A Thrashers Hang Over...

Goodness gracious I am tired after staying up late last nite to watch (and live-blog) the Thrashers game against the LA Kings. I have a splitting sinus headache and wish I was home in bed. But instead I'm on this blog trying to kill some time with a few odds and ends about last nite's game. After sleeping on it, my feelings in the wake of last nite's less than inspiring losing effort are somewhat negative, yet tempered by the comfort of knowing that a) the Kings are a really good team with a better blueline than ATL and b) we didn't get to see the Thrashers' best effort as they are still in the process of working out some early season / team chemistry kinks.

First and foremost, our power play has pretty much sucked worse than a vacuum cleaner with a busted belt! Thus far into the new campaign the Thrashers are a measly 1 for 14 with the man-advantage. Last nite was particularly galling as they struggled to gain entry into the offensive zone let alone maintain possession within it. As Coach Ramsay pointed out, the PP units did not show enough commitment to gathering the necessary speed with which to penetrate LA's stack of players on the blueline. And beyond that problem there wasn't much else good about the PP as they managed just 2 shots in 5 opportunites. Oh yeah, and they shot themselves in the foot twice with bad penalties to negate the advantage. But you gotta give a great deal of credit to the Kings' men for doing everything possible to frustrate and disrupt the Thrashers on the PP.

Secondly, the T-birds could not muster, nor sustain, a high enough level of energy for this game. They knew going in that the Kings would be amped up for their home opener and they should have been ready for a physical affair. However, the boys didn't seem up to matching neither the Kings' intensity nor their overall aggressiveness. The Thrashers were good at times, but extremely erratic in both executing transition break-outs and establishing any semblance of a sustained forecheck. But a lot of that was due to the Kings simply out-hustling and out-working them; in short, the Kings just seemed to possess more pep throughout the contest and as a result, won the majority of puck battles along the boards and in front of the nets.

Lastly, the Thrashers seemed to lack any cohesive chemistry whatsoever beyond that of the "4th line", led by the efforts of RW Chris Thorburn and buoyed by the slick skating of C Alex Burmistrov and hard-nosed efforts of grinding LW, Ben Eager. Although the other three lines seemed out of sorts and suffered many fits of the "foops", the efforts of the 4th line were nearly enough to pull out a win last nite! The "Thor-Burm" line provided the lone goal (Thorby's 2nd of the season and second goal in a row for the team) as well as two power play opportunities, if not three, for their mates. But alas, the power play wasted the chances it was given. At some point Coach Ramsay is going to have to shake things up, but outside of moving Dustin Byfuglien back to a power forward role, I'm at a loss right now as to how I think this shake-up should occur. Not to mention I feel breaking up the 4th line at this point would be a big mistake, even if C/W Jimmy Slater is ready to play Friday nite. Then I came across this gem on the Thrashers' team site message board, posted by Brice Zimmerman, who goes by "Zim" on zee twitter:

"As far as line tweaks, Ramsay has said he likes players in pairs. Judging by his line combinations, I my guess is that Ramsay's pairs are Peverley/Kane, Antropov/Modin, Burmistrov/Thorburn, and Ladd/Little. Keeping that in mind, here would be my line tweaks:

Modin - Antropov - Bergfors -- Bergfors and Antropov simply have to be significant pieces of the offensive puzzle for the Thrashers to be successful this season. Bergfors does not to appear to be on the same page as Ladd and/or Little through three games and the two Nic(k)'s had great chemistry together last season.

Kane - Peverley - Slater/Stewart -- Similarly, Rich Peverley needs to be creating offensive chances for Atlanta to generate goals and scoring chances on a nightly basis. Evander Kane is playing like a man possessed to start the season, but Peverley has been non-existant. Slater looked better on the wing last season than in the middle and his speed, grit, and hustle might help this line win loose pucks (a specific concern of mine for the team through the first three games).

Ladd - Little - Dawes -- Where, oh where to put Nigel Dawes? Ladd and Little seem to have some good chemistry, but surprisingly the duo has not really done much work on the cycle. Personally, I haven't witnessed much out of Dawes along the boards either. This line may not be a great puck possession line, but could be effective on the rush. Atlanta's chances on the rush were poor against L.A. and Tampa. (Side note: I'd much rather see Pettersson on this line's RW than Dawes).

And your editor concurs wholeheartedly about Freddy P!!

Eager - Burmistrov - Thorburn -- If it ain't broken, don't fix it... especially when everything else is spare parts. This is the only line that has consistently generated scoring chances, established a cycle, and gained offensive zone entry on a regular basis (both by chip-and-charge as well as carrying the puck in). I'd rather see this trio get more ice time than be broken up.Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Eric Boulton get into the mix in favor of Dawes or Stewart, which might give Thorburn a chance to move up (wouldn't look bad on the RW of Kane and Peverley...eh?)."

Editor's Commentary: If you're not already following Zim on twitter, shame on you!!

I had been wracking my brain all morning long and well into lunch wondering what would be the best course of action for Rammer (perhaps the real cause of my aching head!!), and this by far makes the most sense AT THIS JUNCTURE. My gut tells me that eventually Big Buff will have to move back to forward out of necessity. Freddy Meyer is too good for this style of play (speedy puck mover with a great shot from the point) to be rotting up in the press-box! And Arturs Kulda -- currently with AHL affiliate Chicago -- is more than capable of stepping into the 3rd pairing role with Brent Sopel or Ron Hainsey. And the results from last spring's playoffs don't lie: Byfuglien is a big-time difference-maker (to piggy-back on what Kevin Weekes of the NHL Network told us last nite) who is too valuable on the front-end clogging up the middle of the ice where games are won and lost.