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
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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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The Longest Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today…Friday October 10th…will be the longest day. You know what I’m talkin’ about? Like back in our school days…no, not college…but elementary or middle school days. Back then, of course, the longest day of the year was the last day of school.
You remember, don’t you? That one day that separated the drudgery of another arduous school year that seemed like it would never end… and the wonderment that was summer vacation.
Ah, yes…summer vacation…3 months of chasing girls, playing ball, going on trips, chasing girls, going to the beach, hangin’ with friends, chasing girls, sleeping in…and did I mention chasing girls?
You know…everything that you wanted to do…everything that was fun…everything that made life worth living, (at least in the world seen through the eyes of a kid), was just one…painfully long…painfully slow…day away.
A day filled with fidgeting with our pencils…staring at the clock…turning in stupid, stupid “What I Will Do This Summer” essays that never were graded…tossing erasers at the friend who was nodding off…gathering phone numbers from girls we didn’t have the nerve to ask for during the previous 179 school days, only to find out when actually called, they had “accidentally” provided the number to the local bowling alley, movie theater or library…
That day was an eternity. It… just… would… not…end!
JUST RING THE FREAKIN’ BELL ALREADY!!
ahem…pardon me.
Anyway, that day was not unlike today…the day we have to get through in order to make it to tonight…opening night…and another season of Thrashers hockey.
Tonight, the John Anderson era officially begins, against his good pal Bruce Boudreau…head coach of the Washington Capitals. I would really like to know what the wager is between the two of ‘em.
Tonight, the memory of last season disappears over the horizon, the offseason and preseason are put officially behind us and a new chapter of the Atlanta Thrashers begins to be written before our eyes.
Tonight, we get a first-hand look at how the newly acquired Thrashers… Schneider, Williams, Reasoner and Hainsey…and to that matter, Armstrong and Christensen who were brought in at the trade deadline last February…fit in with the likes of Kovy, Enstrom, Havelid, Kozzy, XLB, White, Perrin, Boulton, Slater, Thorburn, et. al.
Tonight, we begin the process of finding out if Bogosian and Little are indeed NHL ready and able to be the assets to this team that most agree they will be.
Tonight, we once again get to again experience the skating skills, the hard shots, the lightning-quick glove saves and the open-ice hits that make OUR teeth rattle!
Tonight, the players and coaches of the Thrashers begin their quest to prove wrong so many of the pundits and their dire predictions of a last place finish for this team.
And tonight, we fans get to again congregate in the comfy confines of Philips Arena and experience…no, be a part of… the greatest, hippest, coolest, most fantastic, most entertaining, most exhilarating sport on the planet!
Maybe some of you won’t be there tonight, but you will be next week or sometime after that as the schedule progresses. Great…see ya then!
But first…today.
Today the clock will slow to a crawl as the morning grudgingly gives way to afternoon and we try to get through these last few hours that separates the long days of the offseason from the time of year we look forward the most…a new hockey season in Atlanta.
Then…the afternoon will finally proceed to the time we depart from the office or home and make our way enthusiastically to Philips…The Flat Screen…The Bulb…Blueland…where we will take our seats and partake of the pre-game festivities.
Then, at or shortly after 7:30… after we’ve gone through the traditional introduction of the entire team and coaching staff…and we sing our National Anthem…the two teams will place on the ice their starting lineups… the ref will move in toward the center circle…puck in hand…the two centers will glide in to meet him…they will assume the face off positions…the ref will hold out the puck over the center dot…and then, just for a brief second, he’ll hold it there…
The second will seem to last as long as the day we just endured… an eternity…
JUST DROP THE FREAKIN’ PUCK ALREADY!!!
Success: Mild, Medium Or En Fuego?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was gnawing on some wings at a local Taco Mac not too long ago with my two tax exemptions. The younger one asked me if the Thrashers were going to have a successful season this year. The older one was busy trying to act cool by trying to make it seem that the “Death Sauce” he has dipped his wings in was not affecting him in an adverse nature…emphasis on the word “trying”. There were tears coming from his eyes and his face was turning a wonderful shade of fire engine red. Still…he smiled and pushed forward…eating yet another.
Anyway…as I passed another glass of ice water over to the 16-year old, I responded to my 15-year old that I believed this team will do better than most people think, getting somewhere around 86 points…finishing at or near eleventh place in the Eastern Conference.
He quipped back…11th place? 86 points? Does that constitute “success”?
When they get older…they tend to challenge you and you can’t get away with short simple answers. So, I’ll try to ‘splain to you the way I ‘splained it to him, with the aide of some wings and sauce.
