Atlanta Thrashers - A True Blue Dynasty (BAGM NHL 11)

[kingalexander]

Bogosian leads Thrashers past Blues



10/30/10
NHL.com

(St. Louis, MO) -- The St. Louis Blues were the latest casualty to the strong and ever growing Atlanta Thrashers squad, who now sits at the top of the NHL standings for the first time in franchise history with 10 games into the season.

Despite the loss to the New York Rangers, head coach Andy Murray handed the start to Chris Mason, making his seven appearances so far this year.

Atlanta has been scoring goals frequently during the first 10 minutes of a game and tonight was no different as it only took less than three minutes for the Thrashers to take the lead in the game, with a goal from the blue line as Zach Bogosian scored his first goal of the season.

Tobias Enstrom and Nik Antropov earned the assists for the goal in the first period.

Atlanta followed with another early goal in the second period, only taking two minutes to score this time as Bryan Little scored his third goal of the season at 1:33 for the 2-0 lead. But David Backes managed to score a powerplay goal at 7:13 to cut the lead down to one, before David Perron tied the game up with another powerplay goal at 13:14 to get the Blues and the raucous fans back into the game.

But before long, the Thrashers were once again in the driving seat as Bogosian scored his second goal of the game to regain the lead for Atlanta, this time with a 3-2 score.

Jaroslav Halak didn't have the best third period as he once again gave up a goal to Atlanta about halfway into the final period. St. Louis were handed a penalty after defenseman Erik Johnson was called after tripping Bryan Little, a call that could have been easily avoided, giving the Thrashers another opportunity to score.

Continuing his scoring run was Rich Peverley who netted the powerplay goal for his fifth of the year, this time at 12:34 to give Atlanta a 4-2 lead.

Niclas Bergfors and Zach Bogosian earned the assists on the goal, giving Bogosian his third point of the game.

St. Louis managed to once again climb back into the game very late, as David Backes once again scored at 19:35 for a 4-3 score and giving the Blues a chance, albeit very late in the game.

Atlanta held on to the one goal lead for the remaining moments and defeated the Blues, earning their ninth win of the season in the process.

[kingalexander]

Peverley Scores In Thrashers OT Win



11/3/10


(Sunrise, FL) -- Rich Peverley scored his sixth goal of the season with 20 seconds left in the overtime period to rally the Atlanta Thrashers past the Florida Panthers in a 4-3 win.

Jim Slater opened the scoring at 16:42 with his fourth of the year, this time on the shorthanded play after winger Ben Eager was given a game misconduct and a five minute major for checking from behind for the second game in a row.

The Thrashers held off the Panthers through the major penalty and the start of the second period until Byron Bitz broke the deadlock and tied the game back up at 12:45.

Atlanta scored a few minutes later on a powerplay opportunity, with Andrew Ladd getting on the board for the 2-1 lead, before being followed by Cory Stillman at 16:42 to tie the game up once again at 2-2.

But the Thrashers regained the lead before the end of the second period as Dustin Byflugien scored for the 3-2 advantage heading into the third period.

Florida fought back throughout the third period, finally breaking the wall in net once again as Christopher Higgins tied it up once again for the 3-3 score at 12:45.

The draw continued into the overtime period which saw the Thrashers dominate possession but unable to get a clear scoring chance until Peverley netted the game winner at 4:40.

Tomas Vokoun had a good night, making 20 saves off 24 shots while on the other side, Chris Mason walked away with the win and 23 saves out of 26.

Atlanta head coach Andy Murray was happy with his teams' performance but was not satisfied with their defensive work.

Quote:

"I am happy for the win tonight but it was really hard to have them always come back and score and give them a chance into the game, that's something we need to work on and fix. We've done it in every other game so I hope this doesn't become a trend."

[HeroWorship]

Jesus, the Thrashers doing good? I must be drunk, or this is a video game.

Five straight wins since I last checked in on this. I think the Thrashers are cup-bound now.

