Thrashers vs Lightning...Can We End Then Niitty Curse?

Short answer, no.

Sorry to take so long to get this up, I've been under the weather. Sunday was the second of back to back games at Blueland and capped off an amazing 4 days of hockey for me. The Tampa Bay Lightning came to town to face the Thrashers for the 2nd time in regular season. In goal this time was Thrashers kryptonite, Antero Niittymaki. Niitty came into this game with a career 14-0 record against Atlanta. Unbelievable. I made this sign last season when he was with the Flyers. After a few moderations, it was ready for the game Sunday.





I also made this sign for Moose. He was super glad I was back on his end of the ice for warm ups. He missed me, I could totally tell. Back in reality land, he did like the sign he smiled and nodded.



Warm Ups!

Moose checking out my Niittymonkey sign.





Pavs warming up.





Pevs taking it to the net.





Moose facing some shots.





Niitty: "HA! I am Niittymaki, you cannot defeat me."





Extreme Moose up.





Down on the other end of the ice, Heatmeiser continues his torment of St. Louis. Heat said that Marty actually pointed it out and laughed with his team mates. That takes him up a few notches in my book. I like people that can have fun with a joke at their own expense.





Moose: So I guess you have the night off?
Mike Smith: Yeah, with Niitty in Tampa Bay now, I never have to play the Thrashers again.





Looks like Slava got his job back.





Colby deep in thought. Maybe he's thinking about the fact he's gonna be a pappa! (Congrats to the Armstrongs!)





Anssi and Moose chatting, probably about my bitching signs.





Little checking out my Niitty sign.





Afinogenov putting a laser beam on Pavs.





Pevs chilling and being fantastic.





Moose taking some shots.





Swarming Moose.



First period!


I thought maybe St. Louis fell in a hole on the ice, but apparently the ice just needed some fixing.





Opening face off!





Action in front of Niittymaki.





Pavs making a save.





The ever delicious Ryan Malone.





Yeah great, another save.





Getting our ass kicked is thirsty work.





Save. Note the right hand of the picture. You know you are a small man when Toby Enstrom dwarfs you.





Save





At least Pavs is making some saves on his end as well.

At the end of the first period neither team has scored. The Thrashers were falling into the all too familiar rut of not showing up in the game during first (and sometimes second) period. Tampa Bay out shot Atlanta 15 to 8.


Second Period


As much as I hate him, I actually do like Niitty. He and Khabibulin do one of my favorite stretches in the NHL, what I call "the lean."





Get your big ass in there Antro and cause some problems.





Guess what happened here? Oh yeah..SAVE.





Ryan Malone, Ron Hainsey and Ondrej Paveleic...tasty!





Chaos in front of Pavs.





Yeah yeah, be sure and stretch good, asshole.





Mad Max in the crease.

Even thought the shots were almost even (Tampa Bay having 9 and Thrashers having 8) the score sheet was all Tampa Bay. Both Stephane Veillieux and Ryan Malone recorded goals.


Third period


Moose being the Wal-Mart Greeter and welcoming the team onto the ice.





Colby taking it to the net.





FINALLY!!!! Thrashers score!





The chick sitting under me had a picnic in her purse. She passed out string cheese to her kids and pulled out wings for herself and her husband. I'm not judging, I guess I'm a little jealous. I can't get a bottle of water in the damn place...how'd she do that??





The Thrashers discussing some things with the Lightning.





Pavs: Jesus guys are you going to score??
Hainsey: Man we are trying.
Pavs: I can only do so much.
Hainsey: We will do better.
Pavs: Just give me the damn puck, I'll see if I can score.





When thunder sticks attack. What do you expect to happen when you pass out a few hundred sets of thunder sticks and have a big mascot walking around?





Imagine that, another save.





WOO HOO!!! With a little less than 5 minutes left, Slava scores and makes it a one goal game.





Antro trying to make trouble for Niitty and hopefully get the chance for a nice tip-in.





I like this picture because you can see Kane about to try and put it in.





And then you see Niitty put the damn thing right back at Kane. Fortunately though with only 3 minutes left to go...Kane ties it up!!!! HA! All of you freaking douche bags that left, missed it. People started leaving at like 10 minutes before the game was over. Then again those douche bags probably don't care and wouldn't understand what they had missed anyway. Niitty was so pissed when Kane put that tying goal in. He threw himself a little Finnish fit.





Discussions.





Niitty got that one. Look at Antro and St. Louis together. *giggle*



OT


Over time face off.


Unfortunately, the Thrashers lost in over time. We did get a point out of it. We were THIS close to beating Niittymaki. ONE DAY!!!!! Congratulations Antero Niittymaki. You now have a 15-0 record against the Thrashers. You've proven that it doesn't matter what team you are on, you are a Thrasher killer. The day will come Niitty!!!!! We WILL beat you.