The Thrashers were cutting a swathe through the left coast. The Coyotes were nestling into their habitual bottom end of conference niche. Funny how fortunes can change in the flash of a goalie’s stick. Hey maybe the GDT thingy really worked?! Guess I’ll be doin those puppies as long as we keep winnin. LOL

Goodness! Where to start? Well I guess it’ll have to be brief because I leave for Cali in a couple of hours (gonna catch the boys at the Staples Center tomorrow w/ my kids).

Every single Yote contributed. There is absolutely nothin better than watchin these guys when they are playin unselfish, balls out hockey. The passes were crisp and on target (oh yeah and were actually recieved by their intended target). The PIMs were minimal, limiting ATL’s devastating PP potential. The hits were timely, the face off wins (while not fantastic percentage wise) were won at the most crucial times (Winni won 9 of 12!, Rhino and Hanzal all goin 50% or better). 9 Yotes grabbed points in this one. The biggest factor of course was Tellqvist, the guy was phenomenal every step of the way.

The only sour notes for the night were watchin Sweets struggle, Kurt is not 100% and it showed on the 2nd and 3rd Thrasher goals. The 2 were both scored on mental and physical breakdowns. On a day when the 4/44 combo is healthy and in synch those 2 goals just don’t happen. And the Jovo hit should have been called. Sorry, it wasn’t a good hit, it didn’t look intentional (more like an emotional JV goin for broke in the heat of the moment)… but it looked like one of those between the numbers and face into the boards hits that can really hurt a player. Thankfully Thornburn wasn’t injured in the MadJovo hit, he came up scrappin and gave JV a run for his money in the ensuing bout.

Have you ever seen anything as joyous as a Daniel Carcillo shootout goal? I really don’t think I have ever seen a sports figure as thrilled as our DC…  both the teams gave him a ration of razzing but I don’t think they coulda been as proud even if they had scored it themselves. DC with the ‘unofficial’ Gordi Howe (goal, assist, fight)! The entire arena and both benches were stunned when DC took the ice (Hanzal hadn’t had a turn yet) but TGO’s ‘hunch’ certainly paid off last night. (see Yotes TV for the great one’s explanation of why he threw Danny into the mix)

The Thrashers are no joke right now. They are on a mission to build something for next year. Led by Kovalchuk and Lehtonen, they were strong all night. Making the most of their chances, strong on the puck and never once giving up. Gotta respect an opponent like that. Kovie and Little each had 2 points on the night and Lehtonen faced 40 shots without giving up any weak goals.

From Telly to Mad Jovo to that crazy Winnik line, the boys gave us a real show. Even Olli earned a reprieve from my constant ragging. Glorious win! Its nice to finally have that feeling again.

Will edit later for pics from Teal

News n notes…

Doan almost had his 250th goal but it was given to Lindstrom since it bounced off Lindy in a net scrum before going in. Can the boy just finally get a hattie? Keep pluggin big daddy, its comin.

Man, can it get any worse for the Habs? Just damn… at least we only have financial issues. Goes to show you, it can always get worse. I wonder if the Grab and Maul will jump all over them and give us a break for a bit.

GMDM was seen inhabiting the NYR press box recently… Prucha? Prucha?

As always… GO COYOTES!

Okay, I did a bunch of things to do my part to change our luck, cut off my hair, broke down and got good glasses so I can actually SEE who I’m cheering for every night LOL (ok those things were for me too but) I burned my troll doll in effigy and changed jerseys too, I guess the only thing left to do is start doing the dreaded GDTs. We all know how I hate those puppies but I am fresh out of ideas that don’t start with taking multiple people out behind the woodshed.

The Atlanta Thrashers are comin in today. (Is that thing on their chests really supposed to be a bird? whoa! who knew?) It’s a carniverous bird known for it’s lip smacking sounds. Well hell, let us all hope they don’t eat Coyotes or their fans (I for one don’t wanna be chased out of the Job followed by eerie lip smacking).

