Three games in four days gives Thrashers chance to clear the air of last Saturday’s smell
Even after more than four days, the stench from that big, heaping, steaming pile of FAIL that the Thrashers dropped on the ice Saturday still seems to linger in the air. Given that there has been so many days off after the 8-2 loss in Buffalo, they haven’t been able to try and freshen the air with a win…or even just a well-played game.
Tonight, however, they’ll have an opportunity to do just that if they can somehow muster a win on Long Island. But as was the case with the New Jersey Devils a couple weeks ago, seeing the Thrashers take on the Islanders again provides a comparison of two teams that have taken different paths since the last time they met.
Back on February 1 they faced off in Philips Arena for the first game following the All Star break. The Thrashers were coming off a thrilling 1-0 win over the Washington Capitals and held a record of 24-19-9. They had struggled a bit in January, going 1-4-3 prior to shutting out the Caps, but their 57 points were still good enough to cling on to the eighth and last playoff spot.
The Isles came in with a record of 15-27-7, were lingering at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, had lost three straight, five of their previous six and were coming off a 4-8-1 month of January. Once again it seemed as though their season was circling the drain before the league even entered into the post All Star game portion of the schedule.
By all accounts this seemed like the perfect set up for Atlanta to restart the season…a “softie” on the schedule to get things moving again after a few days off.
Islanders refuse to play the role of ‘softie’
The Islanders came to play that night…the Thrashers, not so much. And the lack-luster effort displayed in the 4-1 defeat had some wondering if we were witnessing the bottom dropping out on the team’s playoff aspirations. The gravity of the situation and the alarmingly tepid play of the team did not escape Ondrej Pavelec.
The view for Mark Stuart and the Atlanta Thrashers hasn't exactly been the best lately. They'll kick off a 3 games in 4 days stretch tonight in New York versus the Islanders (AP Photo/David Duprey)
“We have to realize that few more games like that and we’re done”, the goalie said afterwards, “We didn’t fight like we wanted to get into the playoffs”.
Then there were these words by coach Craig Ramsay. “We lost so many battles in the offensive zone. And that allowed them to keep coming back up the ice. Our work ethic, our commitment, is lacking”.
Both statements were spot on. Unfortunately though, Ramsay has been unable to properly remedy the failings of that night and variations of both sets of quotes have been used far too often to describe the team’s play since that time.
Including that game, the Thrashers have slumped to a record of 6-11-3, winning only once in regulation. Meanwhile the Islanders have gone 14-6-5, including a 6-1-3 mark in the last ten played. If it weren’t for the story that has been the Devils miraculous second half recovery, these Islanders might just be talked about as the bounce-back team of the season.
If you think it stinks bad now…
As foul as things have gotten since early January, a loss on the island tonight is certain to make things just that much worse…to the point where even striking a match in the room won’t help.
With a regulation win tonight, the Islanders would move even with the Thrashers at 72 points…although Atlanta will have two more games left on the schedule…and leave the Thrashers only 4 points ahead of 14th place Florida. The Thrashers, Islanders and Devils would also be tied for the 5th lowest point total in the NHL.
Then tomorrow night the Vancouver Canucks, a.k.a the best team in the west, will be paying Thrasherville a visit. Following the 2-1 win in Detroit last night, they are now 48-17-9, have already locked up the Northwest Division and are on course for the Presidents Trophy. Prior to the 3-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes last Friday, they had rattled off seven consecutive victories.
Even with the loss of Manny Malhotra and his 11 goals, 19 assists and +9 rating for the rest of the season, this team looks poised for a serious run at the Stanley Cup this spring.
After that, the last place in the east Ottawa Senators come to call for a Sunday afternoon matinee. But if your thinking that represents another “softie” on the schedule, you might want to think again.
The last three times the Thrashers have faced a conference bottom feeder, they’ve failed to procure even an overtime pity-point. There was that loss to the Islanders last month, the 5-3 third period collapse in Edmonton and then the 3-1 loss to the Sens the last time they were in town three weeks ago.
So let’s just hope that they’ve cleared out of their system whatever it was that caused them to drop that on-ice stink bomb in Buffalo last Saturday and they can find a way to procure two points on the Island tonight. If not, then this epic second-half collapse could land the Thrashers on the outskirts of Lotterypickville before the weekend is over.
While some feel that would be a good thing given how this season has played out, I still think it stinks when my team finishes up that far down in the standings.
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82 comments Add your comment
Smoothie
March 24th, 2011
2:38 pm
Stroz – yep, I summed it up pretty succinctly eh??
Red Light
March 24th, 2011
2:49 pm
I will again ask this very simple question: Why do many keep suggesting Torchetti might have the answer?
