I'm no longer a Doubting Hildy.

Ondrej Pavelec is our number one goaltender. His 50-save masterpiece (very similar to Kari's 50+ save performance against DC last season) just ended, and I have have absolutely not seen a goalie make saves like he did today. He was the reason we won (though Pevs and Bogosian were outstanding, and Max's goal was a practical blur), and he probably should have gotten the shutout if it weren't for a few stupid penalties that led to a 5-on-3.

When the recap gets posted and the highlight reel gets up there, I am completely posting it. Everyone needs to see what this kid is capable of... especially Kari.

Hey, Toronto - you guys want another fragile Finn?

As promised... highlights. Here's Pavs' helmetless save:



And here's the end of the 3rd where he completely saved our asses:

A tale of two rookies...

Evander Kane's been told to find an apartment, which pretty much means he's staying put in Atlanta - God knows he's proven that he can hang with the big(ger) boys in the NHL. He's played in every game so far and has helped turn our third line into a scoring threat.

Alex Pietrangelo's playing tonight in Carolina after an excellent game against Dallas (a goal and sticking up for Cola after Ott's hit), but he's been a healthy scratch for most of the games as so his development isn't rushed. Why the difference in attitudes?

It's not because the Blues don't need another defenseman now, because they do. And it's not because the fans are questioning him, because most want him to get more ice time. Anyone have any legit thoughts as to why Petro's hanging out with JD and the buffet most games?

Ok, ok... maybe good news.

To balance out the Oshie news, maybe there's more to that RDS rumor that people thought. This, from NHL.com:

"I don't feel the way Marian did. He didn't think management was doing enough to make us a winner," Kovalchuk added. "I think they did a lot of good things during the offseason. Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina were good free-agent signings. Rich Peverley was another good pickup late last season. And when I look around and see how Bryan Little, Todd White, Colby Armstrong and Toby Enstrom have developed and how good draft choices like Zach Bogosian and Evander Kane have played, I feel this is the best team we've ever had here."

I love this guy. Completely love this guy. Thank you for constantly proving the naysayers wrong. And thanks for giving me something to look forward to next month... other than the fact that it's FINALLY THE NEXT MONTH.

Of course, there's always the fact that Kovy's out for a month, so... yeah... November? Hurry the hell up.

Well, seems like October's back to normal.

Blues finally get their first home win last night, which was promptly followed by TJ Oshie having his appendix taken out in an emergency appendectomy (per Jeremy Rutherford's twitter feed). He's out for an indeterminate amount of time.

Mason last year, Oshie this year... is this a new trend?

Possible good news this month?

This month has been atrocious for just about everyone that I know, and absolutely nothing has gone right. Well, look forward to some happy news tomorrow.

According to RDS.ca, Kovy is close to signing a deal with the Thrashers that will give him the max salary allowed under the CBA, $11.3 million a year. Apparently it's a nine year extension that will wind up paying him $100 million for the rest of his career in Atlanta.

I have NO clue how true this is, since RDS's site is in French, but look at it this way - even if it's NOT true, at least it's a positive rumor about the Thrashers re-signing of Kovalchuk. After watching him tear it up so far, if I get wind that this deal's done tomorrow, I can probably die happy.

Well, ok... the Blues and Thrashers each have to win the Cup, and then I can die happy.

Two Good Things...

... came from tonight's game: Ilya Kovalchuk is now tied with Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals at 9 after two of them tonight - and he's played 2 fewer games, and Johan Hedberg now has a GAA of 1.40 and a save percentage of .964, good for fifth and third in the league, respectively.

Oh, and Maxim Afinogenov wound up with a goal and an assist, and Nik Antropov got an assist. Bogosian also scored. We were only outshot by 2, which is fairly impressive - our defense is starting to click.

Unfortunately, that does no good, because apparently Vesa Toskala now plays for the Thrashers.

Leafs fans, I'm sorry for ever laughing at that. Seriously.

Hedberg kept us in it until the end, where we came so close to tying it up, but we just couldn't pop one over the pads of Varlamov. Good, hard team effort. It's a shame about that one weird bounce.

I sincerely hope that Pavs was just tired after Tuesday, and that weird bounce threw him off, and that was it. Because if this is reality and what we've seen so far has been the fluke, we're going to have problems. I'm still impressed so far, but I've always been so cautiously, and that's continuing.

Da-mn Pavelec.

Who worked on you with rebound control after the St. Louis game? You are a totally different goalie. I have never, EVER seen a Thrashers goalie make so many highlight reel saves in one game in my life. As Pierre McGuire said, Kari better buy a ticket, because he's heading out of town if this keeps up. Absolutely unreal game.

