Turkey Bone of Contention: Turkey Stuffing versus Turkey Dressing

A Thanksgiving Holiday Review of the First 20

Games: Serving Up for You a Robust Turkey Stuffed with Analytical Dressing, Succulent Commentary and Slathered Generously with a Large Bucket of Statistical Gravy Sauce!!!

Frenchy's Crazy Cousin Decked Out in a Turkey Dress


As we approach the American ritual in which we celebrate the bountiful harvest of blessings bestowed upon us, I thought it would help if I used a slightly different motif for my "quarter-pole" of the season review and analysis of our beloved Atlanta Thrashers. So instead of the typical presentation of the "good", the "bad" and the "ugly", I will give unto you the "Ham-tastic", the "Medi-okra" and the "Cran-cid-berry" just because I absolutely despise cranberry sauce.

In the paragraphs below, I will provide a season-over-season juxtaposition of the first 20 games played much like Wall Street delivers corporate earnings reports. In addition, I will provide for you a comparison of this season's first 20 games with arguably the best stretch of 20 games the Thrashers cobbled together last season in which they gobbled up 13 wins against only 6 losses and 1 shoot-out OT loss.

That stretch, if you're wondering, started during the West Coast road-trip in mid-February and finished on April 1 against the Buffalo Banana-Slugs. However, to get a clean sample of 20 games with the most wins and fewest losses, I threw out the 2/15 8 - 4 drubbing of Anaheim and the 3 - 1 win in Florida in which "Deadeye Dick" Peverley hit the Daily Double with 2 goals including the GW. (Author's Note: I chose to drop the AHM game despite the offensive explosion because the roster still included the Hebrew Hammer, Mathieu Schneider who was traded the very next day to Montreal). Okay, onward ho with the numbers!!!

Category.......Current Yr......Beg. 08-'09......Best 20 in '09

Record (Pts)......10-7-3 (23).......8-10-2 (18)..........13-6-1 (27)
Goals Scored......70 Goals............58 Goals.................71 Goals
Goal Differen.....+11 (no S.O.).........-11 (no S.O.).............+ 6 (no S.O.)
Shots on Goal.....578 Shots..........554 Shots..............565 Shots
SOG Allowed......708 Shots..........661 Shots.............676 Shots
Shot Diff / Gm....-6.50 Sh/G.......-5.35 Sh/G...........-5.55 Sh/G
Save Percent.......91.8 SV%..........89.6 SV%...............90.4 SV%
Goals Against......2.95 (3.05)......3.45 (no S.O. losses).....3.25 (3.30)

Interpretation of numbers, quantitative analysis and the Ham-tastic, the Medi-okra and the Crancid-berry to come after "the jump"....whatever the hell that means.