PHILADELPHIA – The Thrashers likely will rotate goaltenders for the final games of the season, coach Craig Ramsay said.
Chris Mason started Thursday night against Philadelphia, which means Ondrej Pavelec could start Saturday night in Boston and Mason would return to face his former team in Nashville next week.
“Right now it would be nice if we just alternated,” Ramsay said Thursday. “I want to give everybody a chance to play. I think that is really important right now that everybody feels part of it and we continue to build that team atmosphere.”
Message sent, received
Earlier this week, Ramsay said he wanted to send a message to his entire team by starting the veteran Mason for three consecutive games. The coach wanted to reward him for a season of hard work and show that such an attribute is a necessity.
Ramsay has seen signs that message was received.
“I thought we’ve had some fire on the bench,” Ramsay said. “We had guys yelling at each other on the bench, coming off [the ice] and making statements. While you don’t want your team to be going after each other on a consistent basis, you need them to have some fire. You need them to hold each other accountable."
Increased role
With the season winding down, players, especially the young ones, will be getting extended looks and expanded roles.
Ramsay said he was been impressed with the play of Ben Maxwell since he was inserted into the regular lineup for the past six games. Maxwell was used on the penalty kill on Tuesday night at Montreal. Ramsay said he would like to see Maxwell on the power play at some point over the remaining games with an eye toward the future.
Stewart back in
Anthony Stewart rejoined the Thrashers in Philadelphia after missing Tuesday night's game in Canada due to a travel documentation issue. The forward was back in the lineup for Radek Dvorak who suffered an upper-body injury in the first period against the Canadiens.
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