Morning Skate Update From Tampa

HTML clipboardBlink and everything can change.Barry Melrose addressed the media around 11:15 this morning and at that pointenforcer David Koci was on waivers. Melrose said that he wanted to keep him inthe organization and he was hoping that he didn't get claimed because he likeshaving a heavyweight on the team."That's why the United States has a nuclear arsenal," he said, pausing foreffect. "It's called a deterrent. Do you think Boogard is in the lineup becausehe's gong to get 10 goals? I don't think so."He probably won't be happy to hear thatKoci was claimed by St. Louis. On the other hand, he has a new player towork with. The Lightning claimed Matt Pettinger off re-entry waivers from theCanucks (TSN has it as Mike Pettinger). They also put Jason ward on waiverstoday. He hasn't played in the regular season so that has little impact on theirroster.Also on waivers today according to TSN- Ken Klee. Darren McCarty cleared, asdid Kyle Wellwood.As for the players suiting up tonight, Melrose is concerned but optimisticthat his team will turn it around. They're 0-2-3 but all five of those losseswere by one goal. They're giving up a lot of shots but getting greatgoaltending from Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig. Smith and his unearthly .944 savepercentage get the nod tonight. Kolzig is only stopping 92% of the shotshe faces. So the big issue for Tampa is scoring. Lecavalier, St. Louis and Prospal eachhave three points but after that it gets pretty thin. Recchi and Ryan Malonehave a goal each. Gary Roberts has no points. Likewise for Radim Vrbata. Melroseis confident his stars will break out and get hot at some point though, andunfortunately they have a tendency to do so against the Thrashers. Vinny Prospalhas 50 points in 43 games against Atlanta. That's significantly higher than hispoints per game average over the course of his/nhl career. He also had six goalsand 10 points against us last year. St. Louis feasted on the Thrashers too, withnine points in eight games (probably as assists on Prospal's goals). So look outfor Prospal, who is playing wing with Lecavalier and St. Louis. Steven Stamkos is centering the second line after a strong showing againstMinny. He's tentatively slated to skate between Malone and Adam Hall. Stamkos isa well-spoken kid who is getting a lot of good advice about adjusting to beingan/nhl center as an 18-year-old from Vinny Lecavalier who did the same thing adecade ago.As for the much-maligned TB defense that's going up a league-worst 36.6 shotsper game- look for Paul Ranger to make a difference and for his fellowblueliners to learn from him. Melrose was asked if Ranger is better than heexpected him to be. His answer was pretty clear."Yes. Yes. By far. Paul is awesome." He added that "He's big. He's a great skater. He's a great passer.""If you have guys that are tentative and they watch Paul play and they watchhim take the body, and watch him jump into the play and pass the puck, all of asudden they're doing the same things," Melrose explained. "Great players dothat. Great players change the way the other guys play."Ranger and Meszaros will play against Kovalchuk's line.But enough about the Lightning. Let's talk about the Thrashers.There are no changes to the lineup for tonight. Kari Lehtonen will start ingoal. Colby Armstrong will play. Brett Sterling and Nathan Oystrick made thetrip but are both healthy scratches.Zach Bogosian is fairly sure that he only faced Steven Stamkos once lastseason (Bogosian might have missed a few games due to suspension for someextra-curricular on-ice activities) but he knows him from the/nhl draft andcombine. He referred to the center as a "good kid." For the record, Stamkos ismore than five months older than Bogosian. In case you were wondering, Bogosiandoesn't feel any pressure to score, even though Drew Doughty, the second overallpick, scored last night. He sees their situations as being very different.Doughty is being asked to be a top pair guy and run the PP. Bogosian is beingeased in a bit more and playing with some solid veterans in Schneider, Hainseyand Havelid. Bogosian added that he's just playing his style of game, andbesides, "Scoring isn't everything." So says Zach Bogosian.The theme of John Anderson's morning scrum was coming together as a team.Tonight is what I would call the first real road game of the season. TheThrashers played in Florida but it was the second night of back-to-back games sothe team got to Florida late the night before so there was no chance to relax orenjoy Miami. In contrast, the team went out to a nice dinner last night as ateam and had a few hours to bond and get to know each other better, and they didit without the coaches who ate at a different restaurant."The team has to go a little bit on their own and not be under my watch24/7," Anderson said. "They need that break from me. They have to listen to meat the rink because I have a captive audience but they don't have to listen tome at seven or eight o'clock at night."To Anderson it's all a start to the bonding process that he hopes continuesthroughout the season."That's just the start of what makes you want to go to war with the guysitting beside you. To know them on a personal basis and not just from sittingacross from them in the locker room. That will come with time and as we go alongwe're going to do stuff for team-building. It's a process."Without enquiring about specific players, Mike Knobler asked Anderson what hesays to players who aren't scoring. Anderson's answer was simple yetinteresting. He doesn't worry about it as long as those players are gettingchances. If they aren't getting chances he sits down with them to figure outwhat they can do differently to get themselves in the position to score, whetherit's gong to the net or positioning themselves better.Anderson sees some similarities between where the Lightning are now with nowins in five games and where the Thrashers were entering Saturday's game afterthree straight losses. He expects them to come out hard and the Thrashers mayhave to weather a storm for the first little while. The key to the game, in my eyes, is to shut down the stars (especiallyProspal) and sow those seeds of doubt that sprung so often in the Thrashers'minds last season. Last year you could sense that when the Thrashers trailedthey started to think "Oh no. Not again." Those are the kinds of thoughts theThrashers need to have the Lighting thinking. If they can get them to do thatthen I like our odds.That's it for me for now. It's time to enjoy the weather and the water. I'llbe blogging during the game for those who want to follow along. And FYI, the CNNpiece on Colby Armstrong will air November 6 during the day and will re-airmultiple times before living on the CNN site. Details to come.Source

