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Saturday, October 11, 2008
Winning A Game That Last Year They Wouldn’t Have
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last season, the Thrashers would have lost this game. After seeing a 3-0 lead become 3-1…then 3-2. Then a 4-2 lead evaporate during a 4-minute slashing penalty on a pair of goals by Mike Green…last year’s Thrashers would have been toast.
I submit to you as exhibit A…last March 21 when a 3-1 lead on these same Capitals after two periods disappeared quicker than free donuts at the office. Washington skated away that night, laughing, after scoring 4 unanswered third period goals in a game that exemplified the frustrations of that entire miserable season.
Yup…last year, given the circumstances, the Thrashers would have crashed and burned like the Dow.
But these aren’t last year’s Thrashers…at least not on this night.
4-4 after two…this time it was the Thrashers that stormed off the ice with the win, outscoring Washington 3-0 in the final period…the three tallies coming in a span of 2 minutes and 10 seconds late in the game. Bryan Little started the flurry at 13:57 with his second goal of the game. 29 seconds later, Colby Armstrong gave the Thrashers some breathing room. Then finally, Todd White closed out the scoring on a power play goal from a great feed from Ilya Kovalchuk at the 16:07 mark.
But what set the table for these efforts was a Kari Lehtonen’s stop of a penalty shot off the stick of Alex Ovechkin earlier in the period. That save…one of 39 on 43 shots on the night…kept the score tied at four. I can’t help but feel that if the score became 5-4 at that time, we might have seen an outcome much like the last time the Caps were in Philips back in March.
Honestly, I though Kari played well…all things considering. Allowing but 4 goals on 43 shots equate to a .907 SV% and some of those stops were simply awesome. Two of the goals came off of the 4-minute power play, one on a short-handed break. But what I found most impressive…after allowing the tying goal at 14:39 of the second…he shut down the Caps the rest of the way, including all 13 taken on him in the third. His efforts were enough to be the game’s second star.
He came up big when he had to…and he gave the team a chance to win…win a game they would have lost last season.
Now, ya know what other kind of game they usually lost last year? The second game of a back-to-back set. Tonight, this year’s version gets a chance to change that as well in Sunrise, Florida versus the Panthers.
Other Observations From Opening Night
Of course, Friday’s opening night victory made a winner of new coach John Anderson in his NHL head-coaching debut. Making it even sweeter…that it came against Bruce Boudreau’s Capitals.
Zach Bogosian became the youngest Thrasher to play in a regular season game at the age of 18 years and 87 days. Ilya Kovalchuk was 18 years and 171 days old when he made his regular season debut for Atlanta on Oct. 4, 2001. 24 seconds into his NHL career, Bogie committed his first penalty…a holding call. He ended his night with a fighting penalty with 20 seconds left in the game after taking on Donald Brashear.
The Thrashers got off 31 shots Friday night. However, they were still outshot by 12 for the game.
The first two goals of the season were scored from a pair of newbies signed this past summer. Ron Hainsey’s power play goal was first at 8:20 of the first followed by Marty Reasoner three minutes and four seconds later.
The seven goals scored by the Thrashers were the most in a single game since…well, I don’t know. Was it possibly…flipping through stacks of notes and stat sheets… Jan. 2, 2006 when Atlanta thumped Ottawa 8-3? That can’t be so. Someone get on that one for me…that can’t be right. Somebody?….Anyone?….Trixie?…Staff….STAFF???
Either way, seven goals! So much for the, “Where are the goals going to come from this season” question.
The Thrashers did not score their seventh goal last season until Garnet Exelby’s slap shot tally at 7:26 of the second period during a 6-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils. That game was Atlanta’s fifth game of the season.
Bryan Little played like a man on a mission…finishing the evening’s work with 2 goals, a helper, 6 SOG, 14:34 TOI and a +2. Not surprisingly, he was awarded the game’s first star.
Nic Havelid’s 3 assists, 1 SOG and +1 performance during his 22:37 was good enough to be the third star of the game.
The player with the most TOI? Ron Hainsey with 23:53.
The Thrashers power play looked sharp. 3 goals on 9 man-advantages will do any night, thank you very much indeed.
Washington net minder Jose Theodore lasted only until 9:30 into the second. Then, Slava Kozlov’s power play slapper ended his night early… his numbers, 4 goals on 17 shots. His replacement, Brent Johnson, looked strong initially…but ultimately surrendered 3 goals on 14 shots himself.
And finally…section 111 was the happening place Friday night. I had the pleasure of meeting UniversalDawg and his lovely wife along with The Other J.B. Also, it was a pleasure to make the acquaintance of a very nice young lady, Jessie along with her father Bill. Great Thrashers fans all of them!
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