After getting a different feeling in the last game by striking first, the Thrashers got back to the usual: having to play from behind. Pittsburgh got two goals in the first period off Atlanta turnovers at the blueline and the Penguins never let off the gas, running away with a 6-3 victory on Thursday.
“We can’t let little mistakes creep into our game because we pay for it,” said an animated John Anderson “We have to be spot on for 60 minutes. We can’t let stupid mistakes cost us games, because we get so far behind we can’t catch up.”
In the locker room, the thoughts of the players echoed those of their coach. “Even if we carried the majority of the play … there are just things that veterans are doing that you just can’t do if you’re going to win,” one of Atlanta’s veterans, Ron Hainsey, said. “We can’t make mistakes at our blueline, at their blueline, that end up in our net.”
Atlanta outshot Pittsburgh 31-20, one of the few times that had happened all season, but those mistakes were enough to overcome one of the best offensive performances of the season. “We played a good game, but we played a good game against Boston and lost 7-3,” said Anderson. “We play against the upper-echelon teams, we have to play excellent.”
However, unlike that last home game against Boston, the Thrashers had plenty of bite early after their opponent jumped out to a multiple-goal lead.
With just a minute left in the first period, Marty Reasoner found himself as the center of attention just in front of the Penguin net. Reasoner went head first into the knees of Brooks Orpik after being cross-checked by Sydney Crosby. Reasoner found himself stuck underneath Orpik, who assumed Reasoner had purposefully aimed for Orpik’s knee. It wasn’t enough to keep Reasoner out of the scorebook though, as Ilya Kovalchuk’s shot ricocheted off Orpik’s skate and then Reasoner’s stick. But this was just the beginning of the excitement.
Reasoner’s teammates came to the forward’s defense attempting to pry Orpik off of Reasoner. One of those teammates, Boris Valabik, was tag-teamed by the combination of Orpik and Sidney Crosby.
“I took [Crosby] out that was it. Nothing more. You see your teammate getting jumped on from behind like that, what are you supposed to do,” said Valabik about the altercation. “I’m not going to look at it and watch.”
While Valabik didn’t watch Reasoner’s take down, all he could do after the goal was watch his feet as Orpik held down Valabik, allowing Crosby to land punches. One of those punches landed below Valabik’s belt and then landed Crosby in the penalty box.
“[The fight] was the least of our worries, during the game. What happened at the end of the first, that was just part of the game, nothing more,” Valabik said.
For Pittsburgh however, the moment felt much bigger and they didn’t want the momentum to get out of their hands.
“We give them life by giving them their first goal. We gave the puck over to allow them to score and get some life and momentum,” said Penguins head coach Michel Therrien.
The Penguins withstood the early penalty that bled into the second and took back the momentum with two power-play goals.
Pittsburgh’s first came when Jordan Staal scored, tipping in a shot by Crosby. The second came when Miroslav Satan got the puck 10 feet in front of Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec, before deking the goalie for an easy goal.
The Thrashers’ special team scored a goal of its own to cut the Penguins lead to two, using precision passing to get Brian Little open in front of the net with the puck. The goal was Little’s 12th of the season.
After filling in a bit of the hole Atlanta had dug itself in the second, the hole was dug deeper when Phillipe Boucher shot a puck through the five-hole of Pavelec, just 30 seconds after Little’s goal. The goal not only extended the Pens’ lead back to three but forced Atlanta head coach John Anderson to pull Pavelec in favor of Johan Hedberg. “I think he was just getting frustrated in there, so I thought I’d better make the change,” said Anderson.
His replacement filled in perfectly, not allowing a goal on the six shots that he faced.
But goaltending has rarely been the problem this season, and now the hole is growing deeper for a team—as John Anderson put it—“with a storm cloud over its head.”
So what now for a team that can’t catch a break?: “It’s very difficult on me, I’m a very positive guy,” said Anderson. “It would be different if my players weren’t working hard. Play a little smarter, maybe we’ll get the breaks.”
Boral can be reached at jboral@scoreatl.com.
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