Thrashers Rally for Late Tie Point on the Road

Since this game was not televised there is little I can add if you listened to Dan Kamal's broadcast. It sounded like Lehtonen was very strong again as the Thrashers got off to a slow 1st period (out shot 18-5) but Atlanta clawed their way into a point with a strong 3rd period outshooting the Lightning 15-8. It was good to get a point, but White and Christensen messed up key scoring chances and Little took a costly penalty in OT, those mistakes resulted in a division rival receiving two standing points.Speaking of Erick Christensen back at the Pre-Season Townhall Event I was talking with the gentlemen who operate the Blueland Chronicle and I expressed some doubts; "Christensen has been something of a tease so far in the, everyone talks about him being stuck behind Crosby, Malkin and Staal at center (and it's true) but he has done very little with his ES and PP ice time so far in his career."Christensen is one of those players who shows "flashes" of skill but hasn't really established much of a track record of consistent production in the. Many hoped that with consistent ice time and linemates he would have a break out season. Through six games of the 2008-09 season he is getting a steady diet of ice time at ES and has very little to show for it. This is year is big opportunity for Erik and so far the results have been underwhelming. Frankly Brett Sterling is probably deserving of a look--he has consistently scored at the AHL and the Thrashers 2nd line has been pretty quiet since Little moved up to Kovalchuk's line.Another struggling players Jason Williams played a season low 11:55. Assuming that he wasn't injured it seems that the coaching staff is sending him a signal. Perhaps Sterling will dress and Williams will sit next game.Corsi Box Score (ES Thrashers Shots minus Opposition Shots Attempted)TeamLehtonen +3Defense22:09 Schneider +213:38 Bogosian +522:11 Havelid -123:27 Enstrom +0The Hainsey-Exelby combo and Enstrom-Havelid split playing versus Vinny Lecavalier.23:12 Hainsey +017:14 Exelby +0Forwards22:18 Kovalchuk +418:33 White +417:40 Little +316:29 Kozlov +211:55 Williams +015:45 Christensen +214:20 Perrin -114:15 Reasoner +318:23 Armstrong +0Armstrong and Christensen had the heavy defensive work of matching up against Lecavalier most of the night for the Thrashers.8:12 Thorburn -512:08 Slater -56:08 Boulton -3The 4th line was out shot at ES. They played the most ice time against the Recchi-Gratton-Vrbata line not the top line of Lecavalier.Real Eastern Standings (Points - Games Played) This controls for differences in games played by teams+5 MON+5 BUF+4 NYR+3 NJD+2 WAS+1 CAR+2 PIT+1 BOS---------- Playoffs+0 OTT+0 ATL-1 FLA-1 NYI-1 TOR-1 TBL-3 PHIRight now every single team in the East is just two points out of a playoff berth, except for Philadelphia.Source