But first, let’s look at this from the vantage point of where we left off last season. The record, of course, was 34-40-8 for 76 points…landing the Thrashers in fourteenth place in the east. Those 76 points were better only than the 71 produced by Tampa Bay and Los Angeles.
By any measure, this was un-good…or in the spirit of this discussion, un-success.
Oh sure, some will point out that last year’s failures paved the way for the team to draft Zach Bogosian with the third overall pick last June. And while I happily concede that point, the fact of the matter is that any measure of an organ-I-zation’s success…at any point in its existence…begins and ends with wins and losses. To me, seeing your team’s logo on display during the lottery pick ceremony is the product of failure and should always been seen such…period.
So in my eyes, the base line to measure any success for this coming season is 76 points.
Simply meeting that number…or worse, falling short of it…is failure to the umpth-degree. I don’t care if it increases our chance to win the John Tavares sweepstakes. If we are in that position it means Thrashers fans just suffered through another horrific season. And, in the words of Chief Brody when addressing the Amity Island city council during Jaws II, “I don’t know about you…but I don’t intend to go through that hell again”!
Besides, we could play the “since we won’t win the Stanley Cup, let’s play…or tank it… for the top draft pick” game for the next several years…and what would we have to show for it? Several more years of sucking?
Thank you, but no.
There has to be a time when a team begins a solid, steady march toward respectability. This should have started a decade ago in Atlanta. Some could say it did for about 3 or four seasons consecutively just prior to, then after, the lockout. But any progress, any measurable success, was clearly thrown off the rails last season. So the time to move ahead is now… not after a few more lottery picks make their way to town.
Playing this season and not seeing some type of improvement would be like…like wings with no hot sauce. Just…yeck!
Let’s say, for grins and giggles, that the Thrasher do indeed finish somewhere in the higher range between 77 points and 86 points, (my prediction). I consider that to be a “mild” level of success. Improvement, yes…not enough to realistically contend for the playoffs but just enough, possibly, to show some hope for the future.
Another level of success… call it “medium” success… could be seen if they defy all the dire predictions coming from hockey’s panel of punditry by performing at the level of 87-91 points. This would mean that the team played far better than expected, myself included. It would mean that the Littles and Bogosians of this team proved they are NHL ready and that Hainsey, Williams and Reasoner were far better acquisitions than advertised and that the Schneider trade was as good as most believed.
Is this level of play impossible? No.
Unlikely? Maybe…but not impossible.
However, if…IF… the team were able to play to this level, then it helps the front office make its sales pitch to next summer’s crop of UFAs as well as possibly entice Williams and Reasoner…possibly Schneider… to re-up for another tour of duty in Atlanta.
Lastly, there is a level that can only be classified as “hot” success… no, not just hot…”en fuego”…the equivalent of the “Death Sauce” the older boy was trying to handle.
Some might say this level of success would not just defy expectations or the odds… it would seemingly defy all laws of nature. This level of success would see this team make the playoffs, making the Thrashers this year’s version of what the…say…Boston Bruins or Philadelphia Flyers were last season. It would make John Anderson Coach of the Year running away and cause the northeast hockey elitists… the ones who have already punched this team’s ticket to Cellar City… to gag on their Yankee bean soup.
And who wouldn’t like seeing that?
However, even with my blue-tinted glasses on, I don’t foresee that level of success. At least not this year.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, when the Thrashers open their season against the Caps Friday and continue on through the season, I will indeed be rooting and cheering… with every fiber of my being… for just that outcome. Odds and pundits be damned.
I am, after all, a fan.
But, in the end…I see this team finishing, like I said, better then last season’s 76 points…at or around 86 points and at or around 11th place in the eastern Conference. That would be “mild” success. Not hot, not en fuego…but mild success.
Normally, I would see any season in which a team fails to make the playoffs as… well… failure. But in light of where this team finished last spring…what changes were made during the summer…what players were able to be acquired, and not acquired, via free agency…that’s my realistic outlook, pending any further roster moves.
Anything less would be un-good…would be un-success.
And, in the eyes of this fan…un-acceptable.
It’d be like wings with no sauce…which is something my oldest son would tell you he wouldn’t much care for.
When he regains feeling in his tongue and he’s able to speak again, that is.
Preseason Recap - Setting The Roster
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With Saturday night’s 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Thrashers finished the exhibition season with one win and five losses. The lone win coming in Nashville to begin the preseason.
In the six games, Atlanta was outscored 29-14…outshot 215-147, (24.5 S/G vs. 35.8 SA/G)…the power play was a decent 20.0% efficient, (7 goals in 35 man advantages)…but the defense killed off penalties only 74.4% of the time, (32 times out of 43).
