Chris Thorburn, (not Bobby Holik), had scored in the first minute of the game, but Philly was able to notch 3 in the 58 minutes between.
To say things have not gone the way the Thrashers organ-I-zation had hoped since last October would be quite the understatement. The team is on it’s way to finishing 20 or so points worse than it did a year ago and has already surpassed by 4 the 245 goals allowed that season with 7 games still to be played. They would need to score 48 goals in those remaining games to match the production of last year. As we learned in the last Thrasher Math 101 class, the official statistical term for the odds of that happening is “notgonnahappennowayinhell”…
But what is more important then the past 155 days is what will happen in the 155 days or so after those final seven games have been played. For at the end of those stretch of days we will find ourselves in the heat and humidity of mid-September and the preseason games of the upcoming year will be upon us. By then, we will have a clear picture of what was done during the off-season to improve this team, specifically on defense.
If you want to look at another team as a model to follow, look no further than the team we just played…Philadelphia. Last season the Flyers were el dead-lasto in the NHL standings with 56 points. However, the additions of star centerman Daniel Briere and defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Jason Smith helped improve this team to what will be 30+ points better that the season prior. Oh, and one cannot overlook the addition of one Braydon Coburn at the trade deadline last year, (sorry to open that wound again).
Addressing the blueline and bringing in a quality center has seen the Flyers take a defense that had allowed 3.62 goals a game to one that only allows 2.82.
So, it CAN be done. Now, let’s see if it WILL be done.
Definition Of “That Sucks”
Did anyone see how Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala let up the one and only goal that got past him Tuesday night on Lon- Gisland??? Follow the bouncing puck!
Honey-Do List
OK… PJ, Nix and Nikita…some of the fine ladies who frequent this blog…have been having a good time discussing the guys on the team over the past couple of days. They, as always, have had some very interesting things to say on the matter. So, in light of this, let me throw some red meat out there for them…and any others of the female persuasion who care to comment.
So, if you ladies had your way with them…or, should I say, had the ability to have a say in the make-up of the team and how they were handled…who would you get rid of, add to the team…how would you suggest conditioning the players and what motivational techniques would you employ to keep them at the top of their game?
Sitting back on sofa, gnawing on popcorn, sipping Coca-Cola…waiting for the show to begin…
