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Five-Game Report Card: Games One through Five

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By timmyf
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This is a new feature I'll attempt to keep going through the season: the five-game report card. Every five games, I'll attempt to break down some stats for both the team and individuals. Ideally, I'll get this up within a day or two of the fifth game of the series, but I'm not making any promises.

This post will take a look at the first five games of the season, a period during which the Thrashers went 3-2 while playing 4 games on the road. The season started on a rather scary note, as starting goaltender Ondrej Pavelec collapsed 2:25 into the first game of the season, a home game against the Washington Capitals. The Thrashers went on to win that game 4-2 after a shaky first period.

The team left for a four-game road swing against the Lightning, Kings, Ducks, and Sharks. They picked up four points in these four contests, finishing the five-game series with a 3-2-0 record. This 0.600 points percentage projects to a 98 point season, more than enough to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference (assuming past trends continue this season.)

More stats after the jump.

Over This Five Game Period

  • Record: 3-2-0 (0.600 P%)
  • Goals Scored/Allowed: 17/16 (1.0625)
  • PP%/PK%: 23.8%/71.4%
  • Goal Leaders: Stewart (4), Thorburn (3), Kane (3)
  • Assist Leaders: Little, Ladd, Oduya, Enstrom (3 each)
  • Point Leaders: Ladd (5), Stewart (4), Thorburn (4), Enstrom (4)
  • +/- Leaders/Trailers: Sopel, Thorburn (+4), Ladd, Little (+3) / Dawes (-4), Modin, Byfuglien, Antropov (-3)
  • Team +/-: Even
  • Shot Leaders: Kane (18), Ladd (14), Stewart (12), Byfuglien (12)
  • Blocked Shot Leaders: Sopel (15), Hainsey (11), Enstrom (10)
  • Hit Leaders: Byfuglien (14), Stewart (10), Kane (9)
  • Faceoff Leaders: Slater (11-for-19, 57.9%), Peverley (35-for-57, 61.4%)
On the Season Ranks
  • Points %: 0.600, T-12th
  • Goals Scored: 3.2/game, 8th
  • Goals Allowed: 3.2/game, T-24th
  • 5-on-5 GF/GA: 1.12, 12th
Notes: Nik Antropov has been playing very small minutes so far this year. He had off-season hip surgery and wasn't a full participant in parts of camp and preseason. As he gets healthier and up to game speed, expect his minutes to go up. Niclas Bergfors also was a healthy scratch during this period after a slow start and the return of Jim Slater, but Freddy Modin got a bit banged up and Bergfors worked his way back into the lineup. Anthony Stewart's four goals over this period is enough to double his 4 career goals entering the season. Bryan Little and Andrew Ladd have played very well both as individuals and linemates. The Eager - Burmistrov - Thorburn line has gotten a lot of attention thanks to the 4 goals they've scored (with a combined +8), but the Little line has performed very, very well.

Oddly enough, the conventional wisdom before the season was that the Thrashers should play very solid defense but would have issues scoring. So far, it's been very much the opposite. If not for the very strong play of Chris Mason in goal, the Thrashers easily could have given up 4 or more goals per game. Mason's built a wall behind the Thrashers' often porous defense, making several key stops to keep the team in the game.

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