Saturday night in T-pizzle by the Bizzle, a Thrashers' furious mid-game rally would fall just a bit short in the team's second divisional tilt in as many nights. Despite an early 4-goal deficit, the Thrashers did not give up, but instead demonstrated a good bit of steadfast determination in trying to claw their way back into the game. In fact, the Thrashers were merely a Toby Enstrom mis-fire away from making up the entire 4-goal lead they spotted the Lightning in the first 25 and half minutes of play. But the hole from which to climb was simply too deep for a slightly road-weary team playing in the wake of an emotional home opener in which their starting goalie was lost to a mysterious fainting spell.
Although the box score would indicate differently, the Thrashers actually started out pretty strong in their first road test of the season. Unfortunately, Nigel Dawes' quick release from the high slot wasn't quick enough to beat goalie Mike Smith in the early going and a botched line change gave the Bolts their first real opportunity to score with a man-advantage. The bench minor for "too many men on the ice" cost the Thrashers in the form of an early 1 - 0 deficit just five minutes into the game. On the goal play, Zach Bogosian was guilty of trying to corral the loose puck rather than mark the pesky Steve Downie, who was there on the door step to deposit the loose change with relative ease. Goalie Chris Mason tried his best to take away the open net but Downie deftly slid the puck through his legs to give Tampa an early lead as well as the momentum.
That lead would quickly go to 2 goals when free-agent acquisition Dominic Moore would become the beneficiary of a loose puck in front of the Thrashers' cage. This time, a defensive breakdown off a face-off, would cost the Thrashers as D-man Dustin Byfuglien got caught taking a poor angle off the draw leaving Toby Enstrom to fend for himself in front of the net as Lightning forward Teddy Purcell got free to put a puck on Mason's pad. Unfortunately, the rebound would carom right to an unmarked Moore, who easily wristed the biscuit into a gaping basket. However, Byfuglien wasn't the only Thrasher guilty of a poor decision as both wings drifted too far up the ice in anticipation of a would-be breakout when Rich Peverley's won draw took a weird bounce off the heel of his skate.
The 2-goal deficit at the end of one period quickly grew to four as a sluggish Thrashers team gave Tampa's lethal power-play another opportunity to do damage just a 1:21 into the 2nd period. And damage they would do as two failed clearing attempts by Fredrik Modin and rookie Alex Burmistrov would lead to yet another choice chance for the Bolts. This time Vinny Lecavalier would slip one just inside the post past an unwitting Chris Mason who was screened on the play because Ron Hainsey was busy checking his hair in the reflection of the glass nearby. Seriously though, a flat-footed D-man would once again contribute directly to a goal allowed. Three and a half minutes later, Steven Stamkos would get his first goal of the game re-directing a Pavel Kubina shot from the point. But it was Downie who "earned" the goal with his efforts along the wall where he outworked both Dawes and Nik Antropov to free up the puck for Kubina's shot.
After the 4th goal, Coach Craig Ramsay called a time-out to calm his troops. And the simple, direct message he delivered of "play your game" was taken to heart by his loyal subjects, who slogged mightily through an irascible 1 - 2 - 2 Lightning trap to find open ice and rare scoring opportunities. But alas, the Bolts would be their own worst enemy and their careless and sloppy play would afford Atlanta several power-play chances and over 8 minutes of man-advantage hockey. Finally the Thrashers would break through on a Toby Enstrom rocket launch that was strategically fired to the right of Mike Smith, who was screened effectively by Andrew Ladd. The puck rang off the pipe and it was "game on!" It only took another 1:42 before Atlanta would cut the lead to 2 when Ben Eager beat Smith on the blocker side with a deft wrister that also "ting-ed" off the right-side post.
Eager's goal was the immediate by-product of tireless work by he and his trio-mates, Chris Thorburn and Burmistrov, who was a perpetual thorn in Tampa's side the whole game. Burmy's fleet-footed rush up the right-wing side, coupled with his proper read of the play in the corner, paid off handsomely in the form of a bad pass off the stick of D-man Brett Clark, whom Burmy unceremoniously planted in the glass. And Eager did not hesitate to feast on the loose table scraps at the top of the circle. In a span of less than 2 minutes, Atlanta had recaptured the momentum as well as a ton of positive energy, energy that they would carry into the final stanza of play.
The Thrashers relentless pursuit of Tampa bore early fruit in the 3rd period when Lecavalier was charged with a high-sticking infraction during a battle along the wall with Ben Eager. Unfortunately, the resulting power-play was squandered when Enstrom's attempted wrister into an open net would instead fly errantly towards a helpless Smith and into his backside. But the Thrashers did not back off. The "Eager Thor-Burm" line would strike again as Ben Eager made an adroit pass to himself off the left boards around a hapless defender. Once he regained control, Eager shoveled the puck through the crease to a streaking Thorburn, who used a full-extension reach of his stick to redirect the puck up over the outstretched glove and leg of Smith. The goal was surely a satisfying reward for Coach Ramsay, who had been hammering into his charges' heads the execution of such a play throughout training camp.
The comeback was nearly completed a little over 3 minutes later when the scrappy Burmistrov would find himself loose in the mid-slot with a chance to tie the game, but his quick wrister along the ice to the left of Smith, who was sliding to his right, would betray him as the puck slid just wide of the goalpost. On the ensuing rush down the ice, Tampa would regain a choke-hold on the game's outcome with a crafty deflection off the stick of Stamkos. The 5th goal would prove to be the final nail in the proverbial coffin for a Thrashers team that had more than its share of chances to steal a point in Florida despite an erratic and sometimes very sloppy effort, especially in the defensive zone. Overall the effort was constant and the attitude was that of a winner as the team did not allow its collective "chalupa to lose its crunch!"
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