Oodles and Oodles of O's You Know...and X's

Okay, as promised, here is a rather detailed analysis of not only the flow of last nite's pre-season contest against the Nashville Predatory Creatures, but also of individual player's performances in the final home game of the "practice" season. Apologies are offered up in advance for the length and absurdity of this entry, but hey, I went to the game alone and took a lot of notes!

FIRST PERIOD:

-- early on the Thrash-boys struggled with their passing as well as their overall intensity. Rather than demonstrating a sharp focus on precision passing, I figure they may have been too caught up in getting up the ice quickly to put early pressure on NSH.

-- unfortunately for the Thrashers, the forwards seemed to struggle with the reception of passes onto their sticks and many potential break-outs were foiled with poor concentration or poor passing by the D-men...it's hard to say which unit was more to blame so we'll just say it was a rocky start and cohesion was lacking.

-- when the Thrash did make it up the ice and got the puck deep in the offensive zone (OZ), the top of the 1 - 2 - 2 attack (the 3 forwards) were allowing themselves to get too deep as their zeal to get into their cycle and pressure the D nearly cost them on the other end in the form of near odd-man rushes into their own zone; in short NSH is very good on the back-end and they sometimes make breaking out of the zone look like child's play.

-- by about the 13:30 mark of the first, the boys finally started to find their "jump" and consecutive successes in the face-off (F/O)circle led to good puck possession and eventually excellent fore-checking (FC) pressure in the NSH zone; on the other end, Mason looked to be in good position for mostly poor angle shots by the Predators.

-- GOAL BY NSH ON SHOT FROM BLUELINE THRU TRAFFIC: Ron Hainsey's rough nite began when he got himself turned around in the crease before a Marty Erat shot from the high slot found its way thru Ron's legs and past a completely helpless Chris Mason who could not move to his right since Hainsey was blocking his way at the right post.

-- after the first goal, the Thrash seemed a bit bewildered and stagnant, uninspired defense led to more pressure in the defensive zone (DZ); too often the Thrashers players didn't pressure the perimeter enough to prevent NSH from getting the puck to the top of the circle for a hard wind-up slapper...luckily, Mason was positionally sound.

-- finally the boys nearly got on the board thanks to the hard work of the Ladd-Little-Dawes line, which was probably the hardest working and most relentless all evening. After a brief cycle down low, Laddy kept the play alive along the wall by pushing it out to Brent Sopel who then made a slick cross-ice pass to the top of the opposite circle for a waiting Zach Bogosian. Zach one-timed it perfectly but the young Swedish netminder, Anders Lindback made a perfect read and made the save as he powered across the crease to the right pipe.

-- later on Ron Hainsey's ugly game reared its curly-locked head once again as his botched break-out attempt led to a near costly turnover in which the puck made its way to the point for a hard blast that missed the goal, but caromed perfectly back into the crease where Mason was able to make the save between his legs looking over his shoulder. Of course, Hainsey was there at the post to make Mason's save that much harder (the puck initially found its way thru Ron's legs before ricocheting off the boards)...OY VAY!

-- prior to the final 3 minutes of the 1st period, the "top" line of Modin-Antropov-Pettersson had managed to play some very nondescript hockey as there was little to no chemsitry among the trio; not to mention Modin looked quite a bit slower than Antropov who wasn't at top speed thanks to a cranky hip that was repaired surgically in the off-season. Enter Freddy P, the Super Fly, who's gnat-like determination and hustle paid dividends along the right boards in the form of a hooking penalty and the one and only power play of the game for the Thrash.

-- GOAL SCORED BY DAWES ON A REBOUND PUT-BACK OF AN ODUYA POINT BLAST: obviously credit goes to Johnny Oduya for placing his shot perfectly as the low, just-off-the-ice slapper found its way to the right pillow of Lindback who kicked it right to the stick of Nigel Dawes who easily deposited the loose change. However, the bulk of the credit should go to both Ladd and Bryan Little whose scrappy play along the right boards was critical in keeping the puck in the zone before Ladd corralled it and shuttled it to Oduya; at that point the NSH defense was out of position when the puck was quickly fired from the point.