Probably could have won it if Kozlov hadn't chosen OT to take a game misconduct (yes, you heard that right) by shoving Gionta into the boards. Hopefully the league won't take further action, because Kozlov holds the Thrashers record for games played, and I would absolutely hate to see his streak come to an end because of a stupid move.

Anywho, with that win, Atlanta hops Buffalo for the fifth seed in the West, and we're 1 point behind the Caps, and they've played 2 more games than us. If we win Thursday night (and I think that we can), we are in 1st in the Southeast. If we can keep this pace up, well... let's just say that in our first 6 games we've gotten 9 out of 12 points. I don't expect this to last forever, but I am enjoying it while it lasts.

The Blues game, on the other hand, I am trying to forget. Hard.

About that post below this one...

Yeah, it's a done deal. Don Waddell signed forward Rich Peverley to a 2 year, $2.6 million contract today. Considering that he's good for about a point per game and is on a line with Evander Kane, who Peverley can keep up with no problem, I'm looking for that to continue.

Great signing, and a fantastic move. See, people? This *is* a nice place to play hockey. Ask Reasoner and Peverley. You might say that the reason that they're thriving here is because we have the space to put them on the ice. That was Nashville's plan with Peverley. We put him out there and showed him that we had faith that he could perform. Slight difference.

Re-signing news...

No, not Kovy yet, but Rich Peverley's renewal is about to be a done deal. Since his arrival in Atlanta last season, the Thrashers have had a strong winning record aided by his 42 points in 44 games. Not bad for an underused 3rd liner, huh? And yes, I know that he's back on the 3rd line in Atlanta, but that line's as much of a scoring threat as any other one on the team, considering he and Evander Kane seem to have a li'l bit of chemistry going on.

Speaking of stuff, I know I missed an outstanding Thrashers game Saturday night, and that everyone and their mother has seen this, but Mad Max's goal is absolutely amazing. 4-1-0. Best start in franchise history. I think some people might finally be giving the Thrashers some sort of credit. Weird. By the way, congrats to Hedberg for an outstanding first game of the season.

Outstanding.

The Thrashers are off to a 3-1-0 start to this season thanks to our third line - three of our four goals tonight came from them (two from Peverley, one from Kane). I might get a chance to gush on here later, but I'll be muy busy this weekend. Honestly, though, if you haven't seen Evander Kane completely school Martin Brodeur, here you go:

Ok. Well. Apparently those of us who were concerned about him staying up with the big boys can sleep easy tonight. Also, those of us who are having panic attacks at Pavelec and his lack of rebound control got a good sign tonight - he played outstanding hockey and looked as sharp as I've seen him in the past 3 years. NOW will someone notice that we don't suck? Come on, anyone? TSN, you know you wanna.

Armchair Coaching.

We're all guilty of it, some more so than others.

I decided to be guilty of it in an article for The Hockey Writers. Please, do, enjoy. I'm sure that the Blues'll be offering me a contract any day now.

Shameless cross promotion.

Cycle Like the Sedins has a new season preview feature called "Sore Thumb," in which team bloggers point out the glaring problems that stick out like a...well... yeah.

Check out my Thrashers sore thumb. It'll be out 1-2 months with groin issues.

Something from last night to make me smile...

Ottawa Senators' Daniel Alfredsson, of Sweden, is hit by Atlanta Thrashers' Zack Bogosian (4) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Heh.

Screw you, Saturday.

That is all.  I'll have something up here tomorrow (and probably analysis at Hendrick's Hockey and The Hockey Writers about the Blues' troubles), but for tonight, well... God invented self pity for a reason: wallowing.

And beer.

Ahhh, My World's Back to Normal.

Well, that was generally a shit day for St. Louis sports. Here: this summarizes it perfectly:



I don't know if the Blues were jet lagged still, underestimated the Thrashers (maybe they should take my comments on Game Time and here more seriously! Or, um, at all), or just generally had an off game, but damn. Flatter than a pancake. Walt looked sharp, McDonald tried, Polak randomly scored, and we couldn't convert on a single rebound. But at least MacInnis got a kick ass statue.

Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but that should have been the Blues' main objective, since Ondrej Pavelec allowed about 600.

Speaking of the Thrash (because seriously, the Blues played so flat that summary is about the best that I can do), Kovy scored goals 300 and 301! I mentioned it on Game Time all excited like, Fox Sports Midwest congratulated him, the KMOX crew did, Dan Kamal and Ben Wright tweeted it, and... um... no one on SportSouth said a WORD about it until the very end of the broadcast. Come on, people. That's a big damn accomplishment, and NOTHING? They were more excited about Boulton's goal than Kovy's 300th.

