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Atlanta Trying To Rebound Quickly

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

Updated: 10/20/2007 12:12 am

TAMPA - Bob Hartley could have been made the scapegoat after the Atlanta Thrashers' big, exciting, first-time-ever push into the Stanley Cup playoffs flopped with a four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Rangers last spring.

But where is the drama in that?

Far more interesting, wasn't it, for the defending Southeast Division champions to start 0-6-0, fire the head coach, then exact a small measure of revenge on the Rangers on Thursday by winning the first game, post-Hartley, with General Manager Don Waddell behind the bench before tonight's game against the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum?

Interesting, maybe. But not exactly the way Waddell had hoped his team would begin defense of its first division championship. Perhaps it should have been foreseen, considering the way last season's high hopes were dashed by such a disappointing finish in the postseason.

'But I really thought that, you know, the summertime would heal a lot of that history and the remembrance of it,' said Waddell, who will coach on an interim basis while simultaneously searching for Hartley's replacement. 'But obviously it didn't as much with some of our players.'

That became painfully obvious as the Thrashers were outscored 27-9 in their first five games, including a 4-0 loss to the Flyers on Tuesday that sealed Hartley's fate. That pushed the losing streak in meaningful games to 10 consecutive, and this season already was slipping away.

Waddell convinced ownership that, with 76 games to play, the team could turn it around.

Just not with Hartley, who coached the Colorado Avalanche to the 2001 Stanley Cup championship.

Prior to a 5-3 victory against the Rangers on Thursday in Atlanta, the Thrashers had not prevailed in a game that mattered since winning in a shootout against the Lightning in the 2006-07 season finale on April 7.

How did things turn so quickly? It's not difficult to figure out, especially with the departure of last year's big trade-deadline acquisition, Keith Tkachuk, as well as the retirement of captain Scott Mellanby.

Last season's division title was built on a tremendous start by goalie Kari Lehtonen. By the time the team was done with its 9-1-2 blast out of the gate, Lehtonen already had two shutouts and eight of his team-record 34 victories.

After going down in the first period Thursday with a groin injury, Lehtonen - who was placed on the injured list Friday and is expected to be out for a while - is 0-4 with a 4.48 goals-against average and a .879 save percentage.

It hasn't helped that 2006-07 100-point scorer Marian Hossa missed three games with a groin injury. Nor has it helped that the team is second-to-last in penalty killing at 70.5 percent and fourth-from-last on the power play (12.1 percent).

Finally, the numbers became too much of a poor reflection of the team's effort, and Waddell felt forced to act.

'You know, we have a lot of games left,' Waddell said the day Hartley was fired. 'We've played six games. We have 76 games left. And we feel like we can still salvage this season.'

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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