The thrashers team has a big battle tonight against division champion from last year the tampa bay lightning. Last night the lightning played a game in phoenix where their must have been a full moon as it was a 8-8 tie all four goalies in the game letting in at least 3 goals. Marty Turco looked like he had slipped away to vegas the night before letting in 5 goals on 14 shots. The Trashers are not expecting the same tonight and are ready to face a pissed of team who let in 8 goals last night.
The thrashers have made a couple trades since their last game and are excited to get a look at the new players they have aquired. New faces on the team include Ryan Suter, Martin Havlat, Matt Cullen, and Paul Gaustad will all play their first games as Thrashers tonight. The only line that will not be effected by the deals made is the first line of Heatley-Brindamour-Penner-Souray-Poti.. The other 3 lines and both pp and pk units have been effected by the trades and the team hopes it sparks a big win in tampa tonight..
The Thrashers now are clicking on all cylinders and the new additions to the line-up have help the team become the hottest in the BRHL2 with a 7-1-2 record in their last 10 games.. the team is 3-0 since the trade of Marian Gaborik a team cancer according to Dany Heatley who said, "Marian's attitude towards practice was bringing our whole team down he was messing up drills not paying attention and effected our whole team out of the gate, Chicago's struggles since getting him dont suprise me much". The teams replacement for Gaborik has played great hockey. Martin Havlat kicked off his career in Atlanta with a 2 goal and 1 assits performance against last years cup champion Lighting and was the first star in his first game in Atlanta. In the game new center Matt Cullen got his first goal as a Thrasher aswell, the goal was a big one as it gave the team the 4-2 lead in the third that they would hold onto winning the game 4-2.
The Thrashers next game was against a opponent who had won 3 straight coming into the game in the New Jersey Devils. The Thrashers quickly put out any hope of a 4 game winning streak by the Devils. The Thrashers beat up on the Devils 8-2 in a blowout of a game. The Thrashers tallied 4 PP goals and Dany Heatley (2g-1a) and Martin Havlat (3 assists) carried the offensive load. One note from the game was that team captain Sheldon Souray blasted home his first goal of the season afterwards saying, "Being the captain it feels great to finally bust the seal and get my first as a Thrasher, hopefully with the success of our offense right now I will get plenty more chances to add to the total."
In a Friday night battle between the Thrashers and Islanders the Thrashers continued their hot play and got out to a 4-0 lead before Robert Lang got a lucky bounce with 3 minutes to play and broke Mike Smith's shutout bid. The team skated off the ice 4-1 winners and winners of 3 straight. Ales Hemsky was the star of the game dishing out 3 assists on the night and claiming the first star. Mike Smith has been really impressive for the team this season going 4-0-1 in his 5 starts and has a 1.87 goals against average and a .919 save %.
The team currently sits tied for 3rd in the entire BRHL2 with 18 points, and the Thrashers are tied for the Eastern Conference lead with Buffalo right now at 18 points.
The teams offense is the main reason for the teams early season success they have a league leading 60 goals on the season and are averaging 4.29 goals per game. The team has 4 players (Rod, Dany, Martin, Ales) in the top 11 of the BRHL2 scoring leaders. The teams top line has produced very well this season with the pairing of Rod Brindamour (14gp-8g-13a-21points), Dany Heatley (14gp-8g-10a-18 points) as the anchors of the top line. they have had a couple different RW's early in the season, they are currently skating with Dustin Penner (14gp-6g-3a-9points) to combine and form one of the top lines in the BRHL2. The Second Line has been a bright spot of the team with Martin Havlat (15gp-8g-11a-19 points) and Ales Hemsky (14gp-3g-15a-18 points) combining for 6 points a peice in the 3 games they have played together, Skating between these talented wingers is currently well rounded Matt Cullen who will also be rotating to the third line center spot depending on the opponent and Tim Connolly's health issues.
The teams third line is a defensive one who shuts down opposing teams. Gaustad/Cullen-Pandalfo-Pisani is one of the better defensive lines in the BRHL.
The teams defensive pairings of Souray-Suter, Poti-Chara, Hejda-Staios are giving up a league low 24.4 shots per game. Allowing the offensive stars of this team to focus on their offensive game and not worry about defense.
The team has a big game for first place in the southeast sunday night against division rival carolina hurricanes. The team hopes to continue its hot play and get another win.
The team made a big trade today. To Atlanta- Chris Neil, Lukas Krajicek, Johnathon Bernier
To Anahiem- Ryan Suter-anahiem 2nd, phoenix 2nd, anahiem 4th.
The team is really excited about the contribution Chris Neil will bring with the lack of toughness from the forwards we currently have. He becomes the enforcer that the team needs to protect Martin Havlat, and Ales Hemsky. Lukas Krajicek is a very good young NHL d-man who see's close to 20 minutes a night in all different roles, we see him developing into a good 2nd pairing d-man for the Thrashers. The Key to the deal obviously was Johnathon Bernier who the Thrashers are very happy to aquire, we see him being the last peice to the Kings in the NHL and in a few years possibly having a conn smythe trophy. Needless to say the team feels John will become a top 5 NHL goalie in his career and will win cups in Atlanta for many years.
