Postgame, vs. Panthers, 20 Minutes of Hockey

For the first time since November of 2003, the Thrashers lost to the Florida Panthers at home. If you had told me that Kovy would score two goals, and that we would have 41 shots, I would have immediately bet all my money in my pocket at the time on the Thrashers.

Fortunately, I didn’t do that, as the Thrashers lost for the first time all season when they outshot an opponent.

The Christmas hangover lasted through the game in Columbus, and through the first two periods of tonight’s game. In the first minute of the third, Kovy ended the drought and put in his 31st of the year, followed later in the period with a shorthanded goal for his 32nd.

Why did we lose? Two reasons: absolutely no effort or production in the first two periods, and a off night from Kari.

Lehtonen, in all fairness, did not play horribly. He played well enough to keep the Thrashers in the game. But his timing was off, and he looked lost on the shots that did go in. He had a lot of bad breaks, and the goals he allowed were tipped. From Don Waddell:

“The first two goals were really fluky,” Waddell said. “The first one hit the referee and the guy banged it home, and the second one barely went over the line. … I thought we were playing pretty well and all of a sudden we’re down 2-0.”

Let’s talk about two of the best players in the league: Ilya Kovalchuk and Tobias Enstrom. Kovy is far and away the best goal scorer in the league, if not the world. What is scary is that he is branching out, and not just scoring on the long range slapshots like in the past. Tonight he scored off a rebound, and on a shorthanded situation. Don’t look now, but 19 goals in 12 games gets him the incredibly rare 50 goals in 50 games.

And he’s not in the starting lineup for the all-star game!! Get voting, folks!

Tobias Enstrom. What can we say about this kid? It wasn’t too long ago that we were questioning if he would even make the team out of camp. A few short months later, he is leading the Calder race, leading the Thrashers in time on ice, and is one of the best defensemen the Thrashers have ever had, if not the best. Did he leave the ice in the third period? I sure didn’t see him sit.

I had one issue with Waddell tonight. I usually won’t argue with coaching decisions, other than discussing line combinations. With exactly one minute left in the game, there was a faceoff at center ice. I was under the impression that for any faceoff other than an offensive zone faceoff, a team would put the goalie back in net in case of a clean, quick faceoff win for the opponent. Well, what happens, but the Panthers win the faceoff, and Jay Bouwmeester fires a shot that goes in 4 seconds later.

The bottom line is that the Thrashers missed a huge opportunity tonight. It was one of those four-point games that make a huge difference in the standings. Blueland was rocking, and was as loud as it has been in a while. The boys showed up 40 minutes late, played well for the last 20, but just couldn’t finish the job. The Thrashers play every other day for the next two weeks, with most at home, so there is a great opportunity to move up into playoff positioning.

Look for Moose to be in net on Saturday, as Kari could use a game off and a chance to get his timing back.

Congrats are due to Slava Kozlov, who was recognized before the game for playing in his 1000th career game yesterday in Columbus.

Kovalchuk on Historic Pace

From the Toronto Sun:

In the greatest goal scoring season of his career, Wayne Gretzky scored 92 times, representing 22% of the Edmonton Oilers goal output in 1981-82. When Maurice (Rocket) Richard became the first 50-goal scorer in hockey history, he scored 21.9% of Montreal’s goals in 1944-45. When Mike Bossy scored 69 goals in 1978-79, he scored just 19.2% of New York Islanders goals.

To date, heading into last night’s game with the Maple Leafs, Kovalchuk is shattering all of that — scoring 30% of the Thrashers goals. No one in history has done that before.

Kovalchuk’s Canadian Lovefest

When is the last time that a Southeast Division player received two glowing articles on a Canadian website, and written by two different Canadian writers in the same week? I have no idea, but I do know it happened this week for Ilya Kovalchuk. The first came a few days ago, and is by Jim Kelley:

In addition, Kovalchuk has twice netted a hat trick on the road this season. He also has his team, an acknowledged abomination when it comes to defence and goaltending, tied for second place with Tampa in the Southeast Division despite a horrendous 0-6 start, the loss of No .1 goaltender Kari Lehtonen to a reasonably long-term injury and the sacking of coach Bob Hartley.

Want more? Well, Kovalchuk notched 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in his last 12 games and his team is 3-0-1 in December and was acknowledged as the league’s player of the month for November. While he never stopped working under Hartley, now that his team has followed his lead, it is 14-7-1 since Hartley was sacked and replaced by general manager Don Waddell. Most of the players in Atlanta credit Kovalchuk for that. They also note that he’s big, strong, fast and, despite rumours to the contrary, uses his linemates and the ice well.

And he’s getting better.

The article continues, and is probably one of the best arguments for Kovalchuk as an All-Star Game starter, and as a Hart candidate.

