- Pavelec is a thief.
- Colby Armstrong's hit on Marc-Andre Bergeron was brutal but legal. I would advise Montreal fans to do what I did when Kris Letang nearly murdered Todd White last year: grumble about how Armstrong is literally the equivalent of Augusto Pinochet and Saddam Hussein combined, and accept that hockey is an awfully violent sport.
- Speaking of Colby Armstrong, how 'bout 'im?
- Pavelec was honest-to-goodness incredible.
- Slava Kozlov is the last person I would've expected to administer a head-into-the-boards murder of Scott Gomez. Oh well.
- Speaking of Slava Kozlov, he DOES turn the puck over a lot, doesn't he? I mean, don't get me wrong: I love the guy. But he does lose the puck in the most inopportune of circumstances, like during power plays.
- Our penalty kill rules.
- I've realized something about Maxim Afinogenov. Many people say things like, "Oh, he's entrancing enough when he has the puck, but despite the occasional eye-popping goal, most of the time he can't finish." That's often true, but during tonight's game it dawned on me that he's useful for JUST THAT REASON. He collects the puck and dances around like a prancing stallion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, around and around the net, and no one on the opposing team can capture him. He kills time. And occasionally scores an amazing goal.
- Our power play was no good tonight, which is Terrible. But I suspect it'll get back on track soon enough.
- The third period and overtime were pretty intense. I had to rely on a bottle of red wine to see me through.
- Obviously, I would have preferred an outright victory, but I'm happy for the Thrashers to collect a point out of this game. Good work boys.
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17 comments:
I was a little disappointed that Kovy was selected for the shootout. That's not his game and I wish John A would use other players prior to Kovy. Little, Kane, Afiniginov, Kozlov (who should have been disqualified from the shootout) all would be better choices than Kovy. That said, Pevs looked completely lost on his attempt.
I have to agree with the Max assessment. His speed when pursuing the puck adds 1-2 extra touches to the oppositions' defenders when he's on the ice. He's a pest. He gives our guys extra time to get on the ice and get in position. And he can score wicked goals at the drop of the hat.
You know what Max is?
The improved version of Eric Perrin.
Everybody talks about roster exchanges, but this is the one that may very well give the Thrashers the biggest return on their investment. Max costs a little bit more money (Eric made 750,000 last year, Max makes 850,000 this year I believe,) but we get the kind of goals we saw in Buffalo on Saturday out of Max. And eventually, that chemistry with Kozlov and White is going to pay off. It'll surely take time just like developing chemistry between all of the guys did last year. With The Czar's contract situation and everything else that's been going on, I expect to see Max score a very quiet 20+ goals for us, predominantly in 2010 and after he's been left out of the Russian national team. He's going to be PO'd at missing out on his last realistic opportunity of making the Olympic team and winning the Gold medal. Max will be wearing our jersey when he decides to drop a hat trick on somebody. Right now he's happy to be here. In 2010, with a playoff spot/failed Olympic bid/expiring contract on the line....Mad Max is going to show up.
So Max, keep on dancing & doing whatever you want out there. If the 2nd line gets it together and Max can give us at least 25 points this year, he'll be a wiser investment than Eric Perrin ever was.
I have released kozlov from my fantasy team so expect him to set fire in the near future.
The Thrashers overall defense and especially their defense around the net have really impressed me this year. It's really noticeable when big bodies like Kubina and Bogosian are on the ice. Opposing forwards are no longer camping out in front of the goal like they did last year. I remember so many goals last year being scored on rebounds and loose pucks around the net. That's not happening this year. Pavelec's play has improved GREATLY from what I saw of him last year. I wonder what a healthy Lehtonen could fetch at the trade deadline? Leafs and Blackhawks are two teams that come to mind as needing some goalie help.
Andrew-
Yeah, Kovy sucks at shootouts for some reason. I would've liked to have seen Kane, Afinogenov, and Little to start off. Kozlov is best of all, of course, but I suppose putting him in would've been bad form.
Jay-
Absolutely. Even though we allow 10 million shots against every game, our defense is much improved. Like you say, opposing forwards don't camp out around our net and guys like Kubina and Bogosian are big enough to force them/scare them away. I like that Kubina...
