Live Blog: Thrashers @ Panthers

FIRST PERIOD

Good chance for the Cats off the rebound inside of 1 minute in. Hope that's not a sign of things to come tonight or this liveblog might degrade into a drunken stupor quick.

Speaking of drunken stupors, I just got home from a bachelor party weekend for an old roommate. Crazy weekend. You'd be amazed the drunken jokes that strippers will make reality.

Corey Stillman has played for three different SE Division teams. We should make him the spokesman for Sun Belt hockey. Then he should order carpet bombing of Ontario. Spokesmen can do those things.

I was thinking for a second that it was pretty classy that the Panthers are sponsored by a private jet company, then I remembered that Gulfstream is a sleazy casino in the Miami area.

Another close one. This has been a pretty boring game so far that is slightly tilted in the Cats' favor.

Moose has impressive composure in those mad scrambles. Good work there keeping track of the puck and calmly freezing it with danger lurking nearby.

Mmmmmm.. Noble Pilsner... Sounds good. But I'm sure nowhere near as good as the New Belgium La Folie I'm drinking at the moment.

Good win the other night. True story: I yelled "score!" loudly after the first ATL goal. A stripper thought I was cheering for her.

Another true story: Kovy should sign with Atlanta just to prove wrong the yankees who told me this weekend that there is no possible reason he would want to stay.

Great steal in the offensive zone by Antro, but he was too slow to make a play to a wide open Czar. If only he had been Fins instead. Awesome play by Leopold to intercept.

Even more evidence of Moose's superiority. Gets nailed by a Panther player then calls off Ron OMGIRH Hainsey because we need the man advantage more than we need revenge.

Good puck movement so far. Let's see if we have changed strategy away from that cross ice pass to Kovy----- Nope.

Kozlov has a few goals on the PP this season probably because goalies were shocked anyone but the Czar shot the puck.

PP is over. Thanks to Fins we still have the puck in the zone. Good pressure here after the man advantage is over. Nice to be able to roll out Pevs and Fins and Bogo.

Bud Light paintball commercial is pretty funny. Another true story: Shooter and I once knew a guy who played paintball A LOT. He bragged that he would crank up his paintball gun so that it took bark off trees then shoot people from close range. I think he is in jail for killing, eating, and molesting his pet boa constrictor. In that order.

Time to change TV's so my TiVo can record 24 and House...

... Our LiveBlog is going to be delayed a few minutes longer than I'd originally anticipated. I forgot that I had moved the DirecTV receive that is usually hooked up to my big screen TV. Had to be able to watch the Thrashers/USA Juniors/Yellow Jackets back on Jan 5th.

Ok, we're back! 1:30 to go in the 1st.

HOLY GOD!!! How did we not get scored on there? Marty the Party did the right thing by taking that tripping penalty, but he had to do it because he failed to react quickly enough to get the puck out of danger.

Ok, end of the first period and the only things to happen worth noting were chances for the Panthers. John Anderson should yell himself hoarse this intermission.

Has anyone else noticed Evander Kane in the past month? Not that that is absolutely a bad thing. If an 18 year old is quiet and not hurting his team, that's a positive. He has been throwing some hits and standing up for his teammates, but has also taken some bad penalties. Over all he's been kind of a wash lately, but that could be due to teams paying a lot more attention to him than they did in October and November.

I recently saw a book that talked about being a good wingman for your buddy when he's hitting on a girl. They used the term "Wedging." This is a reference to Wedge Antilles from Star Wars. That's one of the most awesome things I've ever heard.

SECOND PERIOD

The Panthers will start out the period on the power play. What the hell is Thorburn thinking? You don't EVER take a chance when you're the last man back!

I don't know if I have ever seen Atlanta score on a power play that was interrupted by intermission. Thankfully the Panthers don't do it here, either.

