Day 10 of the 12 Days of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Day Ten dawns and finds the Thrashers on the road...facing Florida once again on their ice. The last meeting ended in a shootout just 11 days ago, with Atlanta trying to rebound from the beating they took at the hands of the New York Islanders..honestly mostly by Matt Moulson.

10 Road Wins - That's what the Thrashers have amassed so far on the road. The Thrashers have one of the better road records in the Eastern Conference, with only Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Washington also recording over 10 road wins so far. Their record also stacks up with many playoff quality teams in the NHL as a whole. The Thrashers didn't reach the 10 road win mark last season until February....you guessed it....10th.

The Thrashers still face a tough challenge ahead of them from December 23 to January 5th of next year. That 7 game road stretch will be very decisive for the course of the rest of the season. The Thrashers will face Boston twice, the reining Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, division rival Tampa Bay. Along with those we will also face the Islanders, who have manhandled this team twice this season already, also the red hot Buffalo Sabres and Ryan Miller. To say that this road trip won't be important is to not know anything about hockey.

The Thrashers seem to be slowly emerging from their early December doldrums and have put some more points on the board the last 2 games and a win in sunny South Florida might be just what's needed to start a winning streak that will propel Atlanta back to Phillips and finally snap this season's Thursday alternate jersey curse against the Dallas Stars.

If you're curious how we've looked month by month over the last few years since the lockout check out my post on Crash the Crease and check it out. The numbers are interesting..but the nice part is that the longer the season goes, the more the Thrashers heat it up...

Day 11 of Christmas...The Hockey Way

Continuing on the 12 days of Christmas we come to 11. Quickly scouring the team's numbers and stats, individual stats, what we've been doing and what we haven't been doing, I've come up with a statistic so simple..yet with a lot meaning

11 Losses - I know what you're thinking..."Why are you pointing out losing?"...well because we've remarked before how at certain points so far, along the season how we compared to last year's performance in the win column. Well let's take a look at the loss column..there's really more to smile about than you might think.

Our total Non-Win tally is 11-3 right now...do you know when we hit 11-3 last year? Well I'll give you a hint...it was before December. We hit that mark on November 26 of last year...we also had only tallied 8 wins at that point. So how many wins had we racked up by November 26 of this year...try 11.

Numbers don't lie..and the numbers alone tell us this is a better Thrashers team. Some hockey pundits early on said that we were just hot and we'd cool down into the sub-par team they thought we should be..but that just hasn't happened, and now with the mid-season mark soon approaching it looks like the hockey critics have changed their mind about this team and realize what we in Thrasherville have known since pre-season...this is a much improved hockey club.

Tomorrow is 10...what could it be? I'm not sure either...but I'll do my research and see what Santa brings me.

12 Days of Christmas The Hockey Way

There are 12 days left until Santa Claus delivers his toys to boys and girls around the world. Thrasher fans, of course, are hoping that Santa puts a signed Kovy contract in Don Waddell's stocking. The Blueland Chronicle has a report on that..so you should stroll on over there and check it out.

With there being 12 days left I thought I would start a countdown for the next 12 days the Hockey Way by giving a fact a day about the Thrashers. So without further adieu here we go.

12 Little White points - That's right Brian Little and Todd White both only have 12 points apiece at this point in the season...and they must be twins this year..the totals break down the same 3 goals and 9 assists for the both of them.

As a little comparison let's take a look at where they were a year ago. As of the December 13 game last year..the totals are quite different.

Brian Little - 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points with a +4 rating
Todd White - 8   goals and 16 assists for 24 points with an even rating

Todd White, by the way, right now leads the team in minus rating with a dismal -9 and that's after having a +2 game against Montreal.

To say that both the guys are struggling is a bit of an understatement. The upside is that Brian Little seems to be finding his game slowly but surely, even when he hasn't scored lately he's been having strong shifts with good scoring opportunities. The same cannot be said, however, for Todd White who continues with a hangover from last year's career season.

Tomorrow will be 11..wonder what it will be? Tune in tomorrow to find out

Just What the Dr Ordered

Last night's 4-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens was just what the Dr. ordered. With the Thrashers offensive production ailing coming off a 4 game road trip where they collected only 2 points, the boys in blue returned home to a favorable crowd to secure an exciting win.