END OF PERIOD -- SHOTS ON GOAL IN FAVOR OF ATL 10 to 9

See, I told you this would be absurdly long!! I'll be back in a few minutes (time for a beer!) with a briefer recap of periods 2 and 3 before giving you my Thrashers Three Stars of the game.

SECOND PERIOD:

-- Ben Eager was the victim of some over-exuberance at the end of the first period taking a silly cross-checking penalty with 9 seconds left before intermission. Thus the Thrashers started the 2nd on the penalty kill, one that they would kill off successfully -- the PK'ers were Pevs & Thorbs, Modin & Stewart and I believe Lits & Ladd at the end.

-- after the successful kill, the Thrashers managed to mount some fairly consistent pressure thanks in large part to better break-out passes from the DZ as well as better puck-handling by the forwards through the NZ...in other words, passes were on the tape and forwards were better able to move the puck with speed into the OZ. Craig Ramsay adjustments!

-- the best line of the early 2nd period was the Little Laddy line as they carried the play for a bit after a won F/O by Little. During the sequence, Bryan's blazing speed was on full display and resulted in a break-in along the left side and an attempted back-hand pass thru the slot that ended up on goal (weakly however); the ensuring OZ F/O was won by Little and some good cycling lead to a good look by FreddyMeyer from the blueline that missed the net, but the rebound was controlled and another SOG was registered.

-- unfortunately the above paragraph summarizes the best offensive pressure mounted by the Thrashers as a couple of penalties (back-to-back no less) stymied any momentum they had managed to muster at that point; first it was Chris Thorburn on a questionable tripping call and then Bogosian got caught slashing the puck-handler about 2 minutes after NSH cashed in the first PP opportunity.

-- in the second failed PK, the green Russian, Alex Burmistrov, was guilty of watching the puck a moment too long before it was passed to Erat in the left circle where he quickly snapped off a low wrister despite the futile swipe at the stick by Burmie; the puck scooted under a somewhat surprised Mason who may have been partially screened (by Ron Hainsey perhaps?) on the play. Regardless, the young center learned a valuable lesson about taking away the hash marks of the mid-slot on the PK.

-- luckily for the fans who made it out to Blueland for the evening, hope was not lost when down two goals midway through the 2nd period. First the line of Kane-Peverley-Stewart stormed down the ice on the ensuing center-ice F/O to record the next tally; Pevs received a pass in the NZ and from there the slick skater maneuvered his way craftily into the OZ where he first drew a hooking penalty before getting the puck behind the net to Kaner who quickly passed it to a waiting Meyer...before you could say "hellz yeah!", Meyer's laser-tracking rocket found a home under the crossbar "elbow" of the goal. Boom! Lead cut to one.

-- not long after the Meyer marker, 20 y/o Zach Bogosian made the play of the nite to help the Thrash knot the game at 3. Now with NSH playing their patented 1 - 2 - 2 trap (as opposed to their super-aggressive 2 - 1 - 2 forecheck press used to get the upper hand), the boys found it a bit easier to get their rushes thru the NZ as they were hitting the red line with top speed before making a quick diagonal pass or in Zach's case, zig-zagging thru the NZ like a Mini Cooper in The Italian Job before drawing the D-man far enough from the slot to thread a picture-perfect pass to a wide open Ben Eager streaking to the left side of the net where his quick wrist shot left no doubt denting the twine and tying the game at 3. Yup, hellz yeah!

-- there was a lot more back and forth action after the game was tied and things started to resemble a pond hockey game more than a typical Nashville Preda(bore) affair; by the end of the period, shots had jumped to 23 apiece with the edge going to NSH on the strength of their 5 PP shots on goal. So at full strength, the Thrash carried a lot of the play and mustered a favorable 13 to 9 SOG edge, which is quite impressive considering how difficult it can be to penetrate NSH's defense.

END OF PERIOD -- SCORE TIED AT 3 APIECE

Before moving on to the final period's notes, I just wanted to mention how well Oduya and Meyer played last nite. They weren't paired together, but they played extremely well throughout the game. Their respective partners, Bogosian and Enstrom, played well, but Johnny and Freddy stood out the most. Freddy M was decisive all nite long and his quickness helped him move the puck effortlessly out of the zone almost without fail. He had one balky pass at the DZ blueline but quickly recovered and batted the puck out of the zone.