Thrashers Deserving Some Praise

We are VERY early in the season right but a couple of Thrashers are putting forth a strong effort which has staked the team to a 2-2-2 record, despite playing with one less superstar this season.The website HockeyAnalysis.com has a ranking for forwards, defense and goalies. Right now their formula has the Thrashers own Ron Hainsey ranked as the #1 defensemen in the. His high ranking is due to his outstanding defensive score (which will almost certainly decline with time). Kovalchuk ranks at the 13th best forward and he has not really heated up yet.Kari Lehtonen gets comes out looking pretty good in this analysis by Tyler Dellow. He ranks all the goalies who have seen 2000 shots since the lockout and Lehtonen ends up ranking #11 out of 38 who qualify. If you want to see more about his method, click here to go to the post. I've always said that if you put Kari in front of a respectable defense he would probably look like a star.Source

Thrashers Face Hossa In Detroit

HTML clipboardWhen the Thrashers played the Red Wings in the pre-season Marian Hossa satout. Both games were the second of back-to-backs for Detroit and he wasn't theonly vet to sit. You have to wonder if it had anything to do with theopponent though. Well, tomorrow night Hossa will suit up against the Thrashersfor the first time since being acquired before the 2005-06 season. The Penguinsplayed the Thrashers after Hossa and Pascal Dupuis were dealt for ColbyArmstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a draft pick but Marian wasinjured by then and didn't play.So now we get to see how he reacts to playing the Thrashers. It would betougher for him if he was playing in Atlanta, so maybe this won't be a big dealgiven that the game is in Detroit. Maybe it will. And maybe it'll be a big dealto some of his former teammates. Last year the Thrashers went into Detroit andwon 5-1 on the strength of a Hossa hat trick. Wouldn't you love to see IlyaKovalchuk torch the defending Cup champions for a hat trick of his own? And will former Red Wings Jason Williams, Mathieu Schneider and Slava Kozlovpull out the stops in a building where they all had so much success?There are more questions than answers heading into the Friday night matchup.Will Johan Hedberg get his first start of the season? Will Brett Sterling getinto a game? Will the offense step up and score more than twice in regulationfor the first time since opening night? The thrashers are 2-2-2 heading intotheir meeting with the Red Wings and have only given up one more goal thanthey've scored. Only one of the losses has been by more than a goal and theyhaven't been blown out, unlike the early portion of last season. While coachJohn Anderson hasn't been happy with all of the results he has been happy withthe effort. Will that effort be rewarded with a win in Motown?A reminder that Friday night's game will be live on SportSouth and onSportSouth HD. JP Dellacamera will be back in the booth on Friday and Saturday.Source

Tomas Vokoun and Florida Panthers withstand 50 shots against to earn a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks

FLORIDA GOALTENDER #29 TOMAS VOKOUN - ARCHIVE FLICKR PHOTO KAATIYA The book on 6-foot-0, 200 pound Florida Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun has been similar for a number of years. The 2-time/nhl Allstar (Nashville 2004, Florida 2008) plays a traditional upright butterfly style, covers a lot of the net down low, and relies on a spectacular glove hand to bail him out of certain situations. Former/nhl goaltender and current Atlanta Thrashers analyst Darren Eliot described him as a shotblocker, skilled at making the first save but whose suspect rebound control often leaves him vunerable to second and third scoring opportunities. Also mentioned was his attitude, Vokoun is known as a battler in net, a goaltender who will not give up on a play until the whistle is blown. Head coach Todd McLellan said prior to the start of the game that the coaching staff is not happy with San Jose's defensive performance in recent games. The Sharks again stumbled early en route to a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night. After an Joe Thornton power play goal 51 seconds into the game (which might have been tipped by Jonathan Cheechoo on the doorstep), the Sharks gave up three unanswered first period goals to Cory Stillman, Richard Zednick, and Nathan Horton. The first two goals came as a result of d-to-d passing at the top of the zone to open up shooting lanes, Stillman executed a slick drop pass to set the table for Horton's third goal. The Panthers afforded Tomas Vokoun a 2-goal lead heading into the final 40 minutes of the game, and the Sharks would test him by piling up 50 shots on goal. The Sharks are the top faceoff team in the/nhl (268-205, 56.7%), and a draw won by center Joe Pavelski directly lead to a second period goal by Ryane Clowe. Pavelski pulled the puck back to Rob Blake on the blueline, who passed it down low to Christian Ehrhoff just outside of the left faceoff circle. A quick Ehrhoff snap shot was directed around Tomas Vokoun by an unchecked Ryane Clowe in front of the net to make the score 3-2 Florida. The Sharks tied the game on an excellent individual effort by Patrick Marleau short handed. Marleau beat Jay Bouwmeester to a loose puck on the boards, and then chipped it past him into the neutral zone. Marleau streaked into the Panthers zone on a 2-on-1 with Mike Grier against center Stephen Weiss. A give-and-go with Grier resulted in Patrick Marleau's 5th goal of the season and a 3-3 game. Last season the Sharks struggled to hold on to leads late in periods and late in games. This season, the Sharks are struggling to keep opponents off the board after they score goals. Again on Friday, Cory Stillman answered Patrick Marleau's tally with his second goal of the game 37 seconds later. The goal would hold up as the game winner. The Sharks were better in three areas: scoring in the first period, registering 2 power play goals on 5 opportunities, and keeping Flordia scoreless on 3 power plays. What hurt the Sharks again were defensive lapses, breakdowns in front of their own net, and loose play. Thomas Plihal skated over a puck along the boards instead of clearing it, leaving it to Stephen Weiss which resulted in the second goal by Zednick. The Florida Panthers were able to set up in front of Evgeni Nabokov too often, and the Panthers almost doubled the Sharks in blocked shots (19-10). There are off nights, and then there are nights that are a sign of a larger problem. The Sharks have work to do to tighen up defensively, and Todd McLellan and the San Jose coaching staff will have a stern test when Stanley Cup finalists Pittsburgh and Detroit travel to San Jose next week. [Update] Sharks dropped by Florida 4-3 - San Jose Mercury News.Source