What made this win so remarkable was the shot differential between the two teams 34-19. Now here's where I blow your mind...Atlanta had the 34 shots and held it's opponent to only 19 shots the entire game. In fact in both the 2nd and 3rd period they were held to 4 and 5 shots respectively as Atlanta exerted it's will on Montreal on both sides of the ice. Despite the score which I feel gives more credit to Montreal than they deserved, Atlanta outshot, outworked and outplayed the Habs in every aspect of the game.

Montreal started the scoring early with a powerplay goal on a crosschecking penalty on the young Evander Kane, who took exception to a hit up ice just seconds before the infraction. Former Thrasher Glen Metropolit slipped the puck past Moose to put the Habs on the board. Montreal would go to the dressing room for the 1st intermission leading 1-0. Atlanta, who I feel played a good 1st period went into the dressing room and decided it was time to turn up the heat on the visiting Habs and see if they could hang with the us The Hockey Way.

Montreal struck again  at 6:44 with a hot shot by Kostitsyn and then Atlanta decided it was time to roll up their sleeves and go to work. Christoph Schubert broke the Montreal shutout with a goal coming off his own rebound. Less than 3 minutes later Colby Armstrong off a feed from Evander Kane drilled the next goal in to tie the game up. The Habs, undaunted by the Atlanta surge came back and answered with another go ahead goal  by Kostitsyn. Now this is where our boys lately may have folded or let up off their game..feeling a little disappointment by battling back only to give it up again...but not tonight..not this team. Two minutes and five seconds later Nik Antropov knots the game at 3 to keep the Thrashers right in the game.

Atlanta dominated the 3rd period play and spent most of the time in the Montreal zone, the Habs, on the strenth of Carey Price's excellent play were able to fend off a furious 3rd period attack by Atlanta and send the game into overtime. Unfortunately for the Habs the former Thrasher Glen Metropolit, the very same fellow who opened up the scoring for the night found himself in the penalty box for high sticking in the dying seconds of regulation.

Ilya Kovalchuk struck with just 3 seconds left in the powerplay to win the game. Strangely enough this was his first game winning goal of the 17 he's scored so far this season.

On to the GBU

The Good - Atlanta's forecheck. With such  a lopsided shot differential  you can tell that Atlanta outworked the Habs

The Bad - The powerplay still struggled tonight for the most part going 1-8 for the night with several powerplay opportunities looking almost wasted. In particular the final powerplay of the 1st period where we barely were able to gain their blueline for the entire two minutes.

The Ugly - Ilya Kovalchuk's overall effort on the night. He's one of my favorite players on the team and I couldn't imagine the Thrasher without him...but when you don't play hard I have to point it out. I watched on several occasions last night from my seat in section 310, where Kovy was just coasting out there, both in the defensive zone and in their zone as well. He wasn't moving his feet at times and looked like he wasn't completely "In" the game. Yes he won the game with a great shot but I am given to wonder that if he gave 100% effort out there every second of every shift what the score might have been.

Several other things I'd like to point out. First..I could have sworn that we scored two goals that went in and out so fast they never got counted...did anybody see that too or am I just imagining that? The guy next to me agreed also as we both cheered and then were stunned to see that there was nothing in fact to be cheering for yet.

Second..I have to tip my hat to Carey Price...his save on Eric Boulton was AMAZING and as a hockey fan you just have to be able to appreciate a play like that...it also doesn't hurt we ended up winning the game, so it's easier to give him credit for such a great play.

USA Today Reports...Kovalchuk Talks Are Positive

Perusing around the intertubes and came upon this and can't believe that I haven't seen it floating around the Thrasher blogosphere.

Thrashers still have a shot at keeping Kovalchuk

Posted 12/7/2009 11:17 AM EST

    If you are an Atlanta fan hoping that the Thrashers can keep Ilya Kovalchuk, please note that no news is not necessarily bad news.
     The Thrashers still have optimism that they can work out a contract extension. Although there has been much speculation about what is happening with Kovalchuk, here is the truth:
     * GM Don Waddell and Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman have conducted genuine negotiations. There has been a back-and-forth exchange of numbers. The situation has been cordial, and the aim of both parties seems to be to get a deal done.
     *  Negotiations have centered on a deal that would keep Kovalchuk in Atlanta for the rest of his career.
     * Atlanta ownership hasn't yet weighed in on what its limits would be on terms and dollars. Certainly that will be an important aspect of the proceedings.
     * Waddell has not made a single phone call about trading Kovalchuk, nor has he had any team call him with an offer.
     * Last summer, he did have GMs tell him that if he can't work out a deal with Kovalchuk, they would be interested.
     *  If the Thrashers can't get a deal done, I'm aware of at least two Western Conference contenders who will make a strong pitch.