SomaAtl95
March 24th, 2011
2:52 pm
Looks like the Thrashers are still stuck in “Suckage Oz”. Still looking for a brain for Upper Management, a heart for A$G, courage for the players to excel and a return trip to Kansas (ok, so the playoffs aren’t Kansas, but the other parts of the analogy fit). Who would you guys suggest are other citizens of Hockey Oz? Audra Martin as Glenda? Eric Cole as the Wicked Witch? Martin St Louis as the entire Lolipop guild? The penguins as the annoying evil flying monkeys?
World Be Free
March 24th, 2011
3:06 pm
Red Light-I knew just mentioning “The King” would generate a post from the Stat-Meister himself.
Torch? Not a fan, he should be held somewhat accountable for what has happened this year.
I still say it was a big mistake to get rid of Randy Cunneyworth after last season. Cunney is doing a heck of a job in Hamilton, as he did for Rochester. I would like to see what he could do at the NHL level as ahead, somewhere in the league.
World Be Free
March 24th, 2011
3:07 pm
Smoothie-you have give us some real quality today – dude.
ThrasherTim
March 24th, 2011
3:12 pm
I think as this disappointing 2nd half of the season has unfolded, we have to come to the realization that this team was only respectable when: 1) Pavlec was on fire and 2) the PP dynamic of Buff blasting from the point was unknown to the league and clicking.
Basically, teams have adjusted to #2 and Pavs came back down to earth. Add in our lack of prowess in the face-off circle and a couple of minor injuries (Slater being out for the 2nd half cannot be an excuse after seeing other teams lose major pieces for extended periods and fighting through it) and we see the result (s).
Other factors have been Oduya and Stewart’s really poor 2nd half and Buff’s lack of production and defense in the 2nd half too. Too many games from Stapleton before he produced and not enough 3rd and 4th line production at all. It’s not hard to see how this team has slid down the standings now.
Encouraging signs might be Ladd’s production (not sure I am feeling the leadership yet), Kane’s development and Bogo’s better play (although still not where we need it to be). Buff signing for 5 years is a good off-ice development, but I hope he gets better on D next year or else Jeremy Roenick will be laughing at us for years more.
Anything else that could be called encouraging? I know we signed Thorburn and Stuart for 3-year deals, along with Little in the pre-season, but those were good deals for them as much as us too.
Smoothie
March 24th, 2011
3:15 pm
I aim to serve…and hopefully please. Thanks WBF!
Wish we could say the same thing about Rammer & Torch.
BTW, anyone who doesn’t believe we’re too soft, just go back and watch the Red Wings game from late Nov. We weren’t exactly defensive stalwarts who clamped down on DET like never before. Sure the D-men supported Pavelec, who was sensational in the game, pretty well on rebounds, but my goodness were we hitting and battling along the walls. Even Anthony Stewart won a puck battle on the PP which directly led to his goal. Since Slater got hurt, the flame within seemed to die slowly and surely. It certainly didn’t help giving up Eager (I’m still WTF’ing all the way to the kleenex box on that one!).
Rawhide
March 24th, 2011
3:17 pm
Red Light – If I may have a go at your question posted at 2:49pm….
Speaking only for myself… there is no guarantee that Torch, or anyone else for that matter, will be a success if a change was made behind the bench. But sometimes a change has to be made simply because what you currently have is not working. In my mind, much as I like and admire Ramsay, he has failed to correct some of the issues that have dragged this team down from a legitimate playoff contender last New Years to….well…to this.
Is it all his fault? Nope…certainly not. There’s plenty of that blame to go around. But to me Ramsay does indeed deserve his share as well.
Torch, in my opinion, would have been a logical choice to make IF the team had opted to make a change several weeks ago when the season could still be salvaged. Maybe…maybe…he could have instilled some fight, some passion, into this bunch.
Now…well, the horse has sorta bolted the barn, eh?
If it me who was having to make a call on this matter a few weeks back, I would have pinned the “interim” label on Torchetti’s suit lapel and the evaluated his job performance at season’s end.
Cliff Fletcher
March 24th, 2011
3:22 pm
need a new coach that will kick some butt?
bring in ditka, good polish boy, likes to yell and spit alot.
what the heck, better than doing nothing
R. Stroz
March 24th, 2011
3:33 pm
Nothing like a coach that spits, real motivation for not wanting the coach in your face.
Joe McGrath
March 24th, 2011
4:10 pm
I can’t make up my mind, do I flip between Thrash v. Isles and Bruins v Canadiens while recording Preds v Ducks? And then theres the basketball. What a delima.