The second comes from Pierre Lebrun:

Sidney Crosby is the face of the league and Vincent Lecavalier may be the best player right now but the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators face the NHL’s most potent goal scorer this weekend.

And they better beware. Atlanta Thrashers star winger Ilya Kovalchuk is on a mission. The NHL’s leading goal scorer with 24 is on pace to become the first player since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 to eclipse the 60-goal barrier.

“I would trade all my goals for a playoff spot. Whatever it takes,” Kovalchuk told The Canadian Press after practice on Thursday. “But when I score we usually win the game, that’s what I’m here for.”

The brash, young Russian sniper that first invaded the NHL as an 18-year-old six seasons ago has grown up. He’s got an `A’ on his jersey for the first time in his NHL career and he’s acting like it. He’s scoring more goals than ever but it’s with a purpose.

“This is the maturity in him,” said Thrashers GM and head coach Don Waddell. “He loves to score goals, there’s no doubt about it. But more importantly, he wants to win games. He wants to bring this team back to the playoffs and then deep into the playoffs.

Those articles speak high praises about anyone, and the fact that it is about a SE player, and by two Canadians, makes it even more impressive.

Tuesday’s News and Notes

Besides Little’s demotion, there are a few other bits of news to report:

• Darren Haydar has been put on waivers. If he clears, there will be two weeks to send him to Chicago.
• Johan Hedberg is in net tomorrow night against Boston.
• Ilya Kovalchuk has passed Alex Ovechkin in all-star voting, and is now in 5th place.
• James Mirtle has a great article about Craig Custance and the job he is doing as beat writer.
• And finally, the rumor mills are in high gear today with discussions about possible Anaheim trades.

Seccondary Scoring (Kovy’s Missed Opportunity)

Recently, most of the scoring for the Thrashers has come from the top line of Todd White, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Marian Hossa. With that much talent on a line, you can expect for it to produce more than a fair share of scoring.

The line has done so well though that some people, including myself, have wanted to see another line step up to produce secondary scoring. What would happen if the Kovy-Hossa line had an off night?

Last night’s game answered that question. The game marked only the third time all season that the Thrashers have won without a goal from Ilya Kovalchuk. Check out the scorers from the game:

	G	A	Pts
Eric Boulton	1	0	1
Pascal Dupuis	1	0	1
Bobby Holik	0	1	1
Marian Hossa	1	0	1
Slava Kozlov	1	1	2
Steve McCarthy	0	1	1
Jimmy Slater	0	2	2
Chris Thorburn	0	1	1
Todd White	0	1	1

Anytime Jimmy Slater gets on the score sheet twice it is a good game. Add in a tally from Boulton and Dupuis, and the huge goal from Kozlov, it is all right if Kovy and Hossa aren’t carrying the load. Even Steve McCarthy added an assist (he didn’t manage to raise his -13 rating though…).

The secondary scoring is a great sign for the team, and the outlook on the season. It was a HUGE missed opportunity for Ilya Kovalchuk, though.

The game was broadcast nationally in Canada on TSN, their version of ESPN. The hockey-insane viewers in the Great White North were all tuned into Atlanta, and saw Pascal Dupuis and Eric Boulton score.

All season Thrashers fans and a small portion of the media have been hailing Kovy’s praises, crying foul that he is only 6^th in the all-star balloting, and fighting for respect for the league’s top goal scorer. We have argued that this is a Hart and Richard season for him, and that his immaturity from seasons past is finally gone.

How many folks tuned into the game, looking to see this new Kovy, only to see him go pointless? It really was a huge missed chance for him. If he could have managed to score a goal or two and an assist, his chances of starting in the ASG come January would have skyrocketed. As it stands now, it is going to be an uphill battle for Atlanta fans.

One off night for Kovy does not affect any opinions in Atlanta, but then again, it didn’t change any in Canada, either.

November’s Three Stars

The NHL announced the three stars for the month of November. The first star: Ilya Kovalchuk.

Kovalchuk scored a League-leading 14 goals and added eight assists as the Thrashers posted a 7-5-0 record. He tallied goals in nine of 12 games, beginning the month with consecutive hat tricks against Ottawa Nov. 1 and Tampa Bay Nov. 3. He later tallied the overtime game-winner against Florida Nov. 13, registered a goal and an assist for his ninth multi-point game of the season Nov. 19 against Tampa Bay and posted his second four-point game of the campaign (two goals, two assists) in a 5-1 victory at Washington Nov. 21. Kovalchuk leads all NHL goal-scorers with 22 and ranks second to Lecavalier in overall scoring with 37 points (22-15–37).

Roberto Luongo got the second star, and the third star went to Vincent Lecavalier.

