The Thrashers confidently returned home to play Buffalo after a successful west-coast road trip that saw them defeat San Jose and Anaheim consecutively. That confidence quickly turned into sloppiness and Atlanta ended up on the wrong end of a 4-1 final score.
Many times when a team returns from a road trip, especially a trip out west, they will put up a lackluster performance. That is exactly what happened to the Thrashers in this game. “Very sloppy, attention to detail was almost non-existent, and we looked like a team that came back from a west-coast trip,” said head coach Craig Ramsay. “There’s no excuse for that. We had a couple of days off. We had two good practices. There was no reason for them not to come and be ready to play.”
This game was pretty much doomed from the beginning. Buffalo’s Tyler Ennis scored just five minutes into the game on a play where he clearly got past the Thrasher defense and had an easy shot. The Sabers added two goals in the second to make it 3-0. The fourth goal that put the game away was another easy goal on a break where a streaking Saber got behind the defense. Dustin Byfuglien was one of those defenders and he knows what the team has to do to prevent goals like that. “You just have to stick to your system and know what you’re doing out there,” Byfuglien said. “You have to be on top of your game at all times.”
Atlanta was able to score a power play goal early in the third that made it 3-1 with plenty of time for a comeback. Byfuglien had an assist on the goal, his third of the year. However, the comeback never materialized. “They got out to a good lead and you’re not going to be able to battle yourself back every night,” added Byfuglien.
The power play goal was the only thing that worked all night for the team. They were 1-for-4 on the power play, but only managed 18 total shots in the game. “We did a lot of things good (on the power play). A lot of things good, a lot of things bad. We got to take the positives out of tonight, look at the video and learn from our mistakes,” said Byfuglien. “It’s one game, nothing to worry about. We just got to get back on track.”
Defenseman Brent Sopel agreed with coach Ramsay about having no excuses. “We’ve been back for a few days. It shouldn’t be an excuse,” said Sopel. “We weren’t moving our feet. At the end of the day, we didn’t do enough to get the job done.”
Goalie Chris Mason was in net for his sixth start in a row and he faced 42 shots. He has faced 223 shots total this season, which is second most in the NHL. Backup goalie Peter Mannino has seen no action since being called up, but with the shots piling up, it might be time for him to see the ice. “It’s hard to say. We’ll see how Mason is. Obviously he faced way too many shots tonight,” said Ramsay. “We’ve got a tough stretch, playing three in four nights. We’ll just see how everybody is tomorrow.”
The Thrash will face Tampa Bay on Friday night, looking to avenge a loss they had against the Lightning in the second game this year.
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