vs. the Caps - 2007/10/05

Of course, of course, the game result wasn't desired, but I loved being back in Philips for Opening Night last night. The banner raising ceremony was fantastic. All of the festivities for the celebration were great and got the crowd riled up for sure. Even the handing out of miniature banners to every fan was a nice touch, and I instantly know that it's going up on the mirror of my car. Really, win or lose though, it was definitely important to revel in the success of the performances of the previous season. While our showing in the playoffs wasn't exactly ideal, we still got there, we got a city ready for some playoff action, and the city, as a result, caught on and recognized that another professional sports team in the Atlanta area was ready to take charge.

Unfortunately, the banner provided the main reason for Blueland to "get on their feet". We just saw this with a bit of frequency:



I'm sure that Nylander enjoys pwning us some more after how he kinda man-handled us during the playoffs (with his old team, the New York Rangers). Here are my takes on the game.

• Offensively, we couldn't get anything started. Things weren't meshing and pucks were going everywhere, except it was a rare occurrence that these traveling pucks ever met their intended target - whether that be the back of the Capitals net or to another Thrashers player. Honestly, it was sloppy play that dominated the evening for the Thrashers. Sure, some players had strong showings, but they were brief and too abrupt.
  
• Defensively, things weren't tied together either. Players like Enstrom and Zhitnik were all over the place. This kind of play is expected from Mr. Zhit as he is a seasoned player, but with Enstrom, this was surprising that he could handle the load. If I had a defenseman of the game award for the Thrashers though, I'd give it to Havelid. I didn't notice him too much during the 5-on-5 action, but he was marvelous during the two 5-on-3's that the Thrashers had to endure. I also spotted him trying to move the puck around whenever he was in possession of it in the Caps' zone. I thought he did a great job.
  
• Despite three goals against, I still feel that Kari played well. I liked his movement, I liked his reaction time, and I loved his confidence. Maybe it was just me, but I could tell that Kari was ready to redeem himself after his last NHL action (the blowout at the Garden during game three last season). Even on the smallest of saves that me made, he steered the puck away with his blocker with authority. He meant business and that's great to have in a goalie. The first goal was spotty and Kari couldn't do much against it. The second goal, he was pretty much hung out to dry because of a defenseman's strong desire to hit behind the net, and that obviously left someone open for a good shot (which, I believe was the Nylander goal). But the third goal Kari could've seen, but I think there was too much of a screen going on in front of him to have enough vision of the play. As a whole, though, I'm still pleased with how Kari played. I hope he gets the start tonight in Tampa.
  
• The rookies were kinda unnoticed. Sterling did some nice things here and there, but he quickly got dumped in favor of Bryan Little. For some reason, Hartley changed his preseason lineups almost immediately. This was one example of that. Maybe it was Hartley rewarding Little for some good plays that caused him to go on the line. I even noticed that toward the end of the game, Little was put on the main power play unit. But back to Sterling... he created some turnovers that were admirable, but, as I mentioned earlier, things never set in and these turnovers would be for naught when there was an errant pass in the neutral zone. Enstrom was all over the place, was put in the "quarterback" position on the power play from the start and (let this theme ring again) couldn't get much together to create anything legitimate. I thought he played well in the Thrashers end (and he should!) and created a few hassles for the Caps in the corners that I liked. And then there was Bryan Little...
  
• For a while in the second, I forgot where Little was. I spotted him on the ice during the first period, but for some reason, I couldn't see him playing at all for a while. I was wondering if he was benched. Thinking about this silently to myself, I notice that he's back on the ice and with Kovy. Then, before you know it, he scores a die-hard (but flukey) goal with Kovy for his first NHL tally EVAR. As a whole, I was pleased with Little's performance, especially coming from someone as young as he is. Throughout the third, he was a fixture on the ice and that was something. However, aside from his goal, I think he was like every other Thrashers rookie and worked, but it wasn't enough.
  
• Twenty-eight shots against Brent Johnson isn't enough. We needed more pressure on him because there were a few times throughout the game that he didn't make the best decisions or the best saves. He was sloppy and questionably came out of the crease on occasion, and as a result, the Thrashers should've capitalized on this and potted a few goals to make the game interesting.

Those are my opinions of the game. I had a great time returning to Philips for some real game action and the banner ceremony was an awesome way to kick off the season. It's a shame that the team kinda came out a little flat, but I don't expect that to last for too long because we all know that every single game matters.