Sabres Thrash Thrashers 10-1

by Jes

So, I'm checking out the boxscores from last night, as I was out and didn't see any NHL action last night.

Pretty standard stuff until I hit the Buffalo-Atlanta game

Buffalo 10
Atlanta 1

Is that right? Now, this was 6:30am and my eyes were a bit fuzzy. I figure I had a spare eye crusty blocking my vision and this wasn't right. Well, eye crusty was quickly wiped away, the Pet Shop boys were singing away in my headphones, and the 10 remained. Yoikes!

So, I loaded up the boxscore in anticipation and just imagined how Thrashers fans felt this morning after their team was pwned by a Sabres squad that hadn't won a game in its past 10. Since Greg is probably drowning himself in a case of Budvar, I had to look to Ben Wright over at The Blueland Blog.

There's nothing you can do to explain, justify or rationalize a debacle like last night's 10-1 loss in Buffalo. The Sabres played well and the Thrashers played about as badly as I've ever seen them play. Everyone that was on or behind the bench has to take some responsibility, with the possible exceptions of Nic Havelid, Tobias Enstrom and Colin Stuart. Stuart scored the lone goal for the Thrashers (short-handed) and finished the night even. Havelid and Enstrom, by some minor miracle, weren't on the ice for a any of Buffalo's seven even strength goals and they both finished +1. They were out there for Buffalo's first power play goal though- the one that came 19 seconds in the penalty.

It was about as ugly as a loss could be, but thankfully nobody got hurt and you can only give up two points in the standings. A loss is a loss and the bad ones don't count any differently than the close ones IF you can find a way to move on.

Exactly, IF the Thrashers can move on. It's just one game of 82 in the standings, but getting smoked so badly can either crush a team or motivate them not to suck like that ever again.

The South(l)East Division still remains tighter than a ... err... I can't think of anything NOT dirty ... moving on, then *ahem*

Carolina 50GP 50 PTS -10 Goal differential
Atlanta 49GP 49PTS -27(!) GD
Florida 48GP 46PTS -16GD
Washington 46GP 45PTS -12GD
Tampa Bay 47GP 41PTS -22GD

With Nylander out for about a month, the Caps will likely lose the momentum they were gaining. The smart money is still on the Hurricanes, as they have the most talent and don't seem as fragile as the boom/bost Thrashers.

It'll be close ...