Five-Game Report Card: Games Six through Ten

The Thrashers' second set of five games was an interesting one for sure. These games saw Evander Kane and Andrew Ladd continue to dominate, but newcomer Dustin Byfuglien began to pick up his play in a big way. If you look at the ranks below, you'll see that he's a leader in several categories over this stretch.

In addition, Niclas Bergfors shot back into significance with strong play both with and without the puck. If he continues to play like he did over this stretch, he won't be a healthy scratch again anytime soon.

Despite the 2-2-1 record over this period, there are problems. The Thrashers won (or stayed close) in these games thanks to strong special teams, but they are giving up far too many goals against and are playing very poorly at 5-on-5. The team's -33 was shockingly bad and the 5-on-5 GF/GA ratio - perhaps the best predictor of a team's place in the standings over the long haul - was 0.69, good for just 27th in the NHL. Ouch.

I'll hopefully have more to say over the next few weeks about some of the stats and trends we've seen so far (with graphs!), but for now, take a look at a few of the raw numbers I've been tracking below.

Over This Five Game Period

• Record: 2-2-1 (0.500 P%)
• Goals Scored/Allowed: 16/20 (0.750)
• PP%/PK%: 21.4%/87.0%
• Goal Leaders: Kane, Byfuglien (3), Ladd, Bergfors (2)
• Assist Leaders: Enstrom (5), Peverley, Stewart (4), Ladd, Byfuglien (3)
• Point Leaders: Enstrom, Byfuglien (6), Ladd (5), Peverley, Stewart, Bergfors, Kane (4)
• +/- Leaders/Trailers: Peverley (+3), Boulton, Bergfors, Ladd (+1), Hainsey, Burmistrov (-4), Modin, Oduya (-5)
• Team +/-: Minus-33
• Shot Leaders: Byfuglien (21), Kane (19), Stewart (9)
• Blocked Shot Leaders: Hainsey (13), Sopel (12), Meyer, Oduya, Enstrom (11)
• Hit Leaders: Eager (11), Thorburn, Kane (9)
• Faceoff Leaders: Slater (20-for-33, 64.5%), Peverley (33-for-57, 59.6%)