Moose Bum Rushin' Fools

The Thrashers took control of 6th place in the Eastern Conference last night. With a comeback win fueled by 2 Jim Slater goals and a balls out move from the Moose to save a late 3rd period rush by Gagne, the Thrashers held on to a 4-3 lead and clinched the 2 points in Philly.

One thing you can say about this season's Atlanta Thrashers is that they are wildly inconsistent. You don't know what team you're gonna get, and that's not game to game but actually period to period. One thing you CAN'T say though is that they aren't entertaining. This team will keep you at the edge of your seat most nights and will certainly give you a good game.

The Thrashers and the Flyers both came out in the first period and played a tough back and forth game, neither team was giving an inch. With just 48 seconds left in the first period and Evander Kane streaking up the left wing and flying past Chris Pronger, the rookie finds Slater in front of the net ready to shovel the puck in.

This is where the inconsistent part comes in to play. They come back out in the second period and lay a total egg by dropping 3 goals and going into the hole by the second intermission. The defensive play was not very good and we allowed too many odd man rushes, turnovers in the neutral zone and generally a lack of defensive responsibility.

Whether it was John Anderson or Ilya or anybody else the Thrashers did check their shit during the break and came out and decided that the game was worth winning and decided to take destiny back in their own hands and shape it for themselves. With Kovy opening up the scoring 29 seconds into the period with a nifty little move from the face off..they dropped the puck and he went straight from the face off toward the net...found the puck and drifted past the right side, dropping Emery and he went high blocker on him. Followed quickly up with a big break out pass from Pavel Kubina to the Pevs dispenser where he totally owned Emery.

The offensive star of the night in my opinion didn't even get credit for a goal...but he sure made it happen. Big Evander Kane made Chris Pronger his bitch...not once but twice..and the second one was even more impressive. Pronger read the play and knew he was coming around the net but Kane was stronger on the puck and turned him outside and owned him...dished off  to Slates waiting again and Slates pots the game winner.

If that was the offensive play of the game we would only have to wait about 8 minutes or so to see the defensive play of the game. That was all Moose, sliding out and taking out Simon Gagne with double stacked pads, while he was on a rush on the left wing and broke out. Moose lost his mask and his sweater came up over his head, with the puck still in play the defense collapsed down and saved the puck until the whistle could be blown. You could see how impressed and happy the guys were with that play...smiles all around.

The Thrashers held off an intense Flyer attack for the last 5 minutes of the game and clinched the win. It was wild, entertaining and needed. Now on to Nashville where the Thrasher will be accompanied by approx 450 Thrasher fans. We're planning on making a whole lotta noise. If you can't be there folks catch the game on TV

Have a great weekend and we'll see you Monday