Kari Lehtonen's ability to see the puck and anticipate where it's (most likely) going next keeps the Thrashers in contests that could easily be slaughters, i.e. Buffalo's first period onslaught earlier on this month against Washington. Of course, there were times that you simply cannot beat a scoring tandem like Afinogenov/Briere/Vanek, as displayed here (sorry, Kari):
Did I really think that the Thrashers outplayed Buffalo last night? To a degree, I can say yes. But there were times when Atlanta were putting the pressure on Miller and Co. and after a few minutes of heated pressure in Buffalo's end, there would be an amazingly quick surge of blue and gold heading towards Kari and getting off a chance or two. It was like for every five minutes Atlanta spent in the Buffalo zone, there was at least one or two high-quality changes Buffalo had immediately after to follow suit. Eventually things evened out over the duration of the game, but it was proven to me last nite that Buffalo has a knack for turning plays around to their advantage... and really making something happen from that. Between the Briere goal and the unnecessarily high amount of three-on-one opportunities Buffalo had (and eventually capitalized on with the second goal from Pominville on one such play), Buffalo's talent lies in how well they play as a team and that's kinda the most important thing.
But after speaking this much about the Sabres, it kinda makes me sick to an extent because I'm just gushing about the opposition, right? Ugh. I had to catch myself there.
Le Thrash did come out from the beginning and somewhat carried that kind of momentum thoughout the game. Early penalties from Buffalo created great chances for the Thrashers to come out on top in the first few minutes of the game... and that got me particularly excited. The Thrashers' power play, however, remains to be quite stagnant in these high intensity situations when, if there's an opportunity to make a powerhouse like Buffalo pay, you take the chance and put it on and get something out of it. I'm not discrediting their power play teams, but something's not clicking and it needs to be worked out. We all know the power play can turn it on (as was evident during their October rout of the Ice Cats), there's no doubting that. But to compare power play abilities against teams like Buffalo and Florida... that's ridiculous. Atlanta needs to keep this a constant element of their game in order to be regarded as one of the better teams in the conference, if not the league.
And there are always these questions about Atlanta's depth... about how they aren't deep enough once you get past Kovy/Hossa, or even Kozlov... and that their defense isn't that strong. Well, compared to the fortress that Anaheim has in Pronger/Scotty Nieds (don't want to spell it out, egh) or the tandem of Toronto's McCabe/Kaberle or Montreal's Markov/Souray, sure, Havelid and Sutton doesn't look that intimidating. But judging from the defensemen's recent play (and not just those two), they are keeping the Thrashers in games and playing a complete game. Goals from Havelid, Vishnevsky, and especially Shane Hnidy are holding up... from their own play (and probably the play of Kari, too, but whatevs) in their own zone. To talk about Le Thrash's defensive corps as something even close to high-and-mighty is astounding.
It's a shame that the score turned out to be 4-1 because that was not representative of a team that put up as much of a fight as the Thrashers did last night. What's not a shame is that the next two times the Thrashers meet Buffalo will be at Philips, February 6 and March 18. Depending on what happens in the next few months, those games will be huge regardless, but for positioning purposes in the playoffs and possibly home-ice advantage as well.
Can a Thrashers fan really talk about the playoffs and not be talking too much...?
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