When Waddell said "Long Term"..I guess he frickin' meant that shit..

Hope this helps calm the Kovy nerve we all have twitching.

Do We Let the Moose Loose?

 

One of the most surprising turn arounds so far this year for the Thrashers amongst many is the goaltending. With Kari still absent there was a huge question before the season kicked off if the goalies would be able to backstop the team effectively. So far the question has been a resounding yes. Even when the team doesn't play well it's rarely a fault of the goaltending so far this season.

The Czech youngster Ondrej Pavelec has been the "starter" so far this season and has seen the larger amounts of starts...and has done very well actually..especially considering his prior track record in the NHL and the misgivings of Thrashers fans prior to the season's start.

The real goaltending story though is Johan "Moose" Hedburg our silent, diligent Swede who has become both a locker room and fan favorite. So far this season Moose has played extremely well when called upon both starting games and having to relieve the young Czech goalie on several occasions. Moose has also only gotten the hook himself just once so far this season and that was during the San Jose game here in Atlanta on October 24.

With several questions surrounding the goaltending situation in Atlanta including what to do with Kari Lehtonen when he returns another valid question for both fans and the organization is what to do with Hedburg. Moose is in the final year of his contract and with the questions about Kari's durability combined with his play thus far this year you have to believe that a contract renewal even if it's year to year with the veteran Swede is beginning to look better and better to General Manager Don Waddell.

There's no doubt that there's little room on this team for 3 goalies and that somebody has to go. Conventional wisdom says that you let the aging veteran walk and resign your drafted goalie and put Pavelec as his backup. But the situation here is far from conventional so what's our GM to do? Let's look at a couple of facts here.

• Pavelec so far, has played about as well as Lehtonen has and is projected to finish with just about the same numbers as we are used to Lehtonen putting up, with most likely little to no downtime due to injury
• Lehtonen has only played what would be considered 1 full season so far with the Thrashers. He has a 3 million dollar price tag and an expiring contract this summer. With his lingering durability problems he's quickly becoming a liability for the Thrashers
• Hedberg has played very solidly his entire career here in Atlanta, though not up to the standards to be the #1 guy. His salary is modest at 1 million and some change and his contract also expires this season.

Moose has so far posted some very impressive numbers ranking 5th among all NHL goalies with a GAA of 2.16 and a league 2nd in save% at .933. Granted he's only played 12 games but he's looked very sharp on most outings and has already racked up his first shut out of the year.

The Thrashers have several other options in prospects such as Peter Mannino and Drew McIntyre or they could retain the services of either Lehtonen or Hedberg to pair with Pavelec. I think there are a few things that can be counted on and one of them is that Pavelec is staying..and he's going to stay up with the big club.

What do you think the Thrashers should do? Personally I'm thinking that finding a way to let Lehtonen go and resigning Moose would be the more economical way to go with the least amount of liability out there. Moose has proven he's durable and he's always ready to answer the call..he's a competitor and a good mentor for the young goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Some of Pavelec's rough starts come from nothing more than he needs to mature into the job, which goalies do later in their careers than skaters.

Let me know what you think...should we Let the Moose Loose? Or send Lehtonen packing and Finnish the story?

WTF? 2nd Period FTL

There's not a whole lot to say about the stinker that the Thrasher laid tonight in Toronto. Come on folks..it's frickin' Toronto..they have not looked that good so far this year and they made us look downright terrible in that 2nd period. I don't even know where to begin..Ondrej was hung out to dry on a couple of those goals..he should've gotten some of the others..the defense was caught flat footed several times..nobody was moving their feet...I think I actually saw John Anderson puke in disgust behind the bench.

What's more troubling than the 2nd period egg that was laid is the disturbing trend over the last few games...this team is not playing like it did in October and early November. I'm afraid that we may be in a slump...I don't know what's causing it...but even as we've been winning lately they have been scraping by to do it.

Games like this one will not get you very far in this league...we move on next to Alberta to take on Calgary..now that's a good hockey club...we act like that and the score will be more like 7-2 or worse. Atlanta's record is now 15-9-3 and our road record moves to 9-3-1. Atlanta needs to get back on track and see what we can't do to salvage the rest of this road trip with some points.