Thrashers At Blues 12/23/07 Live Blog!

By Brad Lee

Seasons greatings and all that jazz. Blues are at home tonight hosting the Atlanta Thrashers. Game is only on the Center Ice package and in the little theater in your mind on KMOX.

Thankfully, we have the Center Ice, so we'll be live blogging away come game time....here at Game Time online. Here's the Yahoo! preview.

We have family in town, there's a lot going on, but hopefully we'll be able to pull this off. Come back at 5 p.m. St. Louis time, won't you?

By the way, we apologize for not having at least an opene thread or a breakdown thread after the glorious 4-1 win at Boston yesterday. There was much shopping, opening a few presents, dining and other things going on.

If yo would like a full refund, the check is already in the mail. So, you're welcome.

Pregame: SportsSouth just reminded us that Tkachuk is a former Thrasher. We almost forgot.

Don Waddell, head coach/GM, has split up Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa to spread out the defensive pressure on really the only two good players on the team. The Thrashers won last night for only the third time all year when Kovulchuk didn't score a goal.

19:39 Of course I put a picture of Ears up...and it's Legace in net vs. Lehtonen. Both goaltenders played yesterday in wins.

18:21 Brewer tried to pinch in, missed the puck and allowed a 2-1 the other way...right before taking a hooking penalty trying to get back into the play late. The really bad part was the shot had already gone wide and Brewer didn't even need to do anything as the puck was coming around in the cornere. Moron.

15:16 Penalty killed off. Man, the Blues are good at the PK. Why? Feel free to join in the comments.

13:05 The Atlanta broadcasters just talked about how much better the defensemen are in the Wetern Conference. They definitely sound like almost any team in the West is better than the East.

12:00 The Atlanta broadcasters are happy it's scoreless. They've mentioned the Thrashers have had trouble in the second of back-to-back games. They haven't looked bad yet, but the Thrashers landed in St. Louis rather late last night/early this morning while the Blues were done playing at 2:30 p.m. and were probably home in the early evening.

9:45 Nice blocked shot by Ryan Johnson.

5:19 Man there's not a lot happening in this game. It feels like the ice in the neutral zone is soft or something. Neither team can carry any momentum into the offensive zone.

Childhood Trauma Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:25 pm e

blues had one great top line shift, probably a minute of serius offensive puck control with a few shots, unfortunately no killer chances developed.Â
I'm not sure the Blues have a legit scoring chance yet. But it's not like Atlanta has been buzzing either.

1:00 Blues late in a power play. Eerik Johnson with a nice shot from the point. It's kind of sad that only guy we trust taking the shot from the point is 19.

:34 It's interesting to hear other announcers say David Perron. Because he's Frenchy, they make it sound Frenchy. Yet John Kelly makes it sound like Perron is from South City practically.

And that's the end of the period. Yawwwwwwn. Blues are letting the Thrashers hang around. They need to come back and dictate play more. Announcers are gushing about playing a solid "road period." Meaning they're making it boring by not getting out played and keeping it close.

Since we've given so few updates, we may just keep this thread going. Come back after the intermission, puh-leeze? We hate doing the live blog for an audience of one.

Second period

13:28 We've been a little distracted. Blues got lucky on a scrum at the net. Puck was loose, looked like it might have gone in but didn't, evene on review. Still scoreless. Game on.

12:52 GOAL ST. LOUIS! Perron played the puck well in the corner, started to cut to the net and then backhanded the puck to Tkachuk who was open in the circle. He put the shot on goal, Lehtonen made the save on his knees, but the rebound came out big time to the right point and Jackman banged it in the open net. His first of the season.

CT: Thanks for mentioning this "Blueland" shit. I've been to Atlanta. They could give two shits about this team.

And I also like that coming out of the break, they want fans to make their vote count with the All-Star game and vote for three Thrashers...because apparently for your vote to count you have to vote for them.

8:22 Blues starting to play a little more physically and starting to turn up the intensity.

Trivia: Which three Blues have been named All-Star MVP?

Guesses: Hull, Oates, and I don't know. Any guesses? Leave them in the comments.

Marcus Pettersson Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:16 pm e

Hi there Blues geeks. Been out of town since Thursday. What’s this I hear about? Two wins in a row and in the lead tonight? Who’s been good/bad?Â
Well GT is on Santa's naughty list for being slow with posts lately. As CT mentioned, Brewer was plust-4 yesterday. Emmanuel is still playing very well. Tkachuk has been on fire. Three points yesterday, an assist tonight and really playing well with and without the puck.

