So far we’ve had Doug Weight with an empty net on the first power play — his shot blocked by a stick shaft — then Chris Campoli and Doug Weight get robbed on the same back-door play.

Jon Sim unaccosted in front of the net on the power play.
Slava Kozlov responds on a, well, 3-on-0 rush after an awful Islanders line change.

I’ve got the Atlanta feed, and they had their Resident Hottie With Mic interview Kovalchuk just before the game. He clearly didn’t hear or didn’t answer her questions, and just repeated the usual player cliches.

Which is fine, except the Thrashers need all the help they can get, promotion-wise. (For instance, tonight they’re doing the “put the color man between the benches” routine.) And starting off the broadcast with a dud like that from your only star … that doesn’t help.

Sometimes when he has a scoring chance, I get that deja vu from his St. Louis days: As if he feels guilty for shooting, and says, “I don’t want to do this, but I’ve looked and looked for a pass, so now that the hole is closed I’ll shoot.”

First Nielsen, then Weight. They better not be one-pieces. (But of course I’m sure they are. What a racket.)

Hustling back without the hook, then sealing off the passing lane. Make “Big Play Gervais” your nickname, Bruno.

Some slick moves to create the play, then he gets it on an easy tap-in

Ho-ly! Nielsen makes another sweet play on the same shift, sets up Hunter for a great upper-shelf snipe from the top of the slot.

… that would be a “game-changing” shift.

Going into the third, a very winnable game. Seems like I’ve felt that way a lot recently…

Cruelty is seeing a TV ad for Yuengling, letting yourself think for a moment, “They finally sell it here!” and then realizing you’re watching an out-of-market feed (Pittsburgh via Center Ice). For those unaware, they don’t offer Yuengling west of the Mississippi — certainly not in the heart of A-B country.

Atlanta scores 29 seconds in to the third. Kovalchuk

Foolish puck-over-the-lass penalty by MacDonald. His D-man was right there … didn’t need to even handle the puck.

Thrashers tie it at 3-3. We’re 1:17 into the freaking third period.

While trying not to think about how the Islanders just flushed a two-goal lead away in 77 seconds, I noticed that the Thrashers really are trying to make the broadcast look good. There’s the color man between the benches, of course (helpful as he heard the mood on each bench as the lead was being squandered). But also they liberally use a lot of different camera angles to try to catch the speed and excitement in the game. And they’re not just gimmicky cuts … legit, well-timed ones. Nice to see.

…you never know, we might be battling the Isles for a playoff spot down the road."

Oh, you guys are too funny, too funny.

Goalie pulled…

6-on-4, 10 seconds left to go…

But they catch up on the failed clear … Campoli shoots the last-ditch effort high … sigh.
Game over: Atlanta 4, NYI 3

Crap.