[kingalexander]

Antropov Sneaks In OT Winning Goal Over Jackets



11/4/10

(Atlanta, GA) -- Nik Antropov broke his scoring drought tonight as he scored the overtime winning goal for the Atlanta Thrashers as they came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the game in style with a final score of 4-3.

Columbus took a page out of Atlanta's playbook as they scored early in the game with Antoine Vermette scoring at 1:17 for the 1-0 lead. But Rich Peverley tied it up with his seventh goal of the season at 4:39 on a powerplay chance, with Johnny Oduya and Niclas Bergfors earning the assists.

RJ Umberger regained the lead for the Blue Jackets at 14:04 on an unassisted play, but fourth liner Chris Thorburn tied the game for Atlanta once more at 18:29 with Jason Krog and Fredrik Modin earning the assists.

The 2-2 score kept the game interesting through the second period as neither team could manage a clear scoring chance to break the deadlock. Steve Mason was the man of the match during the second period as he was able to make eight clear saves to stop the Thrashers from gaining the lead for the first time in the game.

Making his surprising return to the lineup, Ondrej Pavelec also had a good second period, making five saves.

Pavelec was a surprise starter tonight as head coach Andy Murray announced very late that he would be starting over Chris Mason. Although he did not comment on the reason why, some have speculated he has come down with the flu and will be out for a few more games.

The third peirod started off just like the first period did, with Columbus taking the lead with an early goal, once again scored by Antoine Vermette with less than a minute on the clock.

But known for their resiliency this season, Atlanta fought back and fought back hard as they clawed their way back in the game with Johnny Oduya scoring his first goal in a Thrashers uniform at 16:28 to tie the game up at 3-3 late in the period.

Rich Peverley earned his second point of the night along with Niclas Bergfors.

The game headed into the overtime period where so far, the Thrashers have been undefeated, and the streak continued with Nik Antropov scoring his fourth goal of the season at 2:43 as the Thrashers took a 4-3 come from behind win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Ondrej Pavelec made nine saves tonight out of 12 shots while Steve Mason was a little bit more busy, making 23 saves out of 27 shots.

[HeroWorship]

Breaking a scoring slump with Antropov and another victory?

This is unfair

[kingalexander]

Thrashers Stop Hawks Rally In Third Period

'

11/6/10
NHL.com

(Atlanta, GA) - The Atlanta Thrashers were lucky to end up with a 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks after giving up three back to back goals in the third period to threaten their five game winning streak.

The Thrashers took a 4-0 lead through the first and second period, but let off the gas in the third period as they allowed the Blackhawks to score and get within one goal of tying the game.

The defending Stanley Cup champions didn't look like champs as they allowed three goals in a seven minute span during the first period.

Chicago took a chance in goal tonight as they handed the start to youngster Alec Richards, his first apperance of the season. It didn't fair too well for Richards though, starting off with a goal from fourth liner Fredrik Modin at 13:02 for the 1-0 lead to Atlanta.

Jason Krog and Tobias Enstrom earned the assists on the first goal of the night.

Enstrom earned his second assist of the game a few minutes later at 17:46, as Rich Peverley scored his eighth goal of the season for the 2-0 lead. Enstrom added a third assist to his stats with Dustin Byflugien scoring at 19:26 on a powerplay chance for the 3-0 lead for the Thrashers heading into the second period.

Brent Sopel scored his second goal of the season during the second period at 15:03 to give the Thrahers now a 4-0 lead over the Blackhawks.

This goal also marked the final moment of Alec Richards in goal as he was pulled from the game, after allowing four goals 12 shots. Cristobal Huet came into the game and took over.

The change up in goal turned out to be a good move as it sparked the fire under the Blackhawks bench, as they began to get back into the game, starting off with an early third period goal from captain Johnathan Toews with only 47 seconds on the clock.

Atlanta goaltender Chris Mason had a busy period as the game quickly shifted momentum, and allowed another goal at 6:32 with Marian Hossa scoring for the 4-2 score.

