So we’re done 1/4 of the season (already?!?!), and we sit 24th in the league (8-10-2) and 3 points from the basement in the West. This doesn’t look good, and we just didn’t ever seem to recover from the slump when the flu hit.

I’ve been blaming a lot on injuries, but it’s gotten to the point where we can’t blame them anymore. We’re still missing Stone and JFJ and I honestly don’t think that those two guys will make such a huge difference. It will change the makeup of our lineup with some more grit, but ultimately it’s a team game and like NorwegianOiler said, they lose because the team isn’t playing well, not because of individual efforts.

This team just needs the confidence to play the way they were in the first few games and need everybody on the same page. It was easier then because everyone was eager to get started and it was a fresh start for all, so they all followed the plan. Then the flu hit and some significant players were out, they started losing, and the players weren’t sure anymore. Last season players were buying in and deciding to show up on different games, thus the inconsistency. I’m kinda getting that vibe from this team right now because their confidence is low, but of course I’m not a mind reader so who knows.

The go to line: definitely Horcoff, Penner, and Hemsky given the amount of ice time they get. They must be playing well as they all got points.

Thrown in the fire: Souray leads ice time wiht 25 minutes on his first game back. How did he look?

Play well, play more: Gagner’s minutes have gone from 23 mins in Ottawa, to 21 in Buffalo, and only 13 tonight. Was his game tonight that much worse that Quinn didn’t want to use him more?

Outshooting curse: I think we’re 0-4 when outshooting opponents now. Before I was a firm believer we just needed more pucks on net, but it’s pretty clear something else is up, especially with O’Sullivan’s shooting % so low.

Things improved in the second period, well, except the powerplay. Commentators always note that the goalie is the most important penalty killer and Hedberg took that to the extreme. Hedberg managed to clear the puck from the zone on numerous occasions.

We had a brief 2-1 lead until 30 seconds remained on the clock at the end of the second. Two players around the net and Souray jumping into the action in the Thrashers zone while short-handed was not a good decision. Studwick doesn’t have the foot-speed to be left as the lone player back. Even if it were Visnovsky, he couldn’t have closed the long stretch pass.

Back to the powerplay, Atlanta does have an effective penalty killing system. It’s pretty aggressive and caused tons of problems for us. Aside from that, our second unit kept trying to dump the puck and Hedberg cleared it before they could get in on the forecheck.

Well, it’s tough seeing the 2-7-1 record over the last ten games. We went 35% on faceoffs which also didn’t help. As Norwegian Oiler said, I agree that we were often poorly positioned in the neural zone. As well, we gave the Thrashers too much time to handle the puck at the blue line.

With all of these losses, it has to have an effect on the team’s confidence. Hopefully, someone can provide some spark.

cheers!

I take it Souray didn’t play and Arsene did? If so, how was he?

Edit: nevermind, I see by the boxscore Souray did play.

Holy hell, and Reddox played too? Was Nilsson a healthy scratch, or injured still?

I’m surprised about Reddox being back. It seems like our bigger players are the ones more susceptible to injury.