Evander Kane had a CT scan done on his left foot today and it confirmed that his foot is fractured. He is expected to be out for three weeks. Christoph Schubert’s hip injury is expected to keep him out of action for 3-5 weeks.
The big news from today’s morning skate is who is and isn’t playing.
The lineup is actually going to be the same as it was on Sunday (aside from in goal), which is unusual for this team. Todd White will stay in and Slava Kozlov and Eric Boulton will stay out. Evander Kane is having some tests done this afternoon and we should get an update on him tonight. The defense stays the same as well, and it turns out that Christoph Schubert has a pulled muscle in his hip which is going to sideline him for about three weeks.
That news prompted Chris Vivlamore to ask if there would be a defenseman called up. It won’ t happen today but the Thrashers play three games in four days starting Thursday so a move could be made. So the question is, do you call up Kulda who looked great before the break in his two games, or do you bring in Chris Chelios whose leadership could go a long way on a team trying to right the ship and play consistent hockey?
The theme of the day from John Anderson was finding a way to walk the line between urgency and panic. He doesn’t want the team to panic, but he was them to realize how crucial these games are.
Here is his chat with Dan Kamal about tonight’s game and here is the full audio of his media scrum in which he talks about playing Nashville, the power play, Schubert’s injury, and more.
Marty Reasoner thinks the keys to success tonight are to come out with more emotion and play a grittier, simpler game while also staying out of the penalty box. Not only do the penalties wear down the PK unit, defense and goalies but they disrupt the flow of the game and limit the effectiveness of guys like Nik Antropov and Maxim Afinogenov who can’t get into a rhythm on scoring lines if the team is always killing penalties.
Bryan Little and Johnny Oduya also shared their thoughts on tonight’s game in this locker room video.
The Thrashers woke up on Saturday morning in eighth place in the Eastern Conference but after two quick losses and some wins by Montreal, Boston and the Rangers they’re suddenly in 10th place (three points out of eighth) as they prepare to take on the Predators on Tuesday night at Philips. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the Thrashers have won four of their last six at home and they play eight of their next 10 games at Philips Arena. The better news is that none of those 10 games are against the Southeast Division. Why is that good news? Because as Examiner.com’s Phil Foley pointed out to me yesterday, the Thrashers have a winning (or even) record against every division except their own, which is odd given that the Southeast is supposedly the weakest division in the NHL (and given that four of the five teams aren’t in playoff spots right now it’s hard to argue). Take a look:
Thrashers versus divisions
vs. Central: 3-2-1
vs. Northwest: 2-2-1
vs. Pacific: 3-1-0
vs. Atlantic: 7-6-1
vs. Northeast: 6-4-5
vs. Southeast: 7-11-2
How weird is that?If you throw out their 0-4-0 record against the Capitals the Thrashers are a more respectable 7-7-2 within their division, but going .500 against the three teams below you in the division standings still isn’t anything to get excited about. Every team plays 24 divisional games- that’s almost a third of the season. It’s tough to make the post-season if you can’t take care of business against division rivals.
Thankfully the Thrashers have 10 games to play before they face another Southeast Division team, and the next divisional game happens to be a rematch against Carolina in Raleigh on March 27.
The Thrashers Fan Club is hitting the road again and they’ve targeted the March 27 game in Raleigh against the Hurricanes as their next trip. Time is running out to get in on their deal so get in touch with them now if you’re interested.
Be a part of the excitement as the Atlanta Thrashers Fan Club hits the road for the second time this season and heads up to Raleigh for the game against their Southeast Division rivals, the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, March 27, 2010.On January 30, nearly 500 Thrashers fans descended upon Nashville in an unprecedented show of support.
Discounted lower bowl tickets, (optional) and hotel group rate information can be found at AtlantaThrashersFans.org.Limited seats available, so sign up now to hit the road with the Blueland faithful and become a part of Thrashers history!
Just a quick note to let you know there will be no on-ice practice in Duluth today. After back-to-back games on the weekend and three games in four days the team will use today for video sessions and to get some much-needed rest. There are lots of bumps and bruises to go around and with a packed March schedule the team needs to be careful to avoid burnout.
If you’re watching tonight’s Thrashers vs Lightning game feel free to stop by the liveblog to chat with other Thrashers fans.
With 20 games left in the season every game is huge, but tonight’s is particularly special.
First, a win would put the Thrashers five points up on the Lightning and would give them six straight losses. They’re on shaky ground and it would be great to put a nail in their coffin.
Second- it’s another meeting with Antero Nittymaki. The Thrashers are still winless against him but there are four new guys that aren’t apart of that hex. May the Bergfors be with them as they try to tag Nittymaki with a loss.
