AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 31
Friday, October 31, 2008
Hard Work And Hard Luck At MSG
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Thrashers kicked off a three-games-in-four-nights stint with a hard-fought 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers. It was a gut-check game for a Thrashers team that just hours before had learned rookie defender Zach Bogosian was lost for at least 6 weeks due to a broken fibula. This coming just two nights after the Flyers had slapped them around the ice to the tune of 7-0.
Embarrassing loss followed by disappointing news about a teammate…now, go take on the team that leads the NHL in points, boys.
But they responded well to this test, playing the Rangers tough only to fall short in the end. So…if you want to view this loss in the “glass half full” perspective, you certainly have the ability to do so. I personally have a hard time doing that…Ls are Ls and this one earned just as many points in the standings as the Philly loss did. El-Zippo.
Now…
Was it a better played game by Atlanta compared to Tuesday’s? Yes…yes it was.
Impressive defensive stand when faced with killing off Ranger power plays for the first quarter of the second period? Oh…absolutely. Especially given that a good deal of the penalty killing effort was of the 5 on 3 variety.
Was I thrilled to see Slava Kozlov, Bryan Little and Todd White continue to be productive on O-fense…and that goal by Little? Yup…gotta love that.
Happy to see the team play strong through the third period, taking 12 of their 29 shots in that final frame, scrapping to get a win? Yessiree…you betcha!
But in the end it was a game that the Thrashers could have come away from with points… but failed to do so. It brings the current losing streak to five games, the last four in regulation.
Sorry, I just don’t “do” moral victories very well.
In the third…after trading goals with New York in the opening period, then surviving the second in which the Thrashers seemed to be continually killing Ranger power plays… Tobias Enstrom was stripped of the puck along the boards. Nikolai Zherdev then danced his way in and flipped a backhand upstairs into the net.
To his credit, Zherdev played a great game all around. In the second period, he broke up a Todd White shorthanded breakaway to help keep the score tied at one each. Zherdev tracked White down and slid headfirst…swiping the puck away before a shot could be taken against Henrik Lundqvist. He also set up the game-winning goal that came off of Daniel Girardi’s stick…a shot that found it’s way through traffic and into the goal while Kari Lehtonen was on his back.
“It was a lucky shot there”, Girardi said of the goal, “It was rolling, and I took a whack at it. And that was it”.
What’s that old line about it being better to be lucky than good? Well, it doesn’t hurt when your team is both. But as with most things, the “good” part seems to bring about the “lucky” part.
So now the Thrashers will cross over the river and prepare for a Saturday night match with the New Jersey Devils, who are 5-2-2 after nine games. Atlanta will be looking to avenge the 1-0 loss to the Devils two weeks ago. Marty the Magnificent stopped all 25 shots the Thrashers were able to take on him that night.
They will then return home for a Sunday afternoon game with the Florida Panthers. Atlanta fell to Florida 3-2 in overtime in the second game of the season.
The team then will have three days to rest before playing host to the New York Islanders…the only team with fewer points at this time than Atlanta. Then they’ll shuffle off to Buffalo for a game with the Sabres, which was the last team to fall to the Thrashers… a 3-2 shootout win thirteen days ago.
They played well Thursday night…not well enough to win…but well enough that, if continued, should start generating some good luck for themselves. And right now, they could use some.
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