Anderson rips Thrashers for lack of effort

Uniondale, N.Y. — Thrashers coach John Anderson ripped his team for lack of effort and grit in the past couple of games and said if the performance doesn’t change soon the personnel will.

“The truth is, some teams are playing harder than us,” Anderson said after the morning skate before Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders. “If we’re going to lose and we go down playing real hard, I have no problem with that. But not like I saw in the last couple of games. That’s not hard enough for me.

“I don’t want us to be an easy team to play. If we’re going to be the doormat, be an ugly doormat. Make sure there’s some dirt on that doormat. I don’t want to see us just get walked all over every night. That’s not going to happen. We’re going to change it if we have to. We’re going to change personnel, whatever. But we’re not going to be an easy mark anymore.”

The Thrashers are 8-14-3. They have 19 points, last in the NHL.

“If we’re going to be last place in the league, we’ve got to be tough to play against,” Anderson said. “I want to see some sandpaper out there. I don’t want us just to be standing out there while guys like [Ottawa’s Jason] Spezza and [Dany] Heatley and [Daniel] Alfredsson make monkeys of us out there. We’re done with that.

“We better show some grit tonight. … If they’re going to beat us, they’re going to beat us in the alley a little bit.”