Third- this is Evgeny Artyukhin’s first game back in Tampa since parting ways with them last summer. The Ducks faced the Bolts twice this season while he was with Anaheim but he was scratched for the one in Tampa. I have a sneaking suspicion he might want to mix it up tonight. He’s always been happy to drop the gloves against Southeast Division teams and if he finds a partner tonight he might seize the opportunity to impress his new teammates, not that he needs ot after that goal he scored on Thursday.
If you’re scoreboard watching tonight you’ll be wanting to root for the Caps (versus the Rangers) and the Kings (who are hosting Montreal). Here are the standings.
Spread the word folks- the Thrashers are officially back in a playoff spot thanks to their 6-3 win over the Islanders last night and some help they got from the Sharks who beat the Canadiens.
The boys from Blueland have 66 points and are tied with the Rangers and Canadiens but win the tie breaker due to having games in hand no both teams (two on the Rangers and three on the Canadiens). They’re one point behind the Bruins who are in seventh and three points behind the Flyers who are in sixth. On Saturday they head to Tampa to take on the Lightning, who will presumably start Antero Nittymaki in goal. Then they come back home for games against the Hurricanes (Sunday) and Predators (Tuesday).
And how about those new guys? Clarke MacArthur and Evgeny Artyukhin each scored in their Thrashers debuts with Arty scoring an incredible end-to-end highlight reel goal. Check it out. I don’ t know what Mark Streit could have done to stop him on that play. He was at full speed by the time he hit center ice and how do you stop a speeding 255 lb freight train?
Not that anyone is keeping track, but the Thrashers are 4-1-2 since trading Ilya Kovalchuk and as I pointed out in my recap, they scoring 3.71 goals per game without him so far. How do you like those apples?
It’s been a big week for the Thrashers and with games every second night for the rest of the month it’s going to be a wild ride. The good news is that the Thrashers control their own destiny from here on out. Keeping winning and they can make the playoffs without help from anyone else. Feels good, doesn’t it?
If for some reason you aren’t coming to the Thrashers/Islanders game tonight you can watch it Center Ice or via the NHL’s GameCenter Live program. Here is a link to sign up for a free preview of GameCenter Live. Hooray for free stuff.
11Alive’s Commuter Dude stopped by one of the AM/PM’s where the Thrashers were giving out free coffee on Monday and talked to Thrash and John Anderson. Here is the video.
We’ll have a morning skate video update for you in a while with comments from Clarke MacArthur, Max Afinogenov, Zach Bogosian, Chris Thorburn and John Anderson, but here is what we learned this morning.
- Johan Hedberg will get the start in goal. Ondrej Pavelec missed the skate due to a personal issue which took more time than he expected, but he was at the rink for team meetings.
- Anderson rarely changes his lineup after win, but he’s making an exception with two new players on the roster. Clarke “Grizz” MacArthur and Evgeny “You can call me Arty” Artyukhin will both suit up. Both are slotted in as left wings tonight with MacArthur on a line with Peverley and Afinogenov and Artyukhin with Reasoner and Thorburn.
- With the new guys in and 15 forwards on the roster there will be three scratches up front and it looks like it’ll be Kozlov, White, and Boulton. Popovic is out on the blueline.
In non-lineup news, Colby Armstrong is excited for his little brother who was traded to the Red Wings. He’s been sent to their AHL team but could get called up at some point. It turns out the media had the wrong Armstrong in all of their trade rumors.
“I think our team looks awesome,” Armstrong told me this morning. “We’re playing pretty good hockey lately and I think it can only help us to add some depth with guys that can help us out down the stretch.”
Armstrong also went out of his way to mention that the future of the franchise looks good.
“It’s not only this season. I think for the future things look pretty good. There was a big question mark over us about whether we could play without Kovy and what we were going to do and I think we’re showing that we can play and we can win games. We’re solid right from the top to the bottom. We’re in games. We give ourselves a chance to win every game which has been huge the last few weeks, excluding that two week break.”
The Thrashers are 0-2-1 against the Islanders this season with Pavelec getting the SO loss and a regulation loss. Keep an eye on Matt Moulson who has been red-hot against Atlanta.
If you’re thinking about coming to the game don’t forget about the $15 Thrashers Thursday tickets. It’s also Aaron’s NASCAR Night and it just so happens that tonight is the 800th regular season game in franchise history. Let’s see if we can get a win to celebrate.
Here are the videos from today’s skate:
- John Anderson talks about the game
- Clarke MacArthur talks to media, Thorburn and Afinogenov talk about MacArthur
- Zach Bogosian and Chris Thorburn preview game