One milestone goal they got was Evander Kane's first, set up by Pevs. I have come to the conclusion that we don't just have a 3rd line randomly put together. We have three damn good and really freaking fast scoring line, and then the shut down guys. Our D looked outstanding, especially Toby and Bogosian (duh), as well as Kubina.

Quite frankly, if we keep playing like this, Kovy's re-signed by Turkey Day, and all the pundits can eat crow. *nom nom nom*

It's time...

"Who's that behind that tree, Sybil?" "I... I think it's Nik Antropov... but he has a hot water bottle! Make it stop!"

Sorry, I'm sure someone will consider that inappropriate. Don't care.

Anywho, it's time for my first Sybil game of the year, where my two favorite teams duke it out. This year, looking at the lines, they're both running 3 scoring lines and a depth line - the main difference is that the Blues' depth line can score.

Defense seems to go to the Blues based on physicality, but the Thrash defense might be faster. Don't underestimate Bogo, but don't forget about Johnson, either.

Goal? Mason by a mile. The Blues made Howard look like a pee wee hockey player, and he's 3 years older than Pavs. This might not end well for Pavelec. He better pray to God that he can stop McDonald and Kariya... this isn't playing Tampa Bay. We actually have more plays than "get the puck to the midget and that guy that Montreal wants!" Walt will be there to whap the puck in to take advantage of Pavs' rebounds, Perron passes and sets up plays faster than anyone Pavelec has ever seen. His head needs to be on a swivel tonight.

I'm usually not upset regardless of who wins this game (though I wish that they could still end in a tie), but I understand how important a good start is to the Thrash. But this is one game... they can sacrifice that on the Alter of MacInnis night, right? The Blues have a chance to start 5-0 this year and further pull away from the rest of the Central - our next two opponents are the Yotes and Kings.

I love the Thrash, and I've been pulling for them since game one, but I've loved the Blues for twice as long - since I was 7 - and I just can't turn my back on my boys. I'll be doing the Game Time GDT... sorry message board peeps. Saturday night I'll play, but tonight? It's all Blues.

Blah blah words... blah blah talking.

I managed to make a guest appearance (read: asked to do it) on this week's Rink Podcast. I chat up the Blues' wins in Sweden, and discuss the Thrashers' goaltending kerfluffle.

Give it a listen. It's interesting, I promise!

Also new on my "list of random hockey things that I do because it's hard to discuss it in real life in the south," I'm the Blues and Thrashers blogger for HendricksHockey.com - hopefully it'll be interesting stuff. Or else it'll be boring as hell. Six of one...

Nah, I'm joshing. It'll at least be as interesting as my stuff over on The Hockey Writers. That stuff *is* interesting... right?

WTF?

What in the holy hell is wrong with Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur? Do they NOT realize that three of my fantasy teams depend on one of them? Good lord.

They need to get their priorities straight. That is all.

We had the second highest attendance in the league last night?

But... but... we're moving to Winnipeg! And everyone down here hates us! And hockey can never survive in Atlanta! And Kovy's already going to go to Montreal! And... and... uh...

Yeah. Hi, media. Kiss it.

Very, very fun game - hopefully a sign of things to come. 2 goals each by Kovy and Pevs, Bogosian netted a very pretty one, Salmela scored on a pretty pass from Boulton (!), and Kane got his first point.

Offense from the defense... though probably still too many shots on goal allowed. Luckily Pavs had a decent game for the most part, though he floats out of position too much. There were several shots that came dangerously close to going in, although the defense knocked a lot of stuff away last second to save us. He doesn't get up fast enough after he drops, and has very limited lateral movement. His rebound control, though, was much improved from the last time we saw him.

We did notch a few penalties, but luckily most were matched by Tampa Bay, so our PK wasn't too active. Also, Boris was on the bench this game, so no silly penalties were taken. Of course, one power play goal was scored by Marty St. Louis... but Pevs got one for us, so it evened out... I guess.

Next game is Thursday night against... uh... well... St. Louis. I'll have to up my dosage of happy pills and magical fizzy drink that day, I suppose.

Mmm... magical fizzy drink...

Can we start every season in Sweden?

Wow. Two goals down? Pfft. That ain't nuttin but a chicken wing that Walt had for dinner last night.

