Thursday, November 19, 2009

Who Laughs This Way Ho Ho Ho

A wild game. A standings point we probably shouldn't have gotten, but then again totally deserved. Afinogenov, Enstrom, and Kovalchuk continuing to produce. Pavelec playing solid.

Most heartening of all, perhaps: a great big crowd by Thursday night standards. I haven't seen a crowd that big and that loud in a while. It was a rush of manic collective energy, especially in the third period. I wanted to hug and kiss every person there (even the annoying Bruins fans) when Afinogenov scored the late tying goal. The resulting multi-player pile-up was beautiful.

Many reasons to feel good. Don't fret about the silly shootout (WHY didn't Kozlov go wide?).

If you are upset, here's a very early piece of Christmas entertainment, which Bob Dylan just released as a Thanksgiving present, to all of us.



Too soon?

P.S. Those hideous third jerseys should have been murdered in their crib long ago, but surely it's high time we got rid of them. Not only are they ugly, but they lead to losses. This needs to be rectified.

8 comments:

Wayne stuck in AL said...

"Most heartening of all, perhaps: a great big crowd. I haven't seen a crowd that big and that loud in a while.

The announced crowd was 12,112...

Define "big".

Mortimer Peacock said...

Dude, I don't know. I was, you know, actually there, and the crowd grew considerably as the game wore on.

Suppose you had to be there.

FrenchCatalogues said...

For a thursday night it looked like good crowd. People judge poorly because that club section isn't as full and that takes up that 1/4 of the arena so things seems skewed. It was a good crowd Wayne

Jay said...

Everything looked pretty full except the 300 sections behind the goals. They were pretty empty. Not as many Bruins fans as I would have expected either.

h said...

I agree on the crowd. I was there last night and I thought it was a very good and loud crowd. I was guessing about 14-15K, but I guess it just felt like it. I like this team more and more each day. Last 2 years we would have lost 5-1. I'm glad they didn't wait until 3rd period to get back into the game. Good seasons happen when you get points when you don't play so well. Even when we tied it up I didn't think we were playing a great game. Schubert kills me.....I know he's "tough" but I'd rather give Salmela more ice time. Did you notice that Bogo played 29 minutes last night and almost all of it on even strength? jeez, that is some serious ice time. As for Jimmy Slater, what is the club record for most healthy scratches in one season....I hope he gets it.

Razor Catch Prey said...

The Chronicle staff briefly discussed Jimmy Slater last night. We're happy that the team is in a situation where Jimmy is the healthy scratch, but that's not to take anything away from his ability. No, he's not a goal scoring machine, but he plays hard, can kill penalties, and he creates offense (again, not goals, but shots) and when he does that, the other team is not controlling the puck in our end. I'm glad that we're deep enough that he is our odd man out, but am also very happy to see him in the lineup when necessary.

The crowd last night was good FOR A THURSDAY. 12k in Atlanta on a Thursday during football season is a good crowd. Until we have back to back playoff runs and get a buzz going, this team isn't going to be a big draw in the Fall. But you can tell that people are slowly waking up to the fact that they have an exciting team in this town.

Even though they lost in the shootout and generally played the entire game like the whole team was drunk, that was a hell of an exciting third period and all 12k people there last night will be talking about it and telling their friends today.

j_barty_party said...

For a Thursday night crowd, and I was there for both Washington debacles in person, y'all were very loud in the 2nd and 3rd. Watching the game on TV during the 3rd I was quite impressed with the number of chants and the noise emanating forth from the Bulb. Even if it was only 12k, they made themselves heard. Glad I was still moving crap into my new apt during the 1st period debacle...thank God these 3 and 4 day layoffs are over for the most part...they kill our team and they never have any jump in the 1st. Not a problem on the weekends when they are "busier". K-belle and I were glued to the floor watching the final 4 mins like they were the Stanley Cup Finals...so happy for Maxie Fins!

Oh yeah, ho hum, just another 3 point night for Ilya Ko-Czar-Chuk!

Mortimer Peacock said...

H-

I have mixed feelings about Schubert. I like his size, and a lot of the time he does make smart plays. But then again he makes some dumb plays too, and takes stupid penalties. I don't understand why we keep scratching Salmela though. I'd really like to see more of him.

And while we're on the topic of our bottom pairing D: I love MarkoPop, but he made some BAD decisions last night. Oh well.