Archive for March, 2010

The penalty kill has been the most consistent aspect of this Atlanta Thrashers team of late. In fact, they are currently riding a streak of eight consecutive games in which they have not surrendered a power play goal. The last time they failed, in fact, was back on the 16th of the month when Jason Pominville made Evgeny Artyukhin pay for his slashing penalty during the first period of Atlanta’s 4-3 win against the Sabres.

They killed of the subsequent two Sabre man advantages that night…then all four against Ottawa…all three against the Flyers at home as well as all three in Philly…both during the shutout loss to Boston…the one and only last week against the Leafs…all four against the Canes in Carolina up there…all three when the Canes came here Monday night…and then both Tuesday night up in Toronto.

That’s an even two dozen straight successful penalty kills.

And none was more important than the last one, which came with exactly two minutes remaining in the …

Continue reading Thrashers win eliminates Leafs – Sets up big finish »

Ah, yes…late March-early spring in Atlanta. It’s a beautiful time of year in these parts…a time when we, among other things, pull the cover off of the grill that’s weather through the winter on the back deck and prepare it for another season of outdoor cooking.

You name it, it gets flamed up on the grill here in the south…burgers, hotdogs, steaks, chicken,chops, ribs…mmmmmmm, meat is good!

Carolina goalie Cam Ward denies Pavel Kubina during the Canes 4-1 win Monday night (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

But ya know what else got grilled around here recently…the playoff chances for the Atlanta Thrashers. Yup, with the giant flameout on the ice of Philips Arena Monday night they all but went up in smoke in the night skies of Thrasherville. And I assure you, the smell that permeated around the intersection of Marietta Street and Centennial Drive did not smell as sweet as what will surround the cul-de-sac I live on this weekend.

Oh sure, the Thrashers are not mathematically …

Continue reading Stick a fork in them and pull them off the playoff grill – The Thrashers are done »

Thrasherville Times
- If it isn’t in the Thrasherville Times, it didn’t happen -
Sunday March 28, 2010

I Guess The Message Was Received, Coach

Friday morning before the team took to the practice ice at the Duluth Ice Forum, John Anderson held a closed door meeting with the coaching staff and players. Well, whatever was said needs to be repeated …and repeated often… for the remaining seven games of the season as the Thrashers then flew to Raleigh, North Carolina and shutout the Hurricanes 4-0 behind Johan Hedberg’s 34 save performance.

Atlanta got away 43 shots on Manny Legace.

It was win number 20 on the season for Moose and his GAA dipped to 2.63 and saves percentage raised to .915.

“It’s always fun. It’s not often I get a shutout,” Hedberg said after the game. “It was a total team effort. We got some great goals, some amazing goals. We stayed with it the whole way. We didn’t have any lapses, which was the key.”

Not two weeks ago it was Legace that shutout the …

Continue reading Thrashers ride Moose to blank Canes headlines this morning’s Sunday Thrasherville Times »

While the Thrashers were busy dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a couple of other outcomes that effect Atlanta didn’t go our way either. The Montreal Canadiens whipped Florida 4-1 and Philadelphia gained a loser point in their 4-3 OT loss to Minnesota.

However, Boston was defeated by Tampa Bay 5-3…which was a positive result for the Thrashers.

With that, a quick look at the updated standings show the Thrashers with 76 points after 74 games played…matching the season totals for last year and the one prior…and are trailing the Bruins by two, the Flyers by four and the Habs by six.

Atlanta and Philly have eight games left to play, Montreal seven and Boston nine.

Ondrej Pavelec kicks out one of his 28 saves against the Maple Leafs Thursday night (AP/John Bozemore)

Thus, Atlanta remains on the outside looking in through the front window of the Playoff Café…shaving but one point from their deficit behind the eighth-place Bruins, remaining the …

Continue reading Rangers look to cut in front of Thrashers waiting in Playoff Cafe line »

To say that I was disappointed after Tuesday night’s massive, epic FAIL on the ice of Philips Arena would be quite the understatement. Bob and I…along with his guest and a “lurker”… for the most part of the final two periods just looked at each other without the adequate words to properly express ourselves.

And those words that we could come up with aren’t exactly fit to print here.

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But with a new day and a new game comes the opportunity to put the failure of the past behind us and begin anew. But let’s not kid ourselves…at this stage of the game, …

Continue reading Can Thrashers turn it back on in time? »

Normally when I make my way back to the twin cities of Kennesaw/Acworth after a Thrashers game at Philips Arena, by the time I park the car in the garage and make my way upstairs to the office I already have something rolling around in my noggin about what to write about. A title…a cutting remark…a pseudo-humorous twist on what played out before us…something.

