Thrashers Defeat Rangers 5-3 at Garden Thursday

The Atlanta Thrashers defeated the New York Rangers 5-3 on Thursday. I went to the game with my friend and they lost, badly, on my birthday no less! I saw rookie Michael Del Zotto walking along Seventh Avenue at 31st Street and should have stopped him to say hello. But he looked a bit shell shocked with all the people walking around him in the light rain. The Thrashers beat them to the puck all night long while the Rangers looked slow in the early going. They had 8 penalties called and they cannot expect to win if they’re killing penalties all game. Thrasher Colby Armstrong scored 19 seconds into the game between Henrik Lundqvist’s pads and the Garden fell silent. Many fans were just getting seated and were stunned. Artem Anisimov scored at 4:08 in the 1st period to tie the game 1-1. The Thrashers scored early in the 2nd period to take the 2-1 lead and Marian Gaborik scored a power play goal at 15:28 to tie it at 2-2. Two quick Thrasher goals late in the period gave them the 4-2 lead. Ilya Kovalchuk was just too much for the Blueshirts. Brian Boyle cut the deficit to one goal at 6:18 of the 3rd period on a great wrist shot from the low slot. Former Ranger Big Boy #80 Nik Antropov had a good game in front of Lundqvist and ended with 2 assists. The Rangers had 18 shots on goal in the 3rd period but could not finish. If they played that hard from the beginning of the game it would have been a different outcome. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 22 of 26 shots, with 2 goals coming on Atlanta power plays. The three stars of the game were Ilya Kovalchuk (Thrashers), Marian Gaborik and Rich Peverley (Thrashers). The door was open but Gaborik did not come out to toss a puck into the crowd.