I kinda wish we could see some Ilya VS Ilya? Could be a Russian conflagration, as the canny Kovalchuk tried to outwit Beastgalov. Beauty and the Beast? (oops, girl moment… Kovi is pretty hot and apparently very sweet off ice, Hey! I’m old not dead, I can notice these things!)

Sorry I digressed… Anyway, after Telly’s brilliant performance the other night TGO has decided to give the start to the Tellinator. (I’m sure Bryz could use a break from all the drama anyway)

The Birds traded monster defenseman Schneider back to Les Habs for multiple picks a couple of days ago. Weird, as they started a long West Coast road trip right about then. But since they got red hot, maybe not so weird. The Thrashers are knocking off their left coast opponents like crazy (ATL vs ANA 8 – 4 and ATL vs LAK 7 – 6). They have 15 freakin goals in 2 games! Outscoring their opponents 6 – 3 in the first periods… IDK what they are doing right, but damn we need to be ready for this game from puck drop. “Interestingly, they’ve had this first-period epiphany on rinks that are unfamiliar to most of the team. Atlanta hadn’t played in Anaheim, Phoenix and San Jose since December 3-6 of 2005, and hadn’t been in Los Angeles since January 19, 2006. Of course not remembering that last visit isn’t so bad, as the Thrashers lost all four games and were outscored 20-12.”

Kovi will be a major key in this one, after the hattie he laid on ANA (three goals in a 6:51 span of the second period) and the 2 goals plus an assist he trounced the Kings with, Marty Hanzal will have his hands full. But don’t count out those other crazy Thrashers, they’ve been breaking personal milestones in points (Kozlov w/ his 800th) and PIMS lately and of course it’ll be our first look at rookie Zach Bogosian too. Remember its not just Kovalchuk that can do damage on this team. Watch out for noobie Brian Little (he’s been having a good year and is mega help on my fantasy roster, but I’ll take the hit gladly if we can shut him down tonight) and be very careful not to ignore that damn Coyote killer Peverly.

Keys to the game? WTH? Just win dammittt!

• Stop Kovalchuk!
• Come out nasty and pissy and shooting hard from first puck drop.
• Give your goalie some decent coverage, he’ll do the rest but he can’t do it all.
• DISCIPLINE! These guys can break your hearts w/ their power play.
• Don’t take a break until the final buzzer, whistle to whistle play your hearts out please.
• Your gonna have to put mucho rubber on Lehtonen. (he avgs 3.17…lets bump that number up a bit please)

Apparently Wayne has figured out that his lines aren’t working. Doaner will be paired back with Rhino according to an after practice interview from the Yotes site. With Sauer back and Haler most likely suffering from new fatherhood syndrome I’m hoping DHL sits this one out. We need Mad Jovo to be on the ice and for Olli to step up against one of his former conference nemesis like he did against the Panthers. Z, I hope you worked on your outlet passes in practice sweetie…they been lackin. Lisin, Boeds don’t go to the neutral and wait for a pass… that doesn’t work for you, catchin a pass on the fly lets you use your tremendous speed… remember what I keep tellin Muells… MOVE YOUR FEET!

We’re coming up against a team riding high on a very successful road swing, we better be ready and there better not be any gaps in our hustle nor in our neutral zone coverage.

Check out the Thrasher’s GDT crews:

Thrashers 411

Wazzupwitchu

Bird Watcher’s Anonymous

News n Notes:

Our friend the Ice Hockey Diva got the scoop on the fan brawl for us, according to her sources “there’s a guy that always sits behind the opposing team’s penalty box talking trash. (They’ve decided to add more security there, thanks to him.) Apparently, it was the Coyotes fan who said something to Phaneuf & the Calgary fan 2 rows up didn’t like it. Apparently, the Coyotes fan was wearing a large ring and now the Calgary fan has an imprint of it in his forehead.”

As always GO COYOTES!