Anderson's advice to Little: Shoot more

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bryan Little is one of several Thrashers who will need to pick up his scoring while Ilya Kovalchuk is out with a foot injury.

Enlarge photo

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Bryan Little had 31 goals last season, but none this year.

• Thrashers Beat Blog with Chris Vivlamore »

  Ramsay to interview with Winnipeg

• Fan blog: The Ice Man »

  What will you remember about the Thrashers?

• Mark Bradley on Thrashers »

  Falcons and Hawks locked out. Thrashers gone. What to do?

• Jeff Schultz on Thrashers »

  How they really stand, from Braves (1) to Weasels (12)

Latest Atlanta Thrashers news »

• Follow @ajcthrashers | Others
• Area hockey fans settle on Gladiators
• Canadiens spoil Winnipeg's NHL return
• The puck drops Thursday in the NHL
• Jets trying not to repeat Atlanta's mistakes
• Atlanta Spirit settles Thrashers lawsuit
• Atlanta sports TV listings

Little had 31 goals last season, but had no goals this year (before Thursday).

Coach John Anderson gave the following account as a reason for Little’s slow start.

“Max [Afinogenov] had [a slow start] a little bit,” Anderson said. “I’ll give you an example. Max scored that goal [against Buffalo] and then he got on a little bit of a roll. Consequently with [Little], he’s had a couple great chances, and some big saves were made against him. This is what confidence does for you. [Against San Jose last Saturday], he had a great chance in front of the net. Instead of shooting, he went to deke and went all the way around the net. Last year, that puck would have been gone so fast, and if it didn’t go in it would have hurt the goalie because it hit him so hard and somebody would have put it in. That’s the difference with his confidence right now. It comes with continually shooting the puck when he’s supposed to. This is what we’ve talked about. I’ve watched him in practice. He’s shooting the puck and driving the net. Good things happen when you put the puck on the net.”

When to go

Zach Bogosian is a prime example of the forward-moving defenseman Anderson wants in his system. Bogosian even had a short-handed goal against Washington on Oct. 22.

There is always a question of when to jump into an offensive play and when to stay at home. It’s a numbers game.

“There are some times that are the right time to jump up, and there are the wrong times,” Bogosian said. “I like to jump up when we have the numbers. If it’s a 3-on-2 you can make it a 4-2. ‚¶ You have to be careful or they could have a 3-on-1 the other way. Pretty much have to read on the forwards. Sometimes they yell to me to go, and they stay back. When I’m up, there is usually someone to cover for me. When I jump in, a forward will stay back and play the point until I get back.”

Message practice

After the Thrashers lost to San Jose last Saturday, the team had the day off Sunday. However it was back to work -- and hard -- on Monday and Tuesday.

Anderson had a message to deliver.

“It was all about I didn’t like the way we were playing,” Anderson said. “If you watched, [Tuesday] was a hard practice. It’s a message practice. It was a teaching practice to get everything back in order, with our checking and everything like that. It was a hard practice. I want them to know we are going to work out there. We are not going to take two or three shifts off because those shifts could cost you the hockey game. It’s a 60-minute game, and that was the message.”

Prospect update

● Tim Stapleton scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season Wednesday for the Thrashers’ AHL affiliate in Chicago. Before Saturday’s game, Spencer Machecek, who played two games for the Thrashers last season, led the Wolves in points with nine (three goals, six assists). Angelo Esposito has three assists in seven games.

● Carl Klingberg, the first of two Thrashers second-round picks this year, has four points (two goals, two assists) through Wednesday playing for Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League.