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Atlanta Thrashers Blogger •
Last Thursday at home, the Thrashers trailed Columbus 2-0 after the first period… eventually losing 4-3 to the Blue Jackets. The previous home game before that, they trailed Washington 2-0 after 20 minutes of play on their way to a 4-3 loss to the Caps. The home game prior to that, Atlanta trailed San Jose 2-0 and wound up losing 4-3 to the Sharks.
Are beginning to sense a pattern here?
Last night the Thrashers took their “Down by two after one” show on the road…trailing the Islanders by a pair going into the first intermission and flew home after suffering a 6-3 loss in New York.
Today, they’ll look to reverse this irritating trend when the St. Louis Blues…whom the defeated 4-2 in St. Louis a month ago…. travel to Atlanta following their 2-1 shootout loss in Philadelphia. Given the past few weeks, should the Thrashers simply skate to a 0-0 ties after the first period, we might just give the home team a standing ovation as they head to the locker room.
Coach Anderson has stated several times that the biggest challenge facing this team is getting everyone one on the ice to play a full 60 minutes. Well, they certainly have the last 40 or so of those minutes down as far as consistent play is concerned…it’s those initial 20 that causes of all the head-skratching here.
While I do feel that the players themselves need to be more diligent in their approach to the beginning of the game, I also look to Anderson and the coaching staff to address this problem. How they prepare the team, light a fire under them before they come out, approach the start of the game and plan the on-ice matchups plays a lot in this.
As for the players…well, one piece of advice I would offer up is possibly...mayebe... getting somewhere in the same zip code as opposition players as they attack the goal. Using last Thursday loss to the CBJs as an example, they had a team that had played an overtime game the night before and Atlanta held them to but 21 shots. Unfortunately, they left the backdoor open a couple of times and even in their sleep Columbus could have netted those goals.
As stated earlier, Atlanta Faces a 5-6-3 Blues team that played in Philly the night before. They’ve dropped four straight…the last two in OT and have scored but two times since a 5-2 win in Carolina back on October 28. On the season, the Blues only average 2.21 G/G…only Minnesota, Nashville and Carolina score less…and their power play only generates goals 13.5% of the time, which is also 27th in the NHL.
Maybe this is just what the doctored ordered…facing a team struggling to score goals to try and cure your ills in regards to surrendering many goals early on.
Of course... I’m sure St. Louis is thinking the same thing in reverse, though.
Are beginning to sense a pattern here?
Last night the Thrashers took their “Down by two after one” show on the road…trailing the Islanders by a pair going into the first intermission and flew home after suffering a 6-3 loss in New York.
Today, they’ll look to reverse this irritating trend when the St. Louis Blues…whom the defeated 4-2 in St. Louis a month ago…. travel to Atlanta following their 2-1 shootout loss in Philadelphia. Given the past few weeks, should the Thrashers simply skate to a 0-0 ties after the first period, we might just give the home team a standing ovation as they head to the locker room.
Coach Anderson has stated several times that the biggest challenge facing this team is getting everyone one on the ice to play a full 60 minutes. Well, they certainly have the last 40 or so of those minutes down as far as consistent play is concerned…it’s those initial 20 that causes of all the head-skratching here.
While I do feel that the players themselves need to be more diligent in their approach to the beginning of the game, I also look to Anderson and the coaching staff to address this problem. How they prepare the team, light a fire under them before they come out, approach the start of the game and plan the on-ice matchups plays a lot in this.
As for the players…well, one piece of advice I would offer up is possibly...mayebe... getting somewhere in the same zip code as opposition players as they attack the goal. Using last Thursday loss to the CBJs as an example, they had a team that had played an overtime game the night before and Atlanta held them to but 21 shots. Unfortunately, they left the backdoor open a couple of times and even in their sleep Columbus could have netted those goals.
As stated earlier, Atlanta Faces a 5-6-3 Blues team that played in Philly the night before. They’ve dropped four straight…the last two in OT and have scored but two times since a 5-2 win in Carolina back on October 28. On the season, the Blues only average 2.21 G/G…only Minnesota, Nashville and Carolina score less…and their power play only generates goals 13.5% of the time, which is also 27th in the NHL.
Maybe this is just what the doctored ordered…facing a team struggling to score goals to try and cure your ills in regards to surrendering many goals early on.
Of course... I’m sure St. Louis is thinking the same thing in reverse, though.
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