Game Recap: Thrashers vs. Panthers

Panthers 1, Thrashers 0

Man, what a crappy way to start this blog.

I thought maybe Atlanta would sneak out a win in this one and give me something good to blog about in my first recap.

Not so much.

Instead, the Thrashers (21-20-7) let the Panthers jump over them in the division standings, pushing Atlanta back to third in the Southeast. So not only is this team losing ground in the conference, but now it can't even keep it's head above water in arguably the worst division in the NHL.

The Panthers (21-20-8) are now a single win away from cracking the top eight for first time in what seems like eons.

And these losses hurt the worst. One-goal losses are at least kind of bittersweet when it goes past regulation, salvaging a loser point.

But when your offense can't even manage a single goal in 60 minutes of hockey, while the other team only needs one for the win, it only makes you realize how one decision change could have made the night a lot different.

But it's not all that bad. The nights have been worse.

This could be a completely different tone of post if Atlanta had been struggling to score for a couple of games. Saturday's 5-3 win over Carolina reassures us that the offense is still there, and that tonight's game was nothing more than a solid outing by Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun, who had 27 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.

Of course, the Thrashers were outshot, as usual. But only by a small margin. 27-24 to be exact. Atlanta had a small surge with 14 shots on goal in the third period, so something was going right. Once again, nothing more than Vokoun playing solid hockey.

But props as well to Johan Hedberg playing solid goal at the other end. 26 saves is a relatively easy night for an Atlanta goalie.

Other things:

Both teams sucked on the power play. A game total of 0-for-7, which is a surprise, seeing how Atlanta and Florida are 21st and 22nd, respectively, in the NHL on the penalty kill.

Eric Boulton had four shots on goal. Probably because he's getting more playing time with offensive-minded players, now that he's been broken up from Chris Thorburn and Jim Slater. But there's no reason that he should be the high shooter for the night.

Slater was good on the faceoff. Winning seven draws. As for a team total, Florida had a 27-20 advantage. Tsk tsk.

A typical goalie's game. Vokoun and Hedberg both played well, and a small miss on Moose's part ended up being the difference maker. Shit happens.

With Toronto in town tomorrow night, Ondrej Pavelec will likely get the start. He's been hot as of late; his GAA is under 2 the last three games. But at this point, you can't make any assumptions about the goaltenders. Pavelec has been known to ruin his hot streak with awful games.

I'm out. Bed awaits.

Mitch