Big Week for the Thrashers

Is the glass half full or half empty?Saturday night's loss in Boston was one of the most entertaining games I'veseen the Thrashers play in the last year. Yes, it stinks that they lost and theofficiating was perplexing at times, but I was entertained from start to finish.I probably enjoyed that game more than I enjoyed any single loss of last season.You could look at the Thrashers' 2-4-2 record and say they're struggling, oryou could look at it and say that of six losses four were by a single goal andone of the other two was only a two-goal loss because of an empty-net goal. You could saythat the Thrashers are 12th in the Eastern Conference, or you could point outthat they're only four points out of the division lead and third place in theconference.John Anderson warned at the beginning of the season that there would be alearning curve and some struggles and that's what we're seeing now, but I'mimpressed that the team is keeping every game close and not getting blown outlike they did last year on a pretty frequent basis. The Thrashers are showingimprovement in many aspects from game-to-game (PP, PK, going to the net, gettingsecond and third chances) and at some point that improvement is going totranslate into wins. The October schedule has been loaded with tough opponentsbut November looks much friendlier with weaker opponents and some nice 3-4 daygaps between games during which they can do some serious practicing. They just have to get through this next week. Four games in six nights. Gamesagainst Philly (who the Thrashers haven't beaten since Nov. 18, 2005), theRangers (at MSG where there are still demons to exorcise), at New Jersey(against the snooze-inducing Devils) and then at versus Florida (who have aworse GF/GA ratio than Atlanta but have won more games). I'd love to see themstart the week off with a win over the banged up Flyers tomorrow night nonational TV. The Thrashers are 5-3-0 on Versus since they started carrying the. Philly is missing Briere and has a very raw blueline that is giving upalmost a full goal per game more than the Thrashers. The big questions is ifthey'll start Antero Niittymaki against Atlanta. If Kari Lehtonen has a nemesisit's Niittymaki. He's never beaten him on North American soil and Niittymaki hasa tendency to play lights out hockey against us (He's 9-0-0 with a 1.68 GAA and.940 save % all-time versus the Thrashers). Keep in min das well that Flyerscoach John Stevens and Thrashers coach John Anderson are well-acquainted witheach form their days in the AHL. The two met in the Calder Cup final in 2005 andStevens (and Niittymaki) came out on top.It should be an interesting game tomorrow, and an interesting week overallfor the Thrashers.Source