Jonathan Toews scored in the final minute of the game for his second of the night at 19:38 to hand the Blackhawks a prime opportunity to tie the game up after coming from a 4-0 deficit.

In a last ditch effort, Chicago pulled Huet from goal and added the extra attacker but it backfired as Nik Antropov scored on the empty net at 19:53 to regain a two goal lead for the Thrashers, which saw them take the 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Atlanta earned their fifth consecutive win, one shy of a franchise record six in 2008/09.

Head coach Andy Murray showed praise for Tobias Enstrom who earned four assists during tonight's game, but did note the defensive lapses that occurred.

Quote:

"I think the highlight of the night was Enstrom. He goes out there and plays his heart out every game and tonight he showed it, he had a connecting pass on each goal tonight except for the last one, which shows exactly how much he wants to play. But at the same time we have to fix our defense, the way they played tonight wasn't their best effort, we can't let a team get back into the game like that. We got lucky tonight that Chicago didn't tie or even win the game with the way our defense played, we got lucky."

[HeroWorship]

Good win against the Blackhawks. Very ironic, seeing how your the semi-hawks with whom you got, and they seemed to give you a big scare in the third period there.

[kingalexander]

Trouble in Tampa Bay



November 2010

Every month we will have a short (sometimes long) breakdown of an NHL team.

Their wins, losses, current streaks, players to look out for, etc.

In this month of November, we had two clear choices on who to look at: the first place Atlanta Thrashers or the last place Tampa Bay Lightning. Both made some changes to the squad, brought players that would ultimately help them out and also lost some players that were key, more so for the Thrashers.

But for this month's edition of NHL Rounds, we're going to take a look at the Tampa Bay Lightning and their sudden inability to find a win so far this season.

During the offseason, the Lightning added a number of players in hopes of helping them reach the playoffs, something they haven't done in a few years.

At the top of the list for Tampa Bay is winger Simon Gagne. After coming to Tampa Bay, being a proven goal scorer in his 10 years with the Philadelphia Flyers, reaching the 20 goal mark in seven of those seasons, many figured the Bolts to be an offensive threat when adding Gagne to a team that has Vincent Lecavalier, Steve Stamkos, and Martin St. Louis.

On top of Gagne, the Lightning added center Jiri Hudler to the team as a free agent, along with Teddy Purcell.

So in the looks of quite a few experts in the game, the Lightning had a very dangerous and high scoring team. Again, that was on paper.

Unfortunately, games aren't won on paper.

So far, Tampa Bay has been unable to win a single game, losing all 13 of their games this season.

Main question that is being asked is a simple one. Why can't they win a game? A simple question, but a complicated answer.

Tampa Bay has relied on Dan Ellis and Mike Smith, both who have played for the Dallas Stars previously, to keep the goals out of the net but that doesn't seem to be working at all. Some have called for a new goaltender to be the fix to the problem, but it goes a bit deeper than that.

Their defense isn't anything fancy, but they work and for the most part tend to do their jobs. During the offseason they added Randy Jones, who had an average season last year with the Los Angeles Kings. Pavel Kubina also returned to the Lightning but hasn't seen any time yet in the NHL.

Again, the Tampa Bay defense isn't bad although they did lose Matt Walker in the trade that brought Gagne, that doesn't seem to be a big factor in their blue line. Having players like Mattias Ohlund, Randy Jones, and Matt Smaby isn't a bad thing. They all have experience in the league and know the positions quite well.

Now looking at the Tampa Bay offense one problem is clear. They can't score.

When you have weapons like Lecavalier, Stamkos, St. Louis, Gagne, Hudler, etc. and you can't find a way to score it's a huge problem. The good side of this is that Tampa Bay have scored goals this season, but their goals against doubles their goals for.

Although they have very good players in the front lines, there isn't any way to properly find out why they can't win. It might be just an issue with the team not having any chemistry. It could also be that the coaches aren't doing a good enough job to push this team to what they can achieve. But the one answer that is pretty clear to everyone is an obvious one.

Every single team in the NHL is better than the Tampa Bay Lightning.

At least for now.