Take a Deep Breath Everyone
Your blogger took the weekend off. The Cold War Kids show I mentioned was even better than I expected. I nearly broke my back helping some jerk move. Roller hockey at the park on Sunday was great--until I broke my Derek MacKenzie stick. Anyways, I'll resume posting the draft reviews tomorrow, but now I wanted to comment on the last two games and fan reaction.
Back-to-back losses and many people have slipped into despair--or at least off the bandwagon. I think we need to keep perspective. The team was red hot after the trades and we all thought they were world beaters but it is natural for some of that initial momentum to wear off. Everyone gets too excited when we are on a winning streak and too down when we are on a losing streak. There is a lot of parity in the NHL and small things can be the difference beween a winning and losing streak.
The loss to the Sharks was very predictable. Personally, the Sharks are my pick to win the Stanley Cup this year. Yes, the Thrashers are good, but the Sharks are just a great team. The Thrashers struggled to get the puck out of their own end and get it across the red line versus San Jose. Maybe the Thrashers didn't play as well as they could have, but you have to give a fair amount of credit to SJ. They are big, the are fast and they are very talented. I expect them to go far this summer.
As far as the Pittsburgh game, I was thrilled with how well we played them on the defensive side of things. You have to remember that the Penguins have probably been the hottest team in the East in the 2nd half. They have been beating everyone and scoring goals right and left. We limited them to just two goals. The first goal came about because Jim Slater was late covering his man in the crease area. The second was the flukiest goal against the Thrashers all season. Lehtonen misjudged it, but the Penguins certainly got some help from the hockey gods as it bounced and changed directions at the last second.
If you're looking for a goat in the Penguins game don't look at Kari who absolutely robbed Pittsburgh twice (If Kari doesnt make those saves it would have been 3-0). Instead you ought be complaining about an offense that managed just a single goal in back to back games. You're not going to win many games that way in the modern NHL.
A tip of the hat to Mellanby for what might just be the final regular season goal of his career. The season is winding down and so is his career. I wasn't a big fan when the Thrashers signed him but he brought more to the team that I would have imagined.
I've heard that Eric Belanger's injury is not serious and he should be fine--whew. Also, if the team has a good start to the playoffs, it is possible we will see Jon Sim in a Thrashers uniform again this season.
Back-to-back losses and many people have slipped into despair--or at least off the bandwagon. I think we need to keep perspective. The team was red hot after the trades and we all thought they were world beaters but it is natural for some of that initial momentum to wear off. Everyone gets too excited when we are on a winning streak and too down when we are on a losing streak. There is a lot of parity in the NHL and small things can be the difference beween a winning and losing streak.
The loss to the Sharks was very predictable. Personally, the Sharks are my pick to win the Stanley Cup this year. Yes, the Thrashers are good, but the Sharks are just a great team. The Thrashers struggled to get the puck out of their own end and get it across the red line versus San Jose. Maybe the Thrashers didn't play as well as they could have, but you have to give a fair amount of credit to SJ. They are big, the are fast and they are very talented. I expect them to go far this summer.
As far as the Pittsburgh game, I was thrilled with how well we played them on the defensive side of things. You have to remember that the Penguins have probably been the hottest team in the East in the 2nd half. They have been beating everyone and scoring goals right and left. We limited them to just two goals. The first goal came about because Jim Slater was late covering his man in the crease area. The second was the flukiest goal against the Thrashers all season. Lehtonen misjudged it, but the Penguins certainly got some help from the hockey gods as it bounced and changed directions at the last second.
If you're looking for a goat in the Penguins game don't look at Kari who absolutely robbed Pittsburgh twice (If Kari doesnt make those saves it would have been 3-0). Instead you ought be complaining about an offense that managed just a single goal in back to back games. You're not going to win many games that way in the modern NHL.
A tip of the hat to Mellanby for what might just be the final regular season goal of his career. The season is winding down and so is his career. I wasn't a big fan when the Thrashers signed him but he brought more to the team that I would have imagined.
I've heard that Eric Belanger's injury is not serious and he should be fine--whew. Also, if the team has a good start to the playoffs, it is possible we will see Jon Sim in a Thrashers uniform again this season.
posted by The Falconer at
10:17 AM
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