Atlanta Thrashers Notebook - November 8, 2009 - Defensemen lead Thrashers to home win

November 8, 9:30 PMAtlanta Thrashers ExaminerPhil Foley

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Atlanta Thrashers Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Ron Hainsey celebrates after his fluke goal beats St. Louis' Ty Conklin in Atlanta's win on Sunday.
(AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

It looked like the Atlanta Thrashers might not have much of a chance on Sunday as St. Louis Blues’ netminder Ty Conklin clamped down on the Thrashers in the game’s final moments, making a ridiculous save on Slava Kozlov.

Todd White fired a perfect cross-crease pass to Kozzie below the right faceoff circle. But in what has become a frustrating season for the Russian forward, the Blues netminder quickly moved to his left to rob Kozlov on the scoring chance.

But the Thrashers continued to work hard and finally got a fortuitous bounce to send this one to extra time when Ron Hainsey’s 76-foot knuckler skipped past Conklin to even the score with 3:31 remaining.

Rich Peverley and Kozlov sealed the deal in the shootout. Atlanta’s four-game home losing streak was history.

Let’s take a look at our own version of our Fave Five from a Sunday evening contest in Blueland.

1) You make your own breaks. It was Atlanta’s hard work in the neutral zone in the third period that lead to that good bounce goal.

The Thrashers thoroughly dominated the last 25 minutes, outshooting the Blues 23-17 down the stretch. As a result, the club scored two late goals to send the game to the shootout.

“Hockey is a game of bounces and sometimes you get them and sometimes you have bad ones,” blueliner Zach Bogosian said. “In the last eight minutes, we got good bounces.”

2) Defense = offense for the Thrashers. Atlanta figured someone was going to have to pick up for the injured Ilya Kovalchuk. But no one expected the production the Thrashers have gotten out of their blueliners.
Somehow, some way, Atlanta’s last seven goals have come off the stick of a Thrashers defenseman.
But Hainsey would not take the bait when asked if there’d been any bragging by the defense when Atlanta returns to practice on Tuesday.

“The defensemen are expected to score,” Hainsey said. “We’ve got guys one-through-six (on defense) that can score. … It’ll be a much better week going to New York (on Thursday) with a win.”

3) Kozzie comes up big (on defense). Not only did Kozlov put the game away in the shootout and almost tie it in regulation, but the Russian made the save of the day in the waning minutes of the final period.

Andy McDonald grabbed a rebound from Johan Hedberg’s glove and made a bid at a late goal. But Kozlov slid into the net and poked away McDonald’s bid at the possible game winner.

4) Antropov leads the way? As unlikely as it seems, Nik Antropov, he of the 11 shots entering this one, lead the Thrashers with seven shots on Sunday.

Hopefully, this is a prelude of things to come for the Atlanta center/right wing, not only for my fantasy team (I have to beat those other pesky hockey Examiners), but the Thrashers as well.

It goes without saying that any additional offense that Antropov can generate will work wonders for the Thrashers in the absence of Kovalchuk.

5) The Moose was solid. Hedberg gave the Thrashers just what they needed from their backup netminder, a solid game in the crease.

He set aside 30 of 32 shots and excelled in the bonus format, stopping McDonald before poking the puck away from Brad Boyes to end the game.

Perhaps it was the extra work that Hedberg and Kozlov put in during practice that was the difference on Sunday.

“They have shootouts competitions before practice starts,” Atlanta coach John Anderson said. “I think it real helps Moose and really helps Slava. (Slava) is my ace in the hole. That’s why I like him second.”

Quote of the night: Anderson on the win -- “I just felt like this was the best overall game we’ve played in the last five. It’s funny, when you do the right things, good things seem to happen.”