@Smooth, me too on Stiffler…er…Eager. I watched the SJ game last night and dude was playing great hockey–just a battlin’ on the boards, skates always moving, great forchecking. I told McG jr I wouldn’t doubt it if the Sharks went to SCF and Eager would make the highlight reel with a game crucial goals, big hits, key shots blocked, countless face-washes and a couple fights.
Looking back, I guess it’s all Army’s fault.
Smoothie
March 24th, 2011
4:15 pm
I wonder if Rammer traded Eager cuz Eags took him to task on his soft, “hitting is overrated” philosophy? Perhaps he called him a big (word that starts with P and ends with “ooooo, no you didn’t!”).
Think about how much better we were with Slater, Thorbs, Boults, Eager, Burmy, Kaner and Laddy hitting the crap out of everything that moved. We had at least one guy on each line willing to pay the price and they made it infectious. Since then we play with that sort of intensity every once in awhile. Instead, we have the Chief Inspector Lees of the league trying to stick lift everyone into oblivion.
Tom
March 24th, 2011
4:21 pm
Smoothie,
If you look at almost every good game we have played this season we were hitting and going into the corner. When we played glamour hockey we fell apart.
I have always hated that teams come into Atlanta expecting a soft game. Even if we suck we should still be able to hit and make the other teams uncomfortable. Instead, Western Division team especially come in and have a recovery night with a free skate.
Drives me BAT SH#T nuts to be honest.
Brendan
March 24th, 2011
4:25 pm
My preseason picks were Vancouver vs. San Jose. Sticking with that, now. And Pittsburgh vs. Washington in the East. Sticking with that one, too. I think I had Capitals vs. Sharks in preseason. I’d like to go with Caps vs. Canucks now. Now watch, Washington is bounced in the 1st round, and so is Vancouver, by Anaheim. The worst thing that can happen to any team is for me to pick them to win.
Smoothie
March 24th, 2011
4:56 pm
Tom/Joe & Dick and Harry (j/k) – word up, preach it!
Brendan – I’m gonna go with B’s & Pens in the ECF (right now, I may switch to Caps) and VAN vs NSH if they get in. I just have a feeling this year about the Preds cuz Rinne’s been great and they have a very good defense. If they can get out of the 1st round, sky’s limit.
Joe McGrath
March 24th, 2011
5:06 pm
I’ll second that on the Preds. The Geffrion kid is a phenom and I think he’ll be a major player in the play offs.
Smoothie
March 24th, 2011
5:22 pm
A good read on NHL.com by A.J. Atchue: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=557110
“Once the division-champion Wolves arrived in the Calder Cup Playoffs and Postma was still having trouble, though, Chicago head coach Don Lever decided to make a bold move with his rookie.
“After recording 2 assists, but also a minus-3 rating while playing six of the seven games in the opening round vs. Milwaukee, Postma was shipped to the press box after Game 1 of the Wolves’ second-round playoff series against the Texas Stars.
“Last year, we didn’t play him in the playoffs because he wasn’t good enough defensively,” Lever said. “I think that sent a big message to him.”
“He played the first couple games and he was minus in both games, and obviously at that point you’re trying to win and teach at the same time. I think it was a valuable lesson to him that when push comes to shove, defense wins.”
Don Lever may very well end up our next coach if things don’t work out. He won a Calder Cup in 2007 with Hamilton and seems to be less afraid to use ice time and tough love to teach his players a lesson. Then again, he probably plays Krog and Haydar too much, but who hasn’t over the last 6-8 years??
Mikey
March 24th, 2011
5:57 pm
We don’t need to stike a match. We need to light the Torch!
glovesave29
March 24th, 2011
6:04 pm
Don Lever can never be our coach as he once played for the Atlanta Flames. DW will not allow any connection to our past.
Red Light
March 24th, 2011
6:19 pm
There has been much chatter about changes, what might have been, fire the coach again, the line-up, agh…the Chicago Wolves, the cooling off of certain players, etc.
This problem can be fixed, but not in one year with the budget they are stuck with. If your land was ravaged by locusts for 10 years, the soil can’t immediately be fertile and grow a great crop the next. If LAC has a locomotive in dire need of repair, it’s not going to pull the rest of the boxcars effectively is it?
It all goes back to leadership. The owners kept the personnel and scouting folks for both the Hawks and Thrashers, jettisoned the coaches, and got new and/or cheaper ones! How has it all worked out this year? Last year?
Take a look at the NBA team. Woodson’s teams improved from 13 wins to 26, 30, 37, 47 and then 53. Nice pattern I would say. With 12 games left this season, they will take a step backward in wins for the regular season, won’t have home court advantage in the 1st round and likely will play Orlando again, the team that swept them out of the playoffs last season.
