Thrashers @ Canes: 3 Stars

My three stars of the night:

3rd star: Johan Hederg. Moose faced a lot of shots tonight, and kept the team in the game. Without him, the Thrashers lose this by a sizable margin.

2nd star: Eric Staal. 1 goal, 1 assist. The guy was everywhere. All three players on his line did well, but he in particular was a pain the Thrashers butt.

1st star: Ilya Kovalchuk. 1 goal, 3 asssist. Kovalchuk’s twelfth career 4 point game included a highlight reel goal in which he beat three Canes, and two beautiful assists. He has a 3 goal lead in goals over second place Alex Ovechkin, and is only 1 point behind the scoring leader Vincent Lecavalier.

This concludes a bit of an experiment for me in live blogging. Drop me a comment or an email and let me know what you think.

Thrashers @ Canes: "Live" Blog, Overtime

You knew this game wasn’t going to easy, didn’t you? Game goes to overtime, with a battle for a very important second point.

• Enstrom falls down in the neutral zone, and the Canes get a great chance. Hedberg flails around, but the puck does not go in.
• Turnover in the defensive zone, Scott Walker gets a 1 on Hedberg, and Johan stones him. Without him this game is a blowout.
• Finally a good chance for the Thrashers, Ward gets a great save on Kozlov.
• What a hockey game. 4 on 4 hockey between two rivals that is going back and froth with great chances.
• Finally a penalty against Carolina. Kovalchuk draws the penalty , and the Thrashers get 1 minute and 5 seconds of a man advantage.
• GOAL!! Another beautiful pass from Kovalchuk to Hossa!

Thrashers @ Canes: "Live" Blog, Third Period

The third period starts off with the news that Eric Boulton is out for the game with a sprained knee, which he suffered from crashing into the net in the first period.

• Eric Perrin takes the fifth penalty of the night, committing a hold on a Cane breakaway.
• The Versus announcers must read Talking Thrash because now there is constant play by play commentating.
• Post for Carolina on the power play. The post score: Thrashers: 2, Canes: 1.
• Interesting note: the Versus play-by-play announcer is John Forslund, who also works for the Hurricanes. The commentator is Darren Eliot, who has the same position for the Thrashers.
• Hey, look, another penalty on Atlanta, the 6^th of the night, this one on Ken Klee. The Thrashers continue to give odd man rushes starting in the neutral zone that are forcing them to take penalties.
• Goal, Canes, 3-2. Long range shot bounces off Hedberg, and rebound was put in by Eric Staal between Hedberg’s legs.
• Another goal Canes, following Zhitnik’s failure to clear the puck. Goal by Andrew Ladd, less than 90 seconds after the previous goal. Game is tied.
• Hurricanes are leading in shots 25-11.
• The line of Whitney-Staal-Cole is killing us.
• 13 minutes into the third, and the Thrashers have two shots.
• GOAL! Beautiful pass from Kovalchuk to Holik. Great play, and the Thrashers have the lead with 6 minutes left. Holik has a three game goal streak .
• “Kovalchuk on the backhand pass. If you have ever seen Kovalchuk’s curve, you know what a feat that is.” – Darren Eliot
• Another damn penalty, this time on Holik. Seventh of the night.
• Goal Canes, game tied. Hedberg almost makes a great save, but the puck trickles in.
• Game is going to overtime. Furious third period, with 4 goals scored.

Thrashers @ Canes: "Live" Blog, Second Period

Time for the second period.

Let’s start off with a complaint about the Versus announcers. In most announcing teams, there is a play-by-play guy, and then a commentator. Both of these Versus announcers are filling the commentator role. There is NO play-by-play aspect to their work. “Blah blah blah blah, Kovalchuk scores, blah blah.”

• Post by Exelby, and then quickly followed by another post by Brad Larsen. The line of Thorburn, Holik, and Larsen held offensive possession well, generating two very close chances.
• ANOTHER penalty, this one on Kovalchuk.
• The duo of Hossa and Perrin has to be the most dangerous shorthanded offensive threats in the league.
• Penalty killed, and followed by Colin Stuart harassing Cam Ward behind the net.
• I love Southeast hockey: up and down, with speed everywhere. It is so much more entertaining that playing, say, the Devils.
• Rush from the Canes, great save by Hedberg, and Havelid gets called for hooking. The Thrashers had done so well since the beginning of the season not taking penalties, but haven’t been doing the same tonight.
• Give a team with so much offensive talent like the Canes so many chances with a man advantage, and eventually they will capitalize.
• Moose with a huge save! He is the best penalty killer tonight.
• Penalty killed, 4 for 4.
• I love hockey in HD. Have I said that yet?
• GOAL! Right off of the faceoff win by Todd White, Kovalchuk shoots wide, and Recchi knocks in the rebound. 3-1 Thrash.
• 3 goals on 9 shots. I’ll take that percentage any day.

Second period thoughts: Hedberg is on fire. This is a classic SE division game, with up and down reckless play, and little defense. The Thrashers dominated last Saturday against Boston, playing their style of hockey. They continued it in the first period on Monday, but then got away from it. They are playing their style again tonight. If the Thrashers can consistently play the way they want to, they might not win every game, but Blueland will see the playoffs again.

Thrashers @ Canes: "Live" Blog, First Period

To celebrate the first time I have been able to watch the Thrashers in HD this season, I am going to try and “live” blog the game.

Interesting note about the back to back between these two teams- The Thrashers are in 13th place in the conference. If we can win both, in regulation, the Thrashers will be in 3rd in the East.

• Game on. Way too much possession by the canes to start the game.
• What a rush from Eric Boulton, showing a bit of surprising speed.
• Kozlov scores just over 3 minutes in a great shot that surprised Cam Ward.
• I love hockey in HD.
• Goal Canes. Less than a minute after the Thrashers score. Whitney on the tip.
• 6 straights goals (5 in Boston, first tonight) that the Thrashers have given up have come on long ranges shots. Granted, a few were tipped, but 6 straight coming basically the same way is more than coincidence.
• Goals offically came :39 seconds apart.
• Pascal Dupuis is fast. Really fast.
• Five minutes in, and I haven’t noticed Kovy do anything yet.
• Penalty on Boulton, let’s hope the PK does better than last game.
• PK comes through and shuts them down.
• Hossa dances around on the halfboards, and draws a penalty.
• GOAL KOVY!! Highlight reel dance through the defense on the power play. He took on three players, and won.
• Remember his goal in St. Louis when the arena gasped in amazement? Many of the Canes players and fans had similar expressions after that goal.
• Oh man, delayed call on Zhitnik for tripping. Pretty weak call.
• Penalty killed, but the Canes continue to hold the puck in their offensive zone.

Period summary: Any time you have the lead on the road it is definitely a good thing, but the Canes have held the puck way too long. Penalty kill is definitely playing better than in Boston.