Thrashers Game Report - 09/23/09

Atlanta 5 - Nashville 4

Hooray! Hockey season is here again. It may only be preseason but it sure was nice to hit The Bulb and watch hockey. About 2000 people joined me this evening.

Some observations

- The arena was a little overstaffed for a preseason contest. I really don't need 6 people trying to help me in the store or 9 people preparing my brat.

- First thing I noticed is the Thrashers are a much bigger team. Kubina is huge, Antropov is a giant and even Valabik looked a little bulkier. While size isn't everything in the NHL, the Thrashers have been much too small/weak the last few seasons.

- Night off for Kozlov, White, Armstrong and Reasoner.

- Lots of new faces out there. Kubina, Antropov, Afinigenov, Kane, Gratton, Legace, Stapleton and more.

- Legace looked horrible in warmups. Couldn't stop a single shot. Pavelec got the start in goal and played the entire game.

- Up front Kovy-Antropov-Little on one unit Kane, Afinigenov and Stapleton on another. Enstrom-Bogosian made up one d pairing, Hainsey-Kubina another.

- Enstrom and Kubina were wearing As for this contest.

- Good puck pursuit throughout the game along with decent defensive coverage. Nice to see some bodies in front of the net.

- Pavelec looked strong in goal through most of the contest. Good position on the puck and decent rebound control. He did allow a soft goal late.

- Afinigenov has great speed but didn't see much else from him. Lots of specialty team play affected his ice time.

- I was hoping to see Kane electrify me the way Kovy did the first time I saw him in preseason. That probably wasn't realistic. While he didn't impress, he didn't look bad either. He did have decent positioning and didn't look overwhelmed by the situation. He skates very well.

- Nice to see Kubina step up after a Predator took a shot at Kovy. The crowd showed their appreciation.

- Kovy look in regular season form. He carried the puck for awhile allowing Antropov space to work. Kovy found him and Antro put the puck in the net. Hopefully, we'll see many more of these.

- Predators score a quick powerplay goal after a faceoff win.

- Stapleton had nice feed to Gratton in front of the net for quick goal. Two goals for Gratton.

- J-Bird and Chuck are back to torture us for another season. Somebody kill the Kiss Cam, Bungie Bowling, Golf on Ice and the guy in section 409 with the train whistle.

- Popovic hurt his chances of making the team when a turnover resulted in a 2 on 0 breakaway goal. Until that point he played a good game. We need consistency.

- Antropov worked the corner and found Little in front of the net for a nice goal.

- Bogosian finds Crabb in front of the net for an easy goal. Sensing a trend I like very much here. Get players in front of the net and good things happen.

- 2 late Nashville goals make it a little more interesting. Some slow footed defensive play and a lack of focus. Most of the blame lies with the 3rd defensive pair. It'll be interesting to see who ends up winning these jobs.

Next up opening night on October 3rd. Get down to The Bulb and welcome back the Atlanta Thrashers.