Detroit Clearly More Crisp Than Atlanta

So this was my first time to ever see a Thrashers game in HD. I was invited over to watch the game at a friend-of-the-blogger and we all revealed in the joy of their new DirecTV HD setup. I have to say it was amazing that the viewer can actually see whether the puck is lying flat on the ice or if it is on its edge during the course of play. It really feels like you're sitting at the rink except that the annoying fan who sits in your section isn't there. One person joked that the on HD is better than watching the game "with your own eyes" in person. I'm not sure I would go that far--there's no pasta bar or hot pretzels available at home.As for the game the Thrashers performed better than I expected. The Red Wings are the runaway favorites this year after winning the championship and then adding Marian Hossa and retaining Brad Stuart on their blue line (they only added Stuart at last spring's trading deadline). Hossa essentially replaces Dallas Drake--no offense to Drake but that's a serious upgrade. On the other hand, nobody is picking your Atlanta Thrashers to win much of anything so on paper it was a mismatch of titanic proportions.The Wings displayed their formidable talent by working the puck on the power play until they got a 2 on 1 right in front of the net where Zetterberg made a highly accurate shot to beat Lehtonen. Hossa showed the power forward moves we witnessed in Atlanta for another amazing goal. And before you knew it this game was 3-1 with the Thrashers picking up a once-in-a-Blue-Moon tally from Jim Slater (perhaps playing back at Joe Louis revived his MSU scoring touch?).Just when it seemed to be over two late goals by Ron Hainsey (working hard to keep that #1 D rating I see) and Brett Sterling made it 4-3 and suddenly the Thrashers were close to stealing a point or more. But the Red Wings kept Atlanta off the board and picked up the empty netter to salt it away. There are no moral victories in the, but this yet another game where the Thrashers exceeded my expectations. So far the Thrashers have taken on 5 likely playoff teams in their first 7 games and they have been competitive in each of those 5 contests.Marty Reasoner was injured early in the 2nd and this led to increased ice time for Brett Sterling among others. Personally, I was glad to see him get that goal for multiple reasons. The Thrashers could really benefit from someone who will park themselves right in the crease and go for rebounds and screens. If Sterling has a role in the he needs to become another Holmstrom in my opinion. Sterling isn't very fast--and neither is Holmstrom--but he has good hands and good scoring instincts. Much like Holmstrom Sterling is unlikely to amass big even strength point totals because he lacks that extra gear, but he could become a very valuable power play guy.One more thing I wanted to toss out there for your consideration is this. The Thrashers continue to get out shot this season. Last night the allowed 43 to Detroit. I went back and tracked the shots on goal by situation through the first seven games and here is the break down.Season Totals Through Seven GamesEven Strength Shots: ATL 162, Opposition 179= -17Power Play Shots: ATL 54, Opposition 64= -10Penalty Kill Shots: ATL 2, Opposition 14 = -12It is that last one that really jumps out at me. The Thrashers are allowing 2 shorthanded shots on goal per game and yet creating a short handed shot once every three games. Not only has the Thrashers Power Play struggled to convert but they have given up a surprising number of SH chances. Last night in Detroit they allowed THREE short handed shots on goal.On the flip side the Atlanta PK unit is not getting much pressure on the opposition net. Last year's squad had Hossa, Dupuis and Perrin who would all try to score short handed. Of those three only Perrin is on the current roster. I'm not sure what else to say about this, but I did find it a little surprising so I thought I'd pass it along.Finally a word about match ups in the Detroit game. The Red Wings feature two great offensive lines centered by Zetterberg and Datsyuk. Their 3rd and 4th lines are not bad either with Filppula and Draper. Since this game was in Detroit they had the last change and the advantage of matching lines. So I made some comments below about who played against whom.Corsi Box Score (ES Thrashers Shots minus Opposition Shots Attempted)TeamLehtonen -8DefenseThe defense pairings all received ice time against Detroit's Zetterberg and Datsyuk lines. 17:47 Schneider +114:06 Bogosian +121:24 Havelid -620:50 Enstrom +025:14 Hainsey -715:36 Exelby -7Forwards23:47 Kovalchuk -820:11 White -1020:09 Little -7The 1st line played mostly against Detroit's Datsyuk line. The Datsyuk line out chanced the Kovalchuk line by a rather wide margin. Kovalchuk has great speed and a great shot but so far he has not been very impressive at even strength season--last year he was very impressive in terms of creating ES scoring chances.18:59 Kozlov -416:41 Christensen +418:12 Armstrong +5The 2nd line played most of their minutes versus the Detroit's Zetterberg line.11:25 Perrin 006:51 Reasoner +212:29 Williams +4The 3rd line was matched against Detroit's Filppula line09:15 Thorburn -21036: Slater -210:59 Sterling -4The 4th was out shot mostly by Detroit's checking line centered by Draper.Real Eastern Standings (Points - Games Played) This controls for differences in games played by teams+6 BUF+5 MON+5 NYR+3 NJD+3 PIT+1 CAR+1 FLA+0 WAS---------- Playoffs+0 TOR+0 BOS-1 ATL-1 TBL-2 OTT-2 NYI-2 PHIReal Western Standings (Points - Games Played) +4 SJS+4 DET+4 MIN+2 EDM+1 STL+1 COL+1 CHI+0 CGY--------------Playoffs+0 PHX+0 LAK-1 DAL-1 CBJ-1 VAN-1 NAS-2 ANASource

Format Change for Tonight's Game

There is going to be an odd format to tonight's game in Boston. I'm sure you'll hear all about it on the SportSouth broadcast tonight, but here is the press release from the:TORONTO/BOSTON (October 25, 2008) â?? The Boston Bruins and National Hockey League announced a change in game format for their game tonight against the Atlanta Thrashers at TD Banknorth Garden.The third period in tonightâ??s game will be split, with the teamâ??s switching ends at the first stoppage in play after the 10-minute mark of the period. The Bruins and Thrashers will begin the third period in the same ends that they finished the second period. Following the first stoppage after the 10-minute mark of the third period, the teams will switch ends, and the face-off will take place on the opposite side of where play ended.The change in format is occurring due to incorrect markings on the West End (visitors bench side) of the TD Banknorth Garden ice. In the West End, the two face-off dots are 24 feet from the goal line â?? four feet longer than&nbsp specifications. The corresponding face-off circles arealso four feet further away from the goal line.The ice sheet will be replaced prior to the Bruins next game on Saturday, Nov. 1. Way to go Boston.Source