AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 12
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Quick Shots From Opening Weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It sure would have been SA-weet to take away all four points over the weekend…and the Thrashers were thiiiiiis close to doing so. But going 1-0-1 for three points will do just about anytime. Making it even nicer… the fact that this Atlanta team looked a far cry better than last season playing in back-to-back type games.
Here are some quick shot from this weekend’s action…
Kari Makes A Point: Saturday night in Sunrise, Florida the Thrashers dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime. However, the team can give a big, fat, hairy “thank you” to their goalie for the point gained in the standing. After allowing a goal 19 seconds into the second period that put Florida up 2-1…the Finn then turned away the following eight he faced before the second intermission and all eighteen he faced in the third to finish out the game. (Yeah, I know…eighteen shots in a period, yikes)! He then stopped the first three Panthers shots in overtime before Florida was able to win it with 1:06 left in the extra period.
That’s 29 consecutive saves in forty-three minutes and thirty five seconds.
Like he did the night before, he made some big saves and gave his team a chance. This is what we are looking for out of him and I certainly hope it continues.
The Slavanator Returns: Last season, Slava Kozlov was slowed by injuries and his production on the stat sheet showed it. However, so far this year…two goals in two games. This is very promising indeed.
Hainsey, The Work Horse: For the second straight night, Ron Hainsey was the leader in ice time for the Thrashers. Against Florida he logged 27:41 TOI.
Newbies Contributing Early On: Saturday night, off-season signee Jason Williams notched his first goal as a Thrasher. His second period goal tied the score at two and came off of a pass from another newbie, Ron Hainsey. In the two games, Hainsey has a goal and two assists and Marty Reasoner has contributed a goal.
This is a pretty good way to help make yourselves very much welcome with the Atlanta fan base. Keep up the good work, guys.
Havelid’s Helpers: Defenseman Nic Havelid has four assists on the young season, three Friday night and one Saturday. In fact, those four points are enough to make him the points leader for Atlanta so far after two games.
Blueline Pitches In: Of the nine goals scored by the Thrashers so far this season, seven of them have had defenders either scoring them or earning assists. Thrashers defenders have 8 points on the season thus far, (1 goal and 7 assists).
22 of the 64 shots taken by the Thrashers have come off the sticks of a defender…that’s about one out of every three shots. Mathieu Schneider has launched eight of those twenty-two shots by defenders.
Missed It By THAT Much: After being outshot 43-21 Friday by the Capitals, the Thrashers went down to Florida and tried to reverse this stat.
They came close…
After two periods, they led in the shots category 28-17. The Panthers then took it to Atlanta in the third, taking 18 shots and allowing but 5. Florida then took all four shots in OT.
If you listened to coach John Anderson after the game…his thoughts were that his team stopped playing after the second period. I’m sure this will be addressed during practice this week.
And Finally…were you watching this Thursday night on Vs? In between the games being aired, Def Leppard was performing live during NHL Face-Off Rocks at Detroit’s Fox Theater …the Stanley Cup was brought out to the stage and band member Joe Elliot takes it…then places it on the stand…upside-down.
Audible gasp from around the blog room