Kovy has been playing with more pep over the last week and a half or so. Maybe his foot is feeling better. Maybe contract negotiations are going better. Maybe contract negotiations are off and he's happy about going elsewhere. Maybe he found a new source for HGH. Who knows?

Trying to LiveBlog, text, and get pestered by the dog all at the same time. Don't know how that last flurry happened. We have to learn how to clear the crease.

Now drinking a Dark Side imperial stout from Terrapin. It tastes like good beef jerky.

Well, that was inevitable the way this game has been going. 1-0 Panthers.

What did I just say about clearing the crease?

This has been an awful game to LiveBlog. Sorry folks. I should have liveblogged the strippers this weekend instead.

DIVE! Panthers on the power play.

The goal wasn't Moose's fault at all. Peanut was doing more harm than good cuddling with the Panthers' forward instead of moving him out of the crease.

Good move by Thorbs blocking the shot then getting the puck out wihout a stick.

Successful PK. Nicely done by both Thorbs and Boris.

They should play the NHL like 24. The clock never stops, but no one is allowed to do anything significant while we're away on commercial. And Kovy never eats, sleeps, or takes a piss.

Kovy with a great chance. Those are the kind of plays we need to make. And there it is again, but the shot is blocked. Kovy needs to shoot more from the high slot. Look at the goals he scores in international competition. Always moving left to right on top of the faceoff circles.

Good shift.

Beautiful play by Jimmy with Fins on the doorstep. I don't know if that was designed or not, but it was brilliant. Great chance.

There's another of those bad penalties for Evander.

ANOTHER power play for Florida. What is that, 98-1 in chances with the man advantage tonight?

The team's play has picked up considerably since giving up the flukey goal. If we could string together 5 straight minutes of even strength hockey we could make something happen here.

Get up Slava, you're not hurt.

Kovy

Wow

That's what I want to see.

I'll be damned. A Florida player hit the ice and no Atlanta player got a penalty.

I don't know if it is about general slowness of foot, lack of effort, or what, but we seem to lose every race to every puck in every game. Notice how when you watch a really good team like the Blackhawks, it is like they have seven skaters out there because there's always somebody there to pick up every errant puck. We make every other team look like that.

Great toe save by the Moose.

Better play over the last half of that period, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

THIRD PERIOD

Nice to see us starting out with some sustained pressure.

Great sequence. What do we have to do to bury one of those?

Slava can't retire quickly enough. Another ugly turnover.

Boris just missed the net by 300 feet.

Some great pressure this period so far. Get Maxim out there.

Keep it up! Another great opportunity there. Awesome work from the Pevs Dispenser. Vokoun is killing us here.

This LiveBlog has now decayed into a typographic representation of the annoying things you would hear if you were sitting near me at the game in person.

Maxi Fins has got that look in his eye. Too bad he doesn't also have that puck on his stick.

Good guys outshooting the bad guys 10-1 in the 3rd. I have a bad feeling that Vokoun isn't going to relent.

Powerplay for the Thrashers! Great effort by Jimmy Slates! Glad to see he could sober up and get out of the inn for the evening.

Great Slava. Just great. You effectively killed off 10 seconds of PP there.

Screen Vokoun and shell him. That's our only hope tonight.

Apparently Kozlov has been drinking Jimmy Slates' rum. Is very bad to drink Jimmy Slates' rum. Is very bad.

True story: Zach Bogosian once had the ability to hit the net with a shot from the point.

Pretty tired of the fire breathing goat commercial now.

How much ice time does Fins get in the final 3:30?

Great play by Evander but he had no help. How about a line of Kane, Pevs, and Fins?Creativity, speed, and hustle.

Moose to the bench. Powerplay. Did this just get interesting?

How humiliating is it to take a penalty because you had to slow down Nik Antropov?

1:19 LEFT IN THE 3RD

Good movement

Slava shoots.

Slava blows it.

Damn Vokoun.

19 SECONDS LEFT

No effort for a last second rush. Way to accept your fate, losers.

Good night.