Thrash destroy Canes again

For the second time this season, the visiting Atlanta Thrashers beat the crap out of the Canes.
Russian sensation Ilya Kovalchuk had two goals and two assists, leading the Thrash to a 5-2 victory.

I didn't go to the game, and it wasn't on normal cable. I didn't watch it at all, but I did listen to most of it on the radio.

To continue a frightening trend, the Canes went 0-6 on the power play while allowing Atlanta to go 2-7 on their power plays. Earlier in the season, our PP was looking pretty good, but we've changed the system, and it isn't working.

One semi-positive thing to take from this game is that we were back to good form in the faceoff % category. We won 58% of the draws in total, and 60% of the offensive zone draws.

Another positive thing is that we were able to rally from a two goal deficit and tie the game. However, we crumbled late, giving up two goals in the final 8 minutes. There was also an empty netter.

Yet another has been the play of Andrew Ladd. He scored his second NHL goal in as many games, and finished the game with a +1 rating.

Bad news is that we can't seem to do anything about Ilya Kovalchuk. He had two goals in our first meeting, a 9-0 steamrolling by the Thrash. He had four points tonight. We had better figure out a way to stop him when we visit Atlanta for the back end of a home-and-home on Tuesday.

The Canes will be headed out on a very long road trip. Six games in two weeks. Included will be our tour of the Pacific Division. After that, we will play 12 out of 15 at home.

Andrew Hutchinson was held pointless, and still has two points on the season.

Like I say, I didn't watch the game, and it's hard to tell on radio, but Jenn and Andy have awarded the Tevvy to Cory Stillman.