Walter needs to eat more of them. Wow. Two goals yesterday, and a devastating hit on Brett Lebda, which knocked him out for the remainder of the game. Add that to goals by Kariya, McDonald, and Berglund, and we successfully swept the Wings in Stockholm in front of crowds that were more enthusiastic than most Detroit area crowds. They were completely in the bag for the Red Wings, seeing as how the team has seven Swedish players, but I have an odd feeling that they left with some respect for the Blues.

Heck, I think that the league has a little bit of respect for the Blues (and enjoy it while you can, because we're in 1st and Detroit's in 15th) after that showing. No one expected us to win both games. Wings fans were crowing about how they would leave with two games up on us, and thought that anything less than three points would be a crushing defeat.

So, um... how's that house on you feel, Wicked Witch of the NHL? Kind of heavy, huh?

The Wings were slower and had less motivation on the ice than I have ever seen a team have. Florida played with more spirit against Chicago, for God's sake. Their only major asset (ha) was Tomas Holmstrom, who was in the middle of everything.

And seriously, could Kim Karadashian's ass score a goal? I think NOT! Be proud, Detroit. Be proud. Of something. Maybe.

The Blues are showing that they're able to keep pace with the class of the Western Conference. If we can continue this kind of play against Detroit and Chicago, the newfound respect we got from last season should steamroll. It's already odd enough to see us featured in some NHL Network ads. Let's see if we can't become an ad ourselves. Watch out Sid and Ovie. Here comes... uh... TJ Oshie and Paul Kariya. I like that.

We already have the "Faith +" and "Hope +" ads. Let's see which one is next... and how they can work us in there somewhere.

Postive Thrashers Prediction??

From the GLOBE AND MAIL??? Wow. Uh... excuse me. I need to look outside to make sure there isn't a horseman on my doorstep.

Ok, we're clear. Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail pegs us for the sleeper squeak in for the playoffs, and either he's a rational human being or he's been reading Thrashers' blogs for a while, but he says pretty much what we've been stating for a long time.

He catches the fact that we have three potent scoring lines, he notices the size brought in with Kubina and Antropov, he mentions that our top line is going to score a lot, and he notices that we have a top 4 that's the best that we've ever had.

He even compares us favorably to... get this... the CAPS. Of course, we have a weird goalie situation like they do too. But it's not that much of a far reach. Check out the article, and shoot him a line of thanks when you get a chance.

Oh, and BTW, that Kovy + Faith ad (not to be confused with Kate + Eight, since Kovy doesn't have weird helmet hair and scream at faith at the top of his lungs like a chicken) seems to be more true than the NHL marketing dept. knows:

"This is our year," Kovalchuk said this week. "We are a very competitive team."

Thanks, big guy.

Finallly - herring!

Herring, hockey in Sweden... six of one, half dozen of the other... Today the puck drops on the Blues v. Detroit season opener in Stockholm. Hopefully it will be broadcast on GameCenter Live since DirecTV STILL hasn't fixed the hockey situation. The guys are excited about being there, and the season in general. Detroit? Apparently Chris Osgood's sick, so Jimmy Howard might have to play. Wow, so is that going to be their excuse when they lose? "Well, we only lost because Osgood was sick! And because half of our line-up left last season. And because Lidstrom got a hangnail... and... and..."

Anyway, for constant coverage from the European correspondents (they're not really, but they're keeping us updated - and it just sounds cool to call them that), please check out St. Louis Game Time. The GDT starts at 3 (2 Central), and there's another one for folks who recorded the game at 7:30. I'm not sure how Sean's going to pull that miracle out of his ass, but more power to him.

I'm ready for some Blues hockey to start - how about you guys? Heck, I'm looking forward to the Hawks/Panthers game. And that's sad.

Congrats Hainsey and Bogosian!

They're our two newest alternate captains, joining Armstrong and Kozlov. Kovy is, of course, the captain. The alternates were announced last night at the Face Off event for season ticket holders. Getting Pucks Deep has photos, including Hedberg signing, well... Hedberg.

I met up with the fine four gentlemen from the Chronicle in the food court for a Gorin's Special (or two) and chatted to kill the time since the line was so long. We were front row for the announcements... looked around at the signature lines, and realized that waiting for two hours for Boulton to sign a jersey was nuts. So, off to Taco Mac for beer (oh, hell, I just realized that I left my free beer glass there - DAMMIT) and the Caps/Bruins game. I really don't have any cool locker room tour photos, because I know what it looks like... and I didn't buy a broken Eric Christensen stick at the equipment sale. But, well... the evening was a success anyway. I have promises of beer on Saturday. I'm content.