The good news from Philips Arena is that the Thrashers gained a point. The bad news is that they lost their fifth consecutive game with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers.
Atlanta peppered Florida goaltender Tomas Vokoun with 12 first period shots. He stopped all of them and the Panthers took an early lead on a Marty Reasoner goal that seemed like it should have been stopped by Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec. There might have been an excuse for Pavelec, because he went down with an undisclosed injury at the end of the period.
Chris Mason took over in the second and played brilliantly, keeping Atlanta in the game. He was the main reason that they were able to gain a point. Mason stopped all 25 shots that he faced in regulation and overtime. Despite the performance, Mason commented on how frustrating it is to come out on the losing end again. “It’s frustrating. We feel we are playing well, but we are not getting the job done and getting the points we need,” said Mason.
Atlanta put forth a great effort in the second and third periods, including 28 shots in those two stanzas alone. Blake Wheeler scored his first goal as a Thrasher, and it was well earned, as he skated towards the net despite being played well by a Panther defender, and stuffed the puck past Vokoun for the tying goal.
“It (the goal) feels pretty good, but it doesn’t really mean much,” said Wheeler. “You got to get two points. This time of the year, the situation we’re in, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t really matter what you do individually, that’s all you can control, but you want to contribute to wins.”
Zach Bogosian played a good game, finishing at plus-1 in 24:58 of ice-time. He too was frustrated after the shootout loss. “We have to keep shooting,” said Bogosian. “It’s frustrating that they are not going in, but we can’t change what we are doing, as we are getting a lot of shots. They just aren’t going in.” The Thrashers had 40 or more shots on goal for the second game in a row, finishing with 46.
The point gained moved the Thrashers to 61 on the year, but Carolina won, leaving Atlanta six points behind with 20 games to play. The Thrashers will have another crack at it at home versus Toronto on Sunday.
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