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Saturday, January 3, 2009
Happy Ending Despite Swedish Twins’ Domination
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Sedin brothers…Henrik and Daniel…accounted for all three Vancouver goals and each finished the night with three points. Fourteen of the Canucks thirty-eight shots on goal came from players named Sedin, Henrick with eight and Daniel with six.
However, despite the Swedish twins’ domination…the Atlanta Thrashers that came out on top, whipping the Canucks 4-3 in the shootout.
Early on, Vancouver experienced a case of the Crabbs as Joey fired a short-handed laser blast past Jason La-la-la-la-la-LaBarbera, who was acquired last Tuesday from the L.A. Kings after Curtis Sanford went down injured. LaBarbera stopped 34 of the 37 shots he faced including all four the Thrashers managed to get on goal in overtime.
OK, stop right there…you did read that correctly. Atlanta scored a short-handed goal and they took 37 shots on goal. Given that and the fact that they are undefeated so far in 2009… the New Year has definitely gotten off on a positive note.
Ilya Kovalchuk’s thirteenth of the year, and second in as many games, tied the score at two with 7:36 remaining in the second and Slava Kozlov’s sixteenth’s of the season gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead at the 3:46 mark of the third while the Thrashers were on the…wait for it…POWER PLAY!
Kari Lehtonen, making his third start in the four games played this week, turned away 35 of Vancouver’s 38 shots, (.921 SV%), and looked very impressive doing so. One of the three he surrendered was on a 5 on 3 Vancouver power play.
However, the Thrashers needed the skills competition exhibit known as the shootout in order to procure the two points on this night. It took an extra round of shots but Slava Kozlov and Erik Christensen were successful on theirs while Vancouver converted only on their first attempt.
The Thrashers are now 2-0 in shootouts this season.
Make no mistake, this was no pushover the Thrashers beat Friday night. Even with the OTL, Vancouver is still 21-15-4 and their 46 points is good enough to be but 2 points off the pace in the Northwest Division behind Cal-Gary’s 48 and they currently sit in fifth place in the Western Conference.
For Atlanta, it was only the fourth win and ninth point captured from teams that currently hold playoff positions in the NHL. So, it was a good night with a happy ending indeed.
Well Now, That Didn’t Take Long
It only took four seconds for Eric Boulton and Mike Brown to drop the gloves and have a go at one another. The puck had hardly even been dropped when the two decided that they had just had enough of each other.
Special Shout Outs
It was pleasure to have met Mr. J nes Friday night…thanks for introducing yourself and for the kind words.
To the two Alabamastan chicks who sat behind my brother and I that were attending their first ever NHL hockey game…you saw a darned good one. If the team is gonna win whenever you’re in the house, please return again soon.
Oh, and it sure looks like Melissa and her party were having a good time in 104-P.
And to Emma and Lizzie, who held me to my promise to get ‘em some ice cream if they screamed their heads off and helped the Thrashers get a lead…well done young ladies! You certainly did your parts.
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