Hm.

Very hard to know what to say after that last game. It was a hell of a game to watch, certainly. Have to admit I didn't watch much of the first period at all: I just didn't feel interested in the game, and I was interested in watching the Best of the Larry Sanders Show DVD. I tuned in near the end of the 1st, saw the score was 3-0 Islanders, silently cursed the darkness, and clicked back to the DVD player.

Tuning in at some point in the 2nd, I saw that it was 5-3 Islanders. About half a minute later Rich Peverley scored to make it 5-4. Interesting. Needless to say, I watched the rest of the game. I was delighted to see Kovalchuk go so wild when he scored the tying goal. Glad we got another point for the standings, but I don't know where that puts us exactly, because I'm too scared to look at them.

It was still a loss. You don't need me to tell you that losing 8 in a row isn't a good thing, and looking for silver linings in a long slump like this is a fool's game. So is recommending anything too rash that we imagine might put a stop to the losing: recommendations like firing Anderson, trading Kovalchuk now (not that I'm against trading him sometime in the near future if it's clear he's not going to sign), and, bizarrely, stripping Kovalchuk of the captaincy.

Some kind of trade or waiver dump might add a jolt of energy, but until the Thrashers put together a healthy winning streak, and until Kovalchuk actually signs the damn contract, I can't feel any kind of optimistic certainty. I don't feel totally pessimistic either, but the fact is we don't know what's going to happen. At times like this I feel it's best to be stoic and resigned to the universe's whims.