Spread the word folks- the Thrashers are officially back in a playoff spot thanks to their 6-3 win over the Islanders last night and some help they got from the Sharks who beat the Canadiens.
The boys from Blueland have 66 points and are tied with the Rangers and Canadiens but win the tie breaker due to having games in hand no both teams (two on the Rangers and three on the Canadiens). They’re one point behind the Bruins who are in seventh and three points behind the Flyers who are in sixth. On Saturday they head to Tampa to take on the Lightning, who will presumably start Antero Nittymaki in goal. Then they come back home for games against the Hurricanes (Sunday) and Predators (Tuesday).
And how about those new guys? Clarke MacArthur and Evgeny Artyukhin each scored in their Thrashers debuts with Arty scoring an incredible end-to-end highlight reel goal. Check it out. I don’ t know what Mark Streit could have done to stop him on that play. He was at full speed by the time he hit center ice and how do you stop a speeding 255 lb freight train?
Not that anyone is keeping track, but the Thrashers are 4-1-2 since trading Ilya Kovalchuk and as I pointed out in my recap, they scoring 3.71 goals per game without him so far. How do you like those apples?
It’s been a big week for the Thrashers and with games every second night for the rest of the month it’s going to be a wild ride. The good news is that the Thrashers control their own destiny from here on out. Keeping winning and they can make the playoffs without help from anyone else. Feels good, doesn’t it?
I like apples!
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well im totally eating my own words right now, i would never have thought that they would continue to score like they have without kovalsuck, but i was wrong, and im so happy i was, the only thing this team needs now is to get pavelec playing like he was in the begining, the moose is on fire, but we’re going to need stellar goaltending from both of our netminders to finish this thing and make some teams worried about playing us in the playoffs
ben, who would you like to see the thrashers face in the first round?
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Way to go Thrashers, play-offs here we come (hoping and wishing) Who would’ve thought with Kovulchuk gone this team would do this well, keep it up boys!
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Also worth mentioning…
Boston is on a 7 game road trip that includes Pitt, Philly and Jersey.
Montreal is on a West Coast road trip this week.
This is where Atlanta can put some distance between them and the others having home ice advantage in March.
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Nice little shout-out to the Thrasher’s on puck daddy today over on Yahoo (although it is somewhat funny (sad?) that they chose to use a picture of Kozzie on the front page of the Yahoo NHL site). http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl
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Ok, I hereby eat my words.
Amazing game last night.. came out hot, scored quickly and broke the Islanders spirits.
The new additions looked excellent, gave the other players reason to show some jump and skated like they had been line-mates for months.
Amazing goal by Arty, Mac had some nice hits, and the team played well for 50 of the 60 minutes on the ice. 10 minutes (when the Islanders scored twice) was a bit weak, they looked like they backed off a bit with a 3 goal lead.
This looked like a team that wants to make the playoffs….
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did we hit the wall and get through, or is the wall still ahead of us? gotta keep this momentum goin
i could get real used to these fast starts, that seems to b a real improvement last few games
looking at the schedule, making april b about playoff standings instead of a playoff spot would b best, brutal last few games
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I like these apples just fine, thank you.
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thethird… keep in mind, Pittsburgh and Washington may have already clinched by April, so hopefully we’ll catch them “taking it easy”.
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Once again on the inside looking out and the boys deserve all the credit. What an incredible run leading up to the Olympics and the continuation of that through last night. Now that the playoff spot is ours the hard work begins in order to maintain.
Looking ahead, can you imagine what this team will be like when Cormier gets here? As far as goaltending, Moose should be the man from here on out and I like Pavs a whole lot, just need some more experience…his day will come.
Cannot recall a end to end play from Kovy like the one Arty pulled last night…just brilliant!!
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mmm. apples!
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How sweet would it be to face New Jersey in the first round and sweep them.
I’d buy everyone a round of APPLE cider.
Just thinking ahead.
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Feels good?
OOOHHHHH YEAH! OOOHHHHH!
Good Apples be Hmmmm?
KC… don’t eat your words, just that user name.
I’ll speak for us all…. We don’t like it.
GO THRASHERS!
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I also am thoroughly enjoying these Atlanta Thrashers. However, teams can hit hot streaks and then cool off. I am very optimistic about them though. Very telling to me was during the Florida game Darren Eliot interviewed Don Waddell and Waddell sounded as excited as I’ve ever heard, with the exception of when the Thrashers got into the playoffs. I know a lot of folk don’t really trust Waddell, but I don’t think he’s a PR fool. By that I mean I don’t think he would allow that much excitement to come across if the team weren’t exceeding his expectations.
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is there anyone that could tell where if possible to greet palyers down here in tampa
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I’m just taking a stab but I think we’ve never beaten Nittymaki with Kovy so why can’t we do it tonight. If you think back the last time we played Tampa was a few days before we traded him. We’ve been playing good and so we might might have a shot.
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Not missing Kovy at all! I wish him well in the KHL next year. It’s fun to watch the boys play without having to cover for his defensive lapses or worry about feeding him the puck. Team hockey is much more fun to watch than superstar hockey!
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Is Pavs or Hedberg in net tonight against Tampa Bay?
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Dan Kamal posted that The Moose is in tonight.
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MOOSE! MAY THE FORCE TO THE PLAYOFFS BE WITH YOU! BEAT NIITYMAKI!
http://www.fanfeedr.com/nhl/2010/03/05/atlanta-thrashers-goalie-johan-hedberg-stops-a-shot-in-the-secon
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I watched the Devils vs. Flames game last night and Kovy got COMPLETELY stripped of the puck on the blue line on the power play, which resulted in a breakaway for the Flame – and obviously a goal (never seen that before, eh).
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My theory about trading Kovulchuk out seems to be holding up. My hypothesis was that once he is gone, that the guys around him would stop playing the pass to kovy game and shoot on their own. I think its much more of a team effort on the ice now. I hate to say it but Kovy was just taking up space on the ice and not getting it done anymore.
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