The Black Kings V. Thrashers: Second Period

What the hell is going on now? The NHL Network is now carrying the game live and the computer feed is behind the TV!! What in tarnation are they doing? Just killin' time because Weeksie has run out of things to say!? Okay, that was annoying...stop taunting us!

-- Bryan Little with a nice burst of speed (what else?) and a slick wrister that is staved off by Jon Quick...Doughty regroups with token pressure.

-- I hope the Thrashers are as re-fortified as me after my bowl of cereal...apparently not as another close call post-ringing save by the goal apparatus!

-- GOOOOAAAAALLLL CHRIS THORBURN!!! Off his own shot, the rebound comes right to his stick and he swipes it home!! I guess Craig Ramsay was right as he looks like our best player.

-- More pressure from the Thrashers as a shot from the blueline is bobbled by Quick but Stewart can't find the loose puck between his pads. Peverley with the one-timer. Now the Thrashers carrying the play in the Kings zone with more pucks in front, but no payoff.

-- Heavy pressure from the T-birds as they have amped up their intensity thanks to the goal...line change gives LA a chance to regroup, but they're offside on the play. Something puzzling me is the fact that the statman for the game has us winning 74% of the 1st period F/O, HUH?? Seems like we lost every offensive zone F/O when we did force a draw. Oh well, we're winning them now and now the Kings look a bit stunned. Early shots are 6 - 2 ATL thru 5 mins.

-- Buff with a good hit behind his own net, but Thrash struggling with break-out once again and it nearly costs them...luckily Mason was there to stymie the shot.

-- Hey boys! When you chip the puck off the boards and try to gain the zone, go to the inside and not the outside! Guys are getting plastered by Doughty & Johnson when they try the outside along the wall, which is un-good for Burmy's health. Good pressure from Kaner & Pevs but again, nothing but weak shots on net.

-- Thrash elude disaster as Dustin Brown shoots wide from the low left circle on a pass from behind the net...too much standing around watching on that one by the D. Thrashers can't seem to mount much of an attack now as the Kings have recaptured some momentum.

-- 10 minutes left and the Kings are dictating again...thankfully, Mason seems very sharp and has made several good saves in the last five minutes...Thrash seem to be tempting fate here. Need the TV timeout in the worst way!!

-- just got to see a guy puke in a recruitment commercial for the Marines! Yeah, I'm sold! Speaking of things that rhyme with Modin, it would be nice if both Antropov and Modin were kind enough to join the fray tonite...they have been conspicuously absent so far.

-- Kings commentator is sounding the fans' lament about needing some goals! Welcome to our pre-season LA!! How do you like being stuck in the past?? Enjoy our former misery. Of course, the Kings have struggled to score so far this season, but I'm not sure how...they seem more than capable to me!

-- the Kings seem to be having way too much open ice with which to operate as they keep crusing into our zone without little duress or resistance. Here comes Bogosian! Not really.

-- Good hustle play by Oduya to chase down a deflected shot that got loose in the neutral zone...saved an odd-man rush opportunity. Thrashers are having no luck getting their forecheck going right now and ice the puck.

-- Somehow shots are now in favor of Thrashers by the count of 20 to 17 with 5 minutes remaining in the 2nd...Kopitar and the boys trying to get the cycle going...no luck. Kane with a rush the other way but no one home on the doorstep as he flings the puck through the crease. Kings back the other way and a long wrister is deposited into the belly of Chris Mason. TV T/O.

-- Mace with a good save on a bid by Handzus off the clean F/O win for the Kings...Burmy now throwing his 175 lbs around and the Thrashers get out of their zone only to turn it over...Kings are tough in the neutral zone...long shot by Burmy is blockered away. Here comes big Wayne Simmonds! Blocked by the D...we are blocking a lot of shots...practice makes perfect!

-- Another good save by Mason at the 2:45 mark as the boys are getting pressed pretty good by the Kings again...icing ATL. Sopes & Hains stuck out on the ice? Antro loses the draw, again. Sopes Star working his tail off and the Thrash get the puck out for a line change. Here comes the Little Ladd Nicky line, but just not very much in the way of shooting lanes right now.

-- Mason stones Smyth and keeps his team in the lead...Kaner trying to do to much on his own and the puck is stripped along the boards...35 seconds left and Scuds accidentally flips the puck out of the "playing domain" and the Thrashers get an abbreviated POWER-LESS PLAY!

-- LA commentator making a good point about the Thrashers generally playing good positional hockey and with discipline...until Kane retaliates on Doughty and gives Drew the Randy Orton TKO takedown! What was that about discipline?? Can't really blame Kane as it looked like interference when Kane chipped the puck and tried to go around DD...guess Murray did a nice job on the scouting report. Gonna have to kill the short PP in the early 2nd and hopefully cling to this one-goal lead as I don't see the offense creating many chances in the 3rd.