Thrashers Game Report - 01/09/10

Washington 8 - Atlanta 1

I should have known when I had to spend double my usual for parking because of a monster truck event that I was in for a bad evening. I had hope the Thrashers could build on the victory versus the Rangers that I witnesses just two days prior.

I'm not going to bore you with goal by goal details because frankly I cannot relive that painful night.

Everything started pretty well. There was a really good crowd on hand, the best I've seen since opening night. Despite lots of cocky Capital fans sitting around me while I ate my stadium fare, the energy they brought to the building was nice.

When the puck first dropped, the Thrashers came out and played some pretty good hockey. But when the Captials scored first, you couldn't help but get the feeling of "here we go again". The frustration of the players was easily exceeded by the frustration of the fans. When they left the ice down 3-0 after the first, the boos rang down loud and clear.

It didn't get any better the rest of the game. Each time the Thrashers tried to move the puck up the ice, they'd make a critical mistake. Each time the gave a Capital some space, he'd get the puck into the net. At one point they had 4 goals on 9 shots. The Thrashers had zero energy, zero passion and looked like children skating amongst men.

The final tally was 8-1 but there were much worse things than the score. It appeared that less than a handful of players seemed to care about what was happening on ice. Only a couple played each shift hard (Enstrom and Kane were the two I noticed). They were outhustled to every loose puck and didn't even ramp up the physicality when the game was out of reach.

I think it is time for some radical changes. The easiest would be to fire Anderson and replace him with Cunnyworth. Todd White needs to be replaced or at least demoted. His only vital role is on the penalty kill and he simply coasts 90% of the time. Same goes for Kozlov who is only effective in the shootout. While well liked by his teammates, Kozlov must be benched for the better of the team. Finally, a serious ass kicking is needed to light a fire under all players and those that don't bring more energy must be held accountable.

As I write this, the Thrashers are playing a game I consider "must-win". Any hopes of making the playoffs depend on getting more points during this homestand. Anderson has made a couple moves effectively demoting both Kozlov and White to the 4th line. Why he didn't do this weeks ago is beyond me. So far so good. That line has accounted for 3 goals and the Thrashers lead 6-1!

However, the real test will be whether or not they can sustain good play. A single win will not get them back into the thick of the race. A hard stretch awaits just before the Olympic break and they need to get themselves a bit of cushion before then. Only time will tell.

Thrashers Game Report - 01/07/10

Atlanta 2 - New York Rangers 1 SO

First home game of the year, first back from a very unsuccessful roadtrip. Despite the threat of snow and ice, I shuffled my ass down to the arena to see if maybe the team could turn fortunes around on home ice.

The Thrashers came out strong and controlled a good portion of early play. If not for the superb play of New York's rookie goaltender and a couple of goalposts, the Thrashers might have scored 2 or 3 goals. Instead they headed for the lockerroom tied at 0-0.

New York sees a bit of jump in the second period and manages to create a nice deflection in front the net to give them a 1-0 lead.

Neither team generates much offense for the remainder of the contest making for quite a boring affair. While it was nice to see the Thrashers play some sound defense for a change, I was worried the good play might be wasted. But with a little more than 6 minutes remaining, Slater broke free and brought the arena to its feet when he scored.

From that point it seemed both teams were content to get to OT and get at least a single point. Once in OT the Thrashers looked like a team worried they were going to lose instead of playing to win. The Rangers had multiple opportunities but simply couldn't cash in. The game was headed to the shootout.

While superstars Kovalchuk couldn't deliver in the shootout, specialist Kozlov did. Add another by Little and a few saves by Hedberg and the Thrashers managed to beat the Rangers once more. With 3 wins in 3 tries against the boys from New York, it is a shame they can't play them more often.

Not much better than beating the Rangers!