For the Thrashers, Anderson went from 78 points to 83 points, but alas no playoffs again. Scapegoat needed: fire the coach, promote the GM, promote the assistant GM, give the new GM an extension 10 months later and lets see if they can improve upon the 83 points from last season. The guru couldn’t fix it in one year, but he tried, despite the 29th ranked payroll in the league.
Ramsay coached a team with not one legitimate center on the roster, although I will admit that Bryan Little held the role pretty well for much of the season. He coached a team with two 19-year-olds, two 20-year-olds, a goalie who finally found the confidence to be a No. 1 in this league, and roughly 15 guys who had never worn the sweater here before, and oh by the freaking way, three of the top-4 scorers from last year’s squad, who accounted for a total of 241 points are no longer on the roster, and the other one went from 24 goals and 43 assists last year to 12 goals and 21 assists this year.
I keep trying to tell the wisest of you that I know, that this is not just a coaching problem. The injuries have proven depth is most certainly a problem. The lack of an experienced top line center has been a problem. Poor attendance has been a problem. And you don’t think the players are slightly concerned they might wind up in the only place in Manitoba that has a building taller than a silo?
Yeah, they are supposed to be professionals, but many of them are young professionals. They aren’t astute business people like many of you are, they are hockey players, and people with emotions who unfortunately are subject to the same trappings all of us are.
Use the same line Cubs fans have since 1908: “Wait ’til next year.”
glovesave29
March 24th, 2011
7:42 pm
Ramsay hasn’t been given an NHL roster to work with.
That being said, he had made some errors, but none so egregious to cost him his job. He has a roster of AHL level guys that he could not motivate to play with complete intensity over the full 60 minutes. If anyone should be motivated, its the fringe guys. He’s also failed to ever “lose it”. After a bad call, even if its just 3-4 times per season, I want him to lose his cool. He’s just too disengaged at all times for my liking. He’s also failed to ride a hot player on several occasions…most recently starting OP the game after the big comeback against Philly. Mason had some serious mojo going, and the coach did not take advantage of it. Let’s hope he learns…
Next season the MUST get rid of those stupid “no play” areas in the corner. I hate any rule which limits a players abilities. The league also needs to step in and change the rule pertaining to underage juniors – once you have been drafted, your junior eligibility should be over. If you are old enough to play in the NHL, the AHL, ECHL and CHL should also accept you. The juniors should not dictate to an NHL team as to how they can allocate one of their resources.
Tom Lysiak
March 24th, 2011
7:59 pm
gs29 – Don Lever only played 28 games here the final season. Maybe the SOB could put in a good word for him with DW…..
LAC
March 24th, 2011
8:21 pm
Good point Smoothie, Stewart has now played solid hockey since just before All-Star game.
The defense has good moments and Bad, more bad then good. Just need some spark.
Good first period, then we started standing around, and a kinda weak goal.
Right Red Light, gotta repair those traction motors !
glovesave29
March 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
TL – she is DW’s secretary, after all…
injunjoe
March 24th, 2011
9:26 pm
Ummmm….who are these guys playing in Atlanta uniforms tonight? And where have they been the last half of the season?????
Big Wally
March 24th, 2011
9:40 pm
That’s not the same group of players who were in Buffalo.
Midfield
March 24th, 2011
9:41 pm
Speaking about smell. Eliot’s ‘exposed and exploited’ line got me thinking. I believe that he has a few drinks before – and may be even during – every road game, because he doesn’t have to drive there.
Rawhide
March 24th, 2011
11:30 pm
It’s a double-bonus Thursday kids. Two blogs in one day!
You can discuss tonight’s win on Long Island –>HERE<--
LAC
March 24th, 2011
11:35 pm
The Best shut down game I have seen out of this team in a LONG Time. 15GA, against NYI after they whipped TB in TB 5-2. Great win and solid building block for Friday when the Number #1 team in the NHL awaits us. If we play like tonight, I bet we win ! Plus, This was a Regulation WIN for a change ! Great Job…. But where has it been all season ?
Brendan
March 24th, 2011
11:55 pm
Red Light, I agree that it’s not fair to Ramsay to discuss firing him, with a league minimum payroll, and the absence of any Tier I defenders or Tier I centers, or Tier I goalies. Ownership has dropped the ball for five years now. How is Dan Marr still here??? Don Waddell did something WORTH retaining his services?
That said, Red Light, in the strict world of ‘accountability,’ when your team wins six times in thirty games, and it’s announced that the coach is fired, pundits and outsiders alike would say, “I can see that. The results were lacking. A chance was necessary.” Of course, if a change were going to be made, it had to have been made in January, not February or March.
R. Stroz
March 27th, 2011
12:27 am
LAST
Rawhide
March 31st, 2011
4:04 pm
R. Stroz – Nope.