John Anderson says that in his “heart of hearts” he believes Bryan Little and Pavel Kubina will play tonight versus the Boston Bruins. Little told me that he’s planning on playing, though he wasn’t sure what his line would be. If Little plays I assume that Jim Slater is the healthy scratch. If that’s the case I’m guessing Reasoner goes back between Boulton and Thorburn and Peverley centers Kane and Armstrong. Then all you have to do is juggle the remaining six forwards. Do you put Little with White and Kozlov even though that line hasn’t been particularly productive this season, or do you put Max with White and Kozlov in the hope of spreading the offense around?
Here’s the frightening thing for opposing teams- even with Little, Kozlov, White, and Antropov struggling to score goals, this team has the most explosive offense in the NHL. As John Anderson said in his scrum today, imagine how dangerous this team will be when the offense is firing on all cylinders.
As for the Bruins, they’re struggling mightily to put the puck in the net. They’re scoring just 2.25 goals per game compared to Atlanta’s 3.65. Given that the Thrashers have only been held to two or less goals twice this season the Bruins are either going to have to step up the offense or really do a number on the Thrashers’ offense. Marc Savard isn’t expected to play tonight but Milan Lucic is reportedly flying in for the game and could play. The Bruins only have four players in double digits in scoring and none of them have hit 14 points yet. Their top scorer is Patric Bergeron who leads the team in goals (6) and points (13). Meanwhile seven Thrashers are in double digits in scoring and four of them have more points than Bergeron. Former Thrasher Mark Recchi has three goals and eight points while playing a checking role, so keep an eye on him.
On the blueline the Thrashers would love to have Kubina back in the lineup. His big body will help stifle the Bruins as he protects Ondrej Pavelec who will be in goal tonight.
Here are today’s morning skate videos, and make sure you check out this Max Afinogenov feature with some great quotes from Kovalchuk and Kozlov.
ESPN is giving this game lots of love and are hyping it as their game of the night. What that means for a network that doesn’t show hockey I’m not entirely sure, but so far Scott Burnside has posted a nice preview and EJ Hradek and Barry Melrose have done a video in which they speak glowingly of the Thrashers. We’ll take the publicity, especially if it builds awareness of what the Thrashers are doing. The players are excited about the way the team is playing and they’re looking forward to the fans coming out to support them like Hawks fans did last night at Philips Arena. Ilya Kovalchuk and Nik Antropov were there and Kovy said the announced sellout crowd was great. I’m sure he’d like to see the same for the Thrashers this weekend.
If you’re watching the game on SportSouth tonight feel free to stop by the liveblog/chat.
are there any pics of Nik and Ilya at the Hawks game? I would love to see that. what are the chances that Josh Smith or Mike Bibby make it to a Thrash game this weekend? That’d be sweet.
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Holy crap. don’t tell me there’s even a chance max would get shuffled away from kovy & antro. that’d be crazy! little white russian will rise again!!!
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Well, Boston has still been getting their chances even though they’re not scoring… they’re still in the Top 10 for Shots per Game.
They just can’t finish… it’s like a team of Zherdev’s and Dupuis’.
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I’m afraid I won’t be joining you on the blog tonight Ben. I’ve gathered up at least two other people, and we’ll be there in person to cheer on our boys!
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I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
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