Postgame, @ New Jersey: Boredom

For the first time this season, the Atlanta Thrashers failed to win a game that went to overtime or the shootout. The game can be summed up by a quote from Ilya Kovalchuk:

“I hate to play against them,” said Ilya Kovalchuk, who said facing the Devils’ defensive brand of hockey is like facing six goalies. “It’s boring hockey, but it’s all about the win.”

The Devils play a game of hockey that is like the Minnesota Wild in that they focus almost entirely on defense and shutting down the other team, and capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. Last week when the Devils were in Atlanta, they performed their game plan to perfection. The got a lead, and then shut down the neutral zone and the Thrashers offense, preventing any real chances.

Back to tonight. The Thrashers came in to New Jersey coming off of a 4-0 shutout win in Long Island last night. The Devils had won 6 in a row. Midway through the second period, the home team took a 2-1 lead. The shutdown began. There was very little offense, and it looked like the Thrashers would lose to the same team twice in a week in similar manners.

But then Ilya Kovalchuk stepped in and put a rocket past Brodeur. Even though the game ended in a shootout loss, getting a point against a very hot team, in their house, on the second day of a back-to-back, and after losing the lead is quite an accomplishment.

A few notes on the game:

The powerplay continued to play well, going 1 for 2 with the man advantage. The penalty kill was perfect, going 5 for 5.

If you are able to watch the highlights of the game, make sure to check out the Devils’ first goal. A player drove in on the right wing, and took a hard shot. The rebound popped to the middle, and Sergei Brylin drove the rebound past Hedberg. This is exactly what the Thrashers need to do more. How often recently have you seen a shot hit off the opposing goalie, rebound to the middle, but no one was there to put it in? Way too many times.

Tonight’s game showed the transformation of Ilya Kovalchuk in a nutshell. He got frustrated early in the game, got hit a lot, and started headhunting. His immaturity was showing again, and it was taking him out of the game. Something clicked towards the end of the second period, and the new Ilya showed up. He played with maturity, on defense and offense, and ended up tying the game.

Not a bad weekend. Kovalchuk held on to his goal scoring lead, scoring two. The penalty kill went a perfect 9 for 9. Any time a team gets 3 out of 4 points, and especially in two straight games, it is a good road trip.

Next up is against the New York Islanders on Wednesday. There was a fight last night, and the game got physical. Hopefully Wednesday will be similar, with the same result.

Ilya Kovalchuk Profile

Michael found this video on YouTube and sent it to me. I hadn’t seen it before, and it is awesome. It is a bit old, but it shows just how much Ilya loves what he does.

Second Round of All-Star Numbers

The second round of all-star numbers are in. Ilya Kovalchuk has moved up to 6th place, and is only about 20,000 votes of a starting position.

Crosby again is leading in votes, with almost an incredible 100,000 votes higher than Daniel Alfredsson, who has the second highest. The other player in a starting position is Vincent Lecavalier.

Marian Hossa has 16,854 votes for the 20th highest, and Slava Kozlov has 9,294, for 26th highest.

Who Improves the Thrashers Offense?

Happy gameday everyone. Hope the leftover turkey is good.

James Mirtle has taken a look some unusual offensive stats:

I decided today’s challenge would be to see which players improve their team’s offence the most when they’re on the ice.

I’ve split this into defencemen and forwards, and will look at three different stats: even strength scoring, even strength shots on goal and power play scoring.

Of the top 10 “Blueliners who improve even strength scoring the most,” the Thrashers have two players: Tobias Enstrom comes in at 8, but guess who is the second highest? Niclas Havelid. The Thrashers average 3.99 goals per game when he is on the ice, and only 1.5 goals per game when he is on the bench.

There are no Thrashers in the even strength shots category, but Tobi Enstrom came in #5 in the power play scoring difference.

Now to the forwards. Not surprisingly, Kovalchuk is the third highest in improving even strength scoring. In improving even strength shots, Darren Haydar is the third highest.

To sum it all up, Mirtle combined all three categories to come up with a list of players weighting these stats. Kovalchuk is not in the top 20 for forwards, but Tobias Enstrom comes in THIRD for all total defensemen.

Now for a little bit of analysis. I was a bit surprised to see Darren Haydar in the even strength shots category, but then when I thought about it, I remembered him shooting a ton, but with very few quality chances.

Havelid in the team goals category was a real shock. I know he is playing better now, but he started off the season horribly.

Kovalchuk probably isn’t in the top 20 for forwards because he is not generating a ton of shots. He scores on an incredible 24.1% of the time he shoots.

And then lastly is Tobias Enstrom. This kid never ceases to amaze. No matter what stat people throw out there, Enstrom is usually high up. He is the highest ranked rookie defensemen in Mirtle’s stats, and is ahead of even Niklas Kidstrom and Zdeno Chara.

If he keeps this up, he really will get a lot of Calder discussion.