4:15 Jackman in the box for holding. He got tanged with Kovalchuk and held his arm. Kind of a dumb penalty. Brewer on a 2-1 with Ryan Johnson...and Brewer can't convert.

3:38 Kovalchuk HUGE shot...and a goal. "They don't see shooting like that in the Western conference eusually." He hit the back corner of the net and came flying out. Nice. Announcers trying to say that fans in the GreatScott Center were actually gasping at the sight of the shot. I wouldn't go that far, but it was pretty damn good.

Childhood Trauma Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:24 pm e

oates never did. unger did. if i had to guess i’d say unger was mp as a blue as was hull, and a goalie. plante? hall? cujo?Â
I distinctly remembere Oates getting five assists in one game. I know Hull talked about getting the new truck as MVP.

Let me do some googling. I'm curious.

End of the second...tied 1-1. Blues were looking stronger, until they gave up the big shot to Kovalchuk.

On the All-Star MVP front, Unger won in 1974, Mike Liut in 1981 and Brett Hull in 1992. I guess I was not remembering correctly.

Third period

Kovalchuk has played in 164 consecutive games. That ties a club record held by Craig De Vries. Holy shit how bad is your team if some of your records are held by that bum?

By the way, in case you're looking for THE home of the University of Tennessee basketball, turn to SportSouth. This has been a public service announcement paid for by no one.

18:00 Tempo seems faster. Or maybe that's just the Kariya/Boyes/McDonald. Since the killer line of BTK has been broken up, what are we calling this group now. Your thoughts PLEASE in the comments.

15:56 Ryan Johson seeems to have actually gottene smarter the last few games. He created the scoring chance yesterday with brother Jamal and just now he skated strong in the offensive zone, drew the defender and made the centering pass again. Weird. He might not just be the assistant captain of negative plus/minus anymore.

14:54 This is the danger in live blogging a home game. A bunch of our readers are at the game, like I should be. That and most people can't watch it, so reading about some guy watching it is kind of rubbing it in.

Guess what I can see...oooooh nice play, how'd it sound?

14:23 Kariya played into the boards hard. He was going to the net and Niclas Havelid shoved him down.

14:12 BLUES GOAL! Big shot from the point for EJ, Tkachuk was cutting to the net and deflected the puck right over Lehtonen. As I told Marcus, Tkachuk is moving well without the puck and is so on fire, I might start calling him Bradley Tkachuk.

10:58 Emmanuel flashed some leather, making the glove save above his head as he was going down. It might have been headed for the cross bar, or into the roof of the net. Off the faceoff, Legace made another solid save.

Without Legace, the Blues are a .500 team. And the music guy at the arena decided to play Journey to pump up the crowd. "Wheel In The Sky" makes me drowsy, dude.

Marcus Pettersson Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:01 pm e

How about Andy McDonald? Liking the trade? I’d think so. 5 points in 4 games so far… who misses Weight?Â
I'll answer that one: his family and Andy Strickland. That's aboot it.

Nothing like spending Christmas Eve Eve on the Internets with a guy who voluntarily calls himself Childhood Trauma and a guy in Sweden.

9:18 Dangnabbit. Thrashers goal on the power play. So much for that No. 1 PK unit. Mark Rechi scored his fourth goal and seventh point in seven games as a Thrasher. He was at the doorstep to take out the trash after a rebound. The dude is 39 years old.

3:51 Jay McClement is going to the box for tripping. He was chasing a Thrasher defenseman behind the Atlanta net and ended up taking him down. BIG penalty kill here.

Marcus Pettersson Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm e

…why? Something wrong with our company? Â
Just thought it was an interesting combination from my perspective. That's all. 1:37 left in the power play.

1:44 Ryan Johnson almost singlehandedly killed the penalty by keeping the pucks between his skates against the boards. The announcers were arguing for a delay of game penalty. Whiners.

:42:9 Blues only have 20 shots on net. That's not condusive to winning.

Marcus Pettersson Says:
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:18 pm e

HUGE kill. Now go score a goal.Â
That would be good. Me thinks OT is coming.

And...END OF REGULATION.

That's a point for the Blues, and contrary to most nights, the other team getting a point with a regulation tie doesn't matter because of the inter-conference game.

And 19 seconds in Marian Hossa gets the win in OT. Shit. He's a fucking Grinch.