Kovy hasn't had the best luck in the shootout, and no offense meant here... but anyone that thinks our best player should not participate in the shootout needs to have their head examined
Shooter-
I don't think anyone is saying he shouldn't participate. He just doesn't need to go first.
Kovy needs to turn around his shootout performances. The man shoots better than anyone else in the league, but he has it in his head that he has to deke the goalie on the shootout. Just skate it in, move a little to your right to open up the goalie, and let it fly. See some film of Joe Sakic for instruction.
The Thrashers were very lucky to escape with a point last night. Ondrej the Giant played the best game I've seen from a Thrashers goalie in a long, long time. If it weren't for him absolutely robbing the Habs, this one would have been an embarassment on the scoreboard. As it was, the team's performance in front of Pav was embarassing. They looked like the Islanders or the Leafs out there. The power play was absolutely awful. Everyone seemed to be a step slow, couldn't win races to the puck, and couldn't keep the puck on their tape. The Habs did a great job of swarming the passing lanes.
Besides Pavs, the penalty killers had a good game, as did the third line. Kovy's line was fighting the puck all night long and didn't look good at all.
I didn't think Kozlov's hit on Gomez looked all that bad. Given, the result was ugly, but it was just a little shot in the lower back, not a crushing blow intended to drive him into the boards.
On another note, the Thrashers have been a hot topic on Home Ice this morning. The guys on Hockey This Morning have been very complimentary of Peverly in congratulating him and the organization on his extension. During the Two Minute Minor (kind of a lightning round of opinions from the two hosts), the question was posed "Which Kane would you want on your team, Evander or Patrick?" The hosts split, one going with Evander and the other going with Patrick. The fact that there is a legitimate debate on the question says a lot about Evander.
Razor-
Agree with you on just about everything. Bottom line is that we didn't play very well, only scored 1 goal, looked horrible on the power play, were playing against a team that DESPERATELY needed a win at home, and we came from behind and came away with a point and almost stole the whole damn thing. That is what good teams do.
I thought Pavs played very well and so did the defense in front of the net. Schubert's fault on that goal IMHO. The 3rd line is just the bomb. They are really playing well. We looked a little sloppy out there and as you said, a step or two slow last night, but 3-1-1 on the road is very good no matter who you play. Now they need to go 2-1 or 2-0-1 on this homestand.
I really would like to see Anssi get out there for 2 of the 3 home games.
Oh yeah....I hate the Canadien announcers.
oh, come ON!
Pinochet's only asset was his speed, and Hussein's hands were made of stone. Not to mention the all kinds of craptastic they could be in the dressing room.
Slava should've been first on the shootout.
The boys were tired. Three road games in 5 days, the emotional roller-coaster of the Snyder Rink in Elmira and the Dancing Elephants of The Montreal Media would wear anyone out. Leaving Le Centre Du Bell with a pity point (on the tail-end of of an otherwise 3-1 two & a half week roadie) is aces by me.
Slava got a game misconduct and was not available for the shootout, or else JA would have had him in there.
The boys have accumulated 9 of a possible 12 points so far this season. I think that if we can keep up the pace and have at least 66% of possible points after 15 games, Kovy will be satisfied that the team is on the right track and re-sign.
@ Razor - My point exactly.
I'm sticking with a call of it being around Thanksgiving if we continue the strong start. I'd like to see it sooner than that.
Yesterday the Czar was on NHL live and it was an entertaining interview but when asked about the contract he gave his pat answer. "My agent and Don are talking a lot, I'm just concentrating on hockey"
and then asked if he felt pressure to get the deal done it was "I've got a contract in place for this year so I don't feel any pressure"
I'm wondering how much he needs to see before he's convinced..I'm sure it can't be money standing between the two parties
So random question:
Is your shorthanded mole in rehab again?
Its been a while sine he was able to dig up some good rumor mongoring for us.
PS- we should have won that game last night. I think Kari might be getting nervous about now that he will need to find a job somewhere else in the NHL if he doesn't show up quickly.
The Short Handed Mole was kidnapped by pirates and has only recently been released. He's trying to dig up something on Kari Lehtonen.
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