On a lighter note

Well, the Thrash came into town and beat the Canes about the head and shoulders tonight. The funny thing to me was that our best period was the one in which Atlanta scored its opposed goals. I mean, the Canes controlled play in the first, but two plays - a great individual effort by Marian Hossa on the first goal and a defensive gaffe (that's a great word) combined with Mike Commodore not covering the two-on-one well for the second. That was the game in a nutshell.

The second and third were quite miserable and the guys seemed lost, despite Cam nominally keeping the team in the game. Ward was our best player tonight and there was nothing he could have done about either goal scored on him.

A few more thoughts on the game:

• Chad "He Hate Me" LaRose seemed to draw just about every Atlanta penalty. It was bizarre. It's like the entire city of Atlanta has a deep wish to see Chad beaten and bloodied.
• My inside voice took over once during the third period on an Atlanta three-on-two break. I believe what I said was "David Frickin' Tanabe! Cover the trailer, damn it!" He was staring at the guy with the puck and not the Atlanta player crashing the net. Luckily it was broken up anyway.
• The high sticking non-call on Pascal Dupuis - When Brindy took the stick up high, half the crowd was irate. I didn't have the benefit of instant replay, but my initial impression was that it probably shouldn't have been a penalty. It looked to me that Brindy took Dupuis' feet right out from under him and, when he was in mid-air from this, he caught Brindy up high. It could have been both of them called for penalties, so it was just as well that it ended up being neither. Granted I could see a replay later and change my opinion, but like the ref, that was my impression on the spot.
• The passing was weak and lazy tonight. After the first period, the Canes made several half-assed, disinterested passes that were easily intercepted by the Thrashers. It was very disappointing.
• Brat Watson made his first appearance at the RBC since "Divegate". I'm actually mad at myself for even typing that. Anyway, the crowd didn't particularly let him feel their wrath. The crowd energy was a bit underwhelming tonight, not that the Canes did much to help it.