As for Oduya, there was one particular play that grabbed my attention in which J.O. made a risky move to jump up to join the rush with the forwards. Oduya received the puck and tried to make a tricky feed into the middle of the zone, but the puck was intercepted and quickly outletted to Erat, who filled the spot Johnny vacated. Well, Oduya turned on a dime and then hit the after-burners in order to get back on the play. He skated so fast that he intercepted Erat with the puck AFTER he had received the pass on the tape and in stride. Of course Marty is no Zach Parise, but Oduya was absolutely moving on the play...great awareness and hustle!

THIRD PERIOD:

-- NSH carried the first 4 minutes of the 3rd with ramped up pressure and an even more aggressive 2 - 2 - 1 forechecking scheme that befuddled the Thrashers D-men, in particular Ron Hainsey and his unfortunate partner Brent Sopel; at one point Sopel did manage to collect the puck and wrist a beaut of a 2-line pass up the middle to a full-speeding Peverley, who then streaked into the OZ for a partial breakaway in which his angle forced him to go left a bit sooner than he wanted thus foiling his forehand to backhand, 5-hole shot attempt. Did I mention the problem wasn't Brent Sopel?

-- as play continued into the middle part of the stanza, there was some continued mis-communication among the D-men leading to poorly played pucks, turnovers and choice chances for the swarming Preds; at one point, even Mason committed a puck-handling gaffe in which he attempted to move the puck to the corner (and Ron Hainsey I'm pretty sure) with an errant pass that led directly to a good chance for NSH.

-- but there was some good play by the Thrashers as the Peverley & Kane show had launched into full bore; Kane was everywhere on the forecheck throwing hits and back-checking like a man possessed while Pevs was dispensing his unique brand of magic with the puck...oh, and Anthony Stewart was a gamer with a lot of energy, hitting and hustle.

-- however, the Preds would strike first on account of the very shaky defensive play that pretty much characterized the first 8 - 10 minutes of the 3rd; a weird play developed in which the D-men failed to move the puck decisively and the rubber wound up in enemy hands before a shot attempt from the point was blocked in traffic...the two veteran D-men (you know who they are) couldn't find the loose puck before it was snatched up by Marty Erat, who snapped a fluttering shot that somehow eluded the arm of a lunging Chris Mason.

-- the Thrashers responded once again to the adversity and attempted to mount a strong charge that nearly resulted in a game-tying goal; in particular, Kane had the grade-A chance of the game when somebody, probably Peverley, found a wide-open Kane streaking into the slot (third man high just like Coach Ramsay wants) for a point-blank shot from about 25 feet. Tragically, Kaner's wrister missed its overly precise target and the puck sailed high of the crossbar to the chorus of "oooohhhhssss" echoing high-above the sparsely filled lower bowl below. There would be other chances and near misses, but none quite as good as that one.

-- one last desperate attempt to save the day was launched with an empty net and a sixth attacker on the ice; consecutive F/O draws were won by first Little and then Peverley, both leading directly to Bogosian blasts from the right point, one that hit a stick and nearly caromed in and another head-hunter that sailed over the goal. The effort was valiant and they battled hard, but the hockey gods were not smiling on the Thrashers last nite. But then again, perhaps they should have played better in the first 10 minutes of the 3rd period!!

THREE-STARS -- FINALLY!!

3) Freddy Meyer - steady, decisive play all nite; heavy blasts from the point and the 2nd goal of the evening to start the rally in the 2nd period.

2) Johnny Oduya \ Evander Kane - a tie for this "star" as each of them showcased their superior play throughout the contest; Oduya was smooth and unflappable with the puck while Kaner was flying around both zones as if to prove a point to Jeremy Roenick before the buffoon could even make a disparaging remark about his prospects to be a great player.

1) Bryan Little - by far and away the fastest and strongest skater with the puck all evening long; Lits was a terror with his speed in the offensive zone and put tons of pressure on NSH defenders to stop him. Once his linemates become a little more familiar with his tendencies, Bryan may become a rising stud at the pivot. But for my $7 last nite, Little was the best all-around player on the ice in all zones and all facets of the game, save for the F/O circle where he was bested by Pevs, but who isn't most nites?