AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2009 > February > 04
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Shhhh…Don’t Wake Up Kari
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh…be quiet. Be very, very quiet. Kari’s asleep.
Actually, the boy is absolutely unconscious right now. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want him to wake up… to snap out of this little trance he’s in right now… until, oh…spring-ish.
Since John Anderson had to pull out a cane and yank Kari off the ice last Thursday during that debacle of a first period, Lehtonen has rebounded rather nicely…don’t you think? He faced 40 shots on goal in Carolina Saturday night…turned away 38 of ‘em, including the final 19 of that game. Unfortunately, none of his teammates could match his determination that night and the Thrashers were blank 2-zip.
He followed that up by turning away 39 of 40 Rangers shots up in The Big Apple Tuesday night…including the first 37 he faced. This time, however, his skaters found a way to not waste Kari’s performance and came away with a 2-1 shootout win, thanks in part to Joey Motzko’s first goal since being called up from Chicago a few days ago.
Motzko’s tally, from Reasoner and Armstrong, broke the scoreless deadlock at the 6:26 mark of the third period. It was a very workman like effort from that line…indicative of the night’s work all around.
Kari lost the bid for his second shutout of the season by just 11 seconds. It was the 38th Ranger shot of the game. Prior to Markus Naslund’s game-tying goal, Lehtonen had gone 101:20 without being scored upon…making 57 consecutive saves. In the past two games, Kari has face 80 shots and has allowed by 3 goals, (.962 SV%).
That, my friends, is doin’ it!
Undaunted, Kari then stopped both New York shots in overtime then help his team skate away with the second point in the shootout.
He and the rest of the Thrashers now will have a couple day off before the Devils come down to Georgia Friday night…the team Kari and Co. blanked 4-0 the last time they hooked up.
Let’s hope Kari remains totally unconscious ‘til then and continues his lights out play.
Until then…Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….
Kovy’s Miss…Fugiddaboudit!
Now…a lot has been said about Kaptain Kovy ringing the puck off the iron when attempting to salt away the game with an empty netter. In fact, as I type this up, the NHL On The Fly boys are yackin’ about just that play. But folk, Kovy drains that 999 times out of a 1,000…last night just happened to be that night. I promise you, no one feels sicker about than he does.
And come on…it isn’t anywhere near the choke-job served up a couple years back by the very first draft pick selected by Don Waddell and the Atlanta Thrashers. So, let’s keep it in perspective…shall we?
Speaking Of Steffie’s Gaff…
Believe it or not…I traveled an hour in the early morning to be able to see with my own two eyes Patrik Stefan’s infamous whiff. It also almost led to my untimely demise.
If you ever catch me at a game…ask me about it.
