* For the second consecutive game, the Thrashers will be a home-opener opponent, as the Kings began the season with a win at Vancouver and a loss at Calgary.
* The Thrashers faced the Kings once last season, at Philips Arena, and won 7-0.
* In two games, the Thrashers (1-1-0) have gotten goals from six different players. Evander Kane has two.
* Chris Thorburn leads the Thrashers with a plus-3 rating through two games.
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Thrashers special teams a work in progress
Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay admits his special teams are works in progress.
In Saturday?s 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay, the power-play unit was 1-for-6, scoring on a 5-on-3 advantage with Tobias Enstrom?s late second-period goal. The penalty-kill unit surrendered two goals on five Lightning advantages.
Despite scoring once with 10:06 of power-play time, Ramsay was encouraged by the chances his team had. Especially Enstrom?s near game-tying chance in the third period.
?The 5-on-3 you have [Zach] Bogosian just walking right down blasting slappers and the goalies made some big saves. We didn?t get the exact screens that we wanted, but we got a goal from Enstrom on the 5-on-3. We created so many good chances, especially with Toby at the end on that last power play. We had it in there, we created, we moved it around. [Nik Antropov] made a great low play so now we have an empty net to shoot at and we don?t put it in. Then it?s 4-4 and the game is definitely on because we are pushing them hard. Our power play was effective.?
The Lightning scored twice on their power-play chances, with goals coming early in the first and second periods. That?s where Ramsay saw the biggest mistakes.
?Our penalty kill gave up a couple. Again, the mistake was sticks, we didn?t put sticks on pucks and it ended up in our net a couple of times. Those are details we are working on, we are talking about all the time. We will make that work. We will make it work. In the short-term we have some problems.?
The Lightning were eighth in the NHL on the power play last season (19.8 percent). It doesn?t figure to get any easier. The Thrashers leave this afternoon on a three-game West Coast road trip that begins Tuesday in Los Angeles. The Kings were seventh in the league last year on the power play with a 20.8 percent success rate. Next is Anaheim on Friday and San Jose on Saturday. The Ducks and Sharks were tied for fourth on the power play last season (21.0).
Both the Thrashers and the Capitals were 0-for-3 on the power play in Friday?s season opener. The Capitals were first in the NHL last season with a power-play success rate of 25.2 percent. That means the Thrashers will have faced five of last season?s top eight power plays to start this campaign.
* The Thrashers faced the Kings once last season, at Philips Arena, and won 7-0.
* In two games, the Thrashers (1-1-0) have gotten goals from six different players. Evander Kane has two.
* Chris Thorburn leads the Thrashers with a plus-3 rating through two games.
================
Thrashers special teams a work in progress
Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay admits his special teams are works in progress.
In Saturday?s 5-3 loss at Tampa Bay, the power-play unit was 1-for-6, scoring on a 5-on-3 advantage with Tobias Enstrom?s late second-period goal. The penalty-kill unit surrendered two goals on five Lightning advantages.
Despite scoring once with 10:06 of power-play time, Ramsay was encouraged by the chances his team had. Especially Enstrom?s near game-tying chance in the third period.
?The 5-on-3 you have [Zach] Bogosian just walking right down blasting slappers and the goalies made some big saves. We didn?t get the exact screens that we wanted, but we got a goal from Enstrom on the 5-on-3. We created so many good chances, especially with Toby at the end on that last power play. We had it in there, we created, we moved it around. [Nik Antropov] made a great low play so now we have an empty net to shoot at and we don?t put it in. Then it?s 4-4 and the game is definitely on because we are pushing them hard. Our power play was effective.?
The Lightning scored twice on their power-play chances, with goals coming early in the first and second periods. That?s where Ramsay saw the biggest mistakes.
?Our penalty kill gave up a couple. Again, the mistake was sticks, we didn?t put sticks on pucks and it ended up in our net a couple of times. Those are details we are working on, we are talking about all the time. We will make that work. We will make it work. In the short-term we have some problems.?
The Lightning were eighth in the NHL on the power play last season (19.8 percent). It doesn?t figure to get any easier. The Thrashers leave this afternoon on a three-game West Coast road trip that begins Tuesday in Los Angeles. The Kings were seventh in the league last year on the power play with a 20.8 percent success rate. Next is Anaheim on Friday and San Jose on Saturday. The Ducks and Sharks were tied for fourth on the power play last season (21.0).
Both the Thrashers and the Capitals were 0-for-3 on the power play in Friday?s season opener. The Capitals were first in the NHL last season with a power-play success rate of 25.2 percent. That means the Thrashers will have faced five of last season?s top eight power plays to start this campaign.
