Thrashers’ Bogosian determined to play ‘nasty’

Zach Bogosian reached out with his right hand and slammed Dominic Moore to the ice.

He didn’t really have to. Only a second or two remained in the second period of Wednesday’s game between the Thrashers and Buffalo, and the two were standing near the boards. And then, all of the sudden, Moore wasn’t standing.

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Jessica McGowan/jmcgowan@ajc.com

Thrashers Zach Bogosian leads the NHL in goals by a rookie defenseman.

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“He had the puck. I threw him down. I was playing hardnosed hockey,” Bogosian said. “I guess he didn’t like that. It wasn’t cheap. He had the puck on his skates. That’s hockey. It’s not all skill out there. You’ve got to play nasty and put guys on their back. If he doesn’t like that style, I don’t know, too bad for him.”

Bogosian chuckled a bit as he spoke, but his edge was there, in his words and in his actions. He’s determined to dish out at least as much as he takes, much more if he gets the chance. It’s a big reason he has been so successful as an 18-year-old rookie defenseman in the NHL.

It takes a certain grit to come back from a broken leg and still rank as the top goal-scorer among the league’s rookie defensemen. Along with the skill it took to score those seven goals in just 42 games there’s an attitude that made it possible.

Bogosian carries with him more than the confidence of a player who believes he can have a successful NHL career. He thinks he belongs now. He respects himself too much to back down from anyone else.

“How many 18-year-olds fight [Donald] Brashear and [Ryan] O’Byrne?” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “He fought two real heavyweights. He took his lumps, but to say he showed up to the dance, that’s pretty impressive for an 18-year-old. That shows he’s got courage, shows he’s got an edge.

“There’s physical toughness and mental toughness, and he seems to have both.”

The broken leg cost Bogosian 33 games, close to half the season. Since his return, though, he has set about showing the reasons the Thrashers chose him with the third overall pick last June in a draft flush with defensemen.

Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty, taken a pick ahead of Bogosian, leads rookie defensemen with 25 points and nearly 24 minutes per game. Toronto’s Luke Schenn, chosen two spots after Bogosian, leads all rookies in blocked shots and leads rookie defensemen in hits.

Bogosian said he’s not comparing himself to others and wasn’t even aware he entered Wednesday’s game tied for the rookie defenseman goal-scoring lead until he saw it on the Philips Arena scoreboard.

The coaches’ faith in him shows in his growing ice time. He has been over his season average of 17:40 in all but two of his last 12 games. He played 28 minutes a week ago against the New York Rangers.

Teammates say he keeps getting better.

“He’s shown so much energy,” captain Ilya Kovalchuk said. “He’s jumping the play all the time. He’s carrying the puck. Next year he’s going to see more ice time and more time on the power play, because he deserves it.”

“He’s really playing well defensively,” goalie Johan Hedberg said, adding that the made-in-March pairing of Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom has been good for both. “Bogo’s playing way more poised, too. He doesn’t run around when he doesn’t need to. He stays in position. I think this organization is very happy. He’s going to be a big part of it for a long time.”

Note: Defenseman Boris Valabik is expected to play tonight at Florida for the first time since dislocating a shoulder March 17. Defenseman Anssi Salmela, who took a blow to the chin Wednesday against Buffalo, did not go with the team on this weekend’s trip to Florida and Washington.