Outside of that…it went pretty good.
Keeping things in perspective…last year the Thrashers were 5-2-0 during the preseason then followed it up immediately by starting the regular season 0-6-0…ending the Bob Hartley era in Blueland…on the way to 14th place in the Eastern Conference.
Conversely, the Boston Bruins went 1-4-1 during their preseason last year scoring 13 and giving up 19 goals. Boston then went on to grab the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They then took the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens to a seventh game in the first round of the playoffs. Cal-Gary went 1-5-2 during the same preseason, scored 13 goals and let up 24. They finished last spring with a record of 42-30-10, which was good enough for sixth in the Western Conference.
Now…am I predicting that the Thrashers are this year’s version of the Bruins and Flames based on the now-finished preseason? Nope…not at all. I’m merely pointing out that preseason records are not necessarily indicative of future results. The faux games of the last couple of weeks are a way to allow coaches to evaluate talent, break in new game plans, to take a look-see at what lines do or don’t work and all that jive.
Nothing more…nothing less.
Plus, as pointed out by Mark Knobler, the team is still “A work in progress” as many players are still getting comfortable with John Anderson’s new system. Camp only started just over two weeks ago.
Now… so that no one thinks I’m simply whistling past the graveyard here…there are a few things that do concern me moving from postseason to regular season play. Allowing almost 36 shots on goal is disquieting. Being outshot by an average of 11.3 per game in distressing. That eleven of the twenty-nine goals scored on Atlanta were of the power play variety raises an eyebrow. Kari Lehtonen allowing ten goals in three starts is troublesome, however I temper that with the fact he faced 107 shots and made 97 saves, (90.6 SV%).
But Friday, none of it matters. We start from scratch…for real.
By Wednesday, the team will need to trim its roster by three…taking it from 26 to 23 players. The team could chose to send four more down and carry only 22, but with Little and Williams possibly having to miss action this weekend due to injuries, I would opt to keep the extra forward around for a while.
Oystrick is the obvious odd-man out on the blueline, same with Crabb up front. I see the final two spots between Sterling, Hoffman and Stuart. If I’m given that choice, Stuart and Hoffman stay.
That being the case, here is what I believe the opening-night roster will look like:
First, in goal…Kari starts and Moose will back-up, (DUH5).
Defense…
Tobias Enstrom - Nic Havelid
Ron Hainsey - Mathieu Schneider
Zach Bogosian - Garnet Exelby
Boris Valabik the healthy scratch.
Up front…
Ilya Kovalchuk - Erik Christensen - Jason Williams*
Slava Kozlov - Bryan Little* - Colby Armstrong
Eric Perrin - Marty Reasoner - Todd White
Eric Boulton - Jimmy Slater - Chris Thorburn
Scratches would be Colin Stuart and Mike Hoffman
I think it’s entirely possible that White and Little could swap positions listed above…but outside of that, there’s my lineup.
*This lineup assumes Williams and Little are able to play this weekend depending upon their injuries. From all I’ve heard, they are not serious but we’ll have to see for sure. If they are not able to go…Hoffman and Stuart could play.
LET’S DROP THE FREAKIN’ PUCK ALREADY!!
Latest comments
Hey Smitty - you are right on, not only does the goalie have to deal with the knucling and bouncing that you mentioned, but also screens and deflections - plus the players that use the more open-faced toe curves can make the puck rise and dip. It is impossible... read the full comment by glovesave29 | Comment on Quick Shots From Opening Weekend Read Quick Shots From Opening Weekend
That style of play will keep things interesting, in a good way, this year. I had figured our goals and shots against were both going down this year, but they may go up! That is one wide open style Anderson brings, but I like it. Bogosian looks... read the full comment by Bob | Comment on Quick Shots From Opening Weekend Read Quick Shots From Opening Weekend
Alan that was a bit harsh. Though so was ranallo - the vast majority of the Wings’ roster was either drafted or they’ve had them for a long time. Besides, what’s a GM to do when guys like Rafalski or Hossa... read the full comment by Sara | Comment on Winning A Game That Last Year They Wouldn't Have Read Winning A Game That Last Year They Wouldn't Have
Don Cherry, “And one more thing, Ron (McLean). John Anderson needs to be there, doing it in Atlanta.” Hey, if the T-birds get that thing to the Shootout, I think they win it. But I’ll certainly take the point, on the road, on... read the full comment by Brendan | Comment on Quick Shots From Opening Weekend Read Quick Shots From Opening Weekend