AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March > 27
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Kari Backs Up Emotion With Action
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kari Steals One
Kari Lehtonen has got to be thinking that the big Thrasher logo on his jersey is nothing but a giant bulls-eye to opposing teams. For the second time in as many games, and third time in the past four, the defense in front of him allowed 40+ shots to get through on goal. Thursday night, however, Atlanta snuck out of south Florida with a 3-2 victory thanks in great part to the work of the Finnish net-minder.
He had to manage his way through four Panther power plays in the first period to buy time for the offense to show some life. It paid off with eight seconds remaining in the opening session as Bobby Holik sent Atlanta to the locker room with a lead.
Lehts was lights-out and his stellar effort was great to watch. He faced 45 shots, all evenly space through the periods 15-14-16. If you think about it, that works out to having to make a stop every minute and twenty seconds during the game. And that’s just the shots ON goal…it doesn’t count all the near misses and heavy traffic in his midst. All in all, it made for a very busy night!
Maybe he is also starting to wonder if it’s no small coincidence that there is no “D” in Atlanta Thrashers.
Before surrendering a goal with seconds remaining in the game, the only other puck that found it’s way past Kari was on a break by Florida’s Nathan Horton halfway through the second period. It was set up when the Thrashers were caught flat of foot in the neutral zone and Horton made a nice move at the blueline entering the zone.
Regardless, great job Kari…especially since your defense in front of you continues to play like horse….horse…uh, horse something or other.
Little Effort
Not to be overlooked by Kari’s play is Bryan Little’s effort that led to the Thrashers’ second goal of the game. Deep into the third period he took on a Panther defender, won the puck and fed a perfect pass to Mark Recchi after looping behind the net. It was the type of aggressive play that has not been seen too often of late.
As gloomy as this season has turned out, he is one of the bright spots and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in the seasons to come.
Long Time Coming
Thursday Night’s win in Sunrise, Florida was only the seventeenth regulation win of the season for the Thrashers in 78 games. It was only the fourth since the All Star break and the first on the road since Kari Lehtonen shut out the Washington Capitals 2-0 back on February 2.
The win keeps alive the possibility that Atlanta could still finish as high as 13th in the conference.
(sigh)…I know, I know.