But tonight, all I really have had before sitting down to the computer was…”Well, that sucked”.

Eric Boulton battles the Shawn Thornton in Tuesday night's 4-0 loss to the Bruins (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

This Thrashers team had spent the past five games working their way back to the point they found themselves in…playing energetic and inspiring hockey…getting to within a point of the Bruins for the 8th spot in conference…and then played about as flat of a games as has been seen around here in quite some time in being blanked 4-0.

“We looked very nervous with the puck,” coach John Anderson said afterwards. …

Continue reading Bruins beat Thrashers ‘All over the ice’ »

April 2007…almost three years ago. That was the last time the Thrashers hosted such a meaningful game. Back then, they were games number 83 and 84 of the season…the first two playoff games in the history of the franchise.

I ask you Thrasherville…do you remember what those games were like? Do you remember the excitement…the energy…the emotion…the thrill…the intensity that permeated throughout Philips Arena during not just those two games, but the games leading up to them? Do you recall the way the barn was packed with 18,000 + Thrashers fans and how the stands shook when they took to the ice for game one?

Yeah…I do too.

It’s been many a-moon since that time. The experience lasted but a few short days as the Rangers took games one and two by the scores of 4-3 and 2-1. Then they finished us off with a 7-0 beat-down in game three and a gut-wrenching 4-2 decision that denied Thrashers fans of at least a return home for a third home game during the series.

It …

Continue reading Biggest Game in Three Years – Be There, Thrasherville! »

Thrasherville Times
- If it isn’t in the Thrasherville Times, it didn’t happen -
Sunday March 21, 2010

It’s another Sunday morning in Thrasherville…and things have definately taken a turn for the better since the last Sunday Thrasherville Times was delivered upon your cyber-doorstep. Three HUGE wins and an overtime loss point against some pretty good teams has allowed the Thrashers to work their way right back into the playoff scene, as we’ll discuss below.

But before we open up this weeks STT, I would like to take this oppertunity to give a big shout out to a very nice young lady that I met at Taco Mac last night after the game. Kendall is a sophomore at Woodward Acadamy, a soccer goalie and she and her dad shared a table with Kracker and I as we gathered to celebrate the big win.

I thouroughly enjoyed our chat about Kari Lehtonen and other keepers in the NHL. As she correctly points out, his issues are between the ears and if he ever gets over that he can use his new …

Continue reading Wild week, Antropov’s career season and bikinis inside this morning’s Sunday Thrasherville Times »

OK…so in my previous post I engaged in a little math exercise to show how difficult it would be for the Atlanta Thrashers to overtake the New York Rangers as well as Boston Bruins and make the playoffs. The numbers, as of yesterday, did not look very good at all…and the schedule looked equally as rough.

Nope…didn’t look good at all.

Then the Thrashers go out and smack the Ottawa Senators 6-3. To make matters even that much better, New York then gets beat by St. Louis 4-3 and Boston gets blanked by the Pens 3-0. With that the simple math calculates to…3 points out of the playoffs with 12 games left.

Oh…and the Bruins are in town Tuesday.

Johnny Oduya is checked against the boards by Ottawa's Erik Karlsson (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

In between now and then, however, is a pair of games against the Philadelphia Flyers… Saturday here, Sunday there. Were the Thrashers to actually sweep the two…don’t laugh, we are 2-0-0 this season against them…then Tuesday matchup …

Continue reading Still some fight, life left in Thrashers after 6-3 win over Sens »

Inside of last weekend’s Sunday Thrasherville Times, I mentioned the elderly couple that so often appears on the Kiss Cam during the game and suggested they be the ones who are awarded this year’s 7th Fan Award. Since then, many of you have posted comments, send e-mails to me and have stopped me at Philips prior to the Coyotes game to express your support for this concept…and I thank you very much for your support in this endeavor.

Recently, even the boys over at the Blueland Chronicle have climbed aboard this movement and have voiced their opinions in favor of seeing this lovely couple given such an honor.

Well, here’s an “Operation Kiss Cam Couple” update for you…I have obtained the names of the two. They are T.R. and Maria Benning.

Now, from what I understand, in order for them…or anyone else, for that matter…to win the award, they have to write an essay explaining why. Here is a link that you can use to get all the info on that. I’ve been told essays can be …

Continue reading Kiss Cam couple for 7th Fan Update and un-good math »