-- GAME ON!! Remember the Thrashers will be going on the penalty kill shortly so this could get very interesting quickly. Man this FS-West analyst is very chatty, but he's usually right on point...Kopitar shot wide. Oh shit, phew, I think Laddy got away with a hook on Doughty. DD is definitely the better (well, at least more dangerous offensive) player tonite. So much for Armenian pride! ANOTHER POST SAVE by the goal apparatus...sheesh!
-- Penalty summarily killed by the skin of the goal post as Mason was screened on a point shot that was just wide enough for the Thrashers. Here we go back to full strength and Hainsey fans on a point shot, but the Thrashers retreat is an alert and effective one so far. Gotta get this puck out and it is cleared by guess who, Thorburn!
-- Big Buff boxing out in front as Dawes and Enstrom go to work...puck cleared but no real offensive attack as the Thrashers make a line change. GOAL KINGS as Ryan Smyth gets an easy back-hand put-back since Bogey was busy tying up Dustin Brown. Support from the wing was non-existent and Mason hung out to dry. 1 to 1 now with 16 mins left.
-- Little and Oduya with back to back one and done bids, but Quick calmly redirects the puck out of harm's way. Looked as though the tempo was going to get ratcheted up but Kings love to slow it down. Thorburn overskates a pass and the Kings go back the other way...fingers crossed! Who the hell is Jake Muzzhin? Shit, another scrum in front of Mason but he scoops it up.
-- One thing is sure: both me and the Thrashers will be quite tired after all of this non-stop action...GOAL KINGS as Mason allows his first real softy of the season...I think Hainsey got a piece of the puck which turned the wrister into a fluttering, wounded duck that quacked its way to the right of Mason who was moving left. I guess that was Lady Luck paying back the Kings for all of their pipe-shots. Damn. Now the Thrashers will need to raise their game, if they can.
-- 13 minutes left in this tilt and the Thrashers will need to check their guts once again in the middle of the final period. Problem is they can't seem to hold onto the puck very long as the Kings are aggressively pursuing the puck at every turn. Little tries his best to gain an advantage but can't muster much of a shot on the backhand side. Mason with another tricky save and pucks are barely missing LA sticks and goal posts. Christ our goose appears to be cooked!
-- Who will step up and be our Chris Thorburn??! Why Chris Thorburn of course! He creates a chance for Burmy in the slot whose stick is chopped in half by a would-be Kings defender. The referree did not approve of this tactic and has whistled play dead for a Thrashers PP!! Oh boy, here is the litmus test for your early season coaching adjustments...will they get some looks?
-- Kings outshooting Thrashers 9 to 3 in the 3rd period as my battery is about to die...good nite folks! Check back tomorrow to see if we won!! Okay, just kidding as I'm back in business. Thrashers got a couple of decent looks but Ladd was stopped on the doorstep and Buff's big blast went wide...sound familiar? God bless hit the net son for a rebound! PP killed by Kings and the Thrashers need a miracle down one with 8 minutes left. Johnny Burma, come save us please!!
-- Thrashers finally mount some offensive pressure and get a great look on a 2 on 1 break with Bergie waiting and waiting before feeding a streaking Little who tried to one-time the puck, but didn't catch it cleanly and Quick was able to get there in time sliding to his right. Then all hell brooke loose in front of the net as the puck was dancing around the offensive zone with Thrashers swooping in from the point to keep it alive and attempt to score the equalizer. But to no avail the puck just wouldn't cooperate and the Thrashers will have 5 minutes to get it done.
-- Well, the Thrashers come up empty despite a frenzied and furious offensive attack in which they had several grade-A looks from the slot and close range. Burmy had a wrister from the high slot that was deflected just high over the crossbar; Kaner had a sweet rush in which he adeptly snapped a wrister through a D-man's legs only for Quick to trap it between his legs. Later, Kaner would re-direct a Toby Enstrom wrister from the left point that would take a big hop down onto the ice but alas, the hop was too big and it bounced right into Quick's belly rather than through his legs.
-- The Thrashers did not relent and kept coming in waves, but their final goalie-less push could not deliver as a loose puck was pushed out of the zone into the neutral zone where Toby Enstrom could not corral the bouncing bean which shuttled down the ice into the Thrashers' empty net.
-- Thrashers lose 3 to 1 as the Kings rally in the 3rd period to win their home opener. An empty feeling for sure as the team defense was very good for the most part, but it could not hold completely in the face of staunch Kings pressure in the middle portion of the final stanza. Now it's onto, well, bed first, and then down the road to Anaheim for a showdown with their feathered friends, the Ducks Friday night.
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