Thrashers’ playoff hopes take big hit

By Bud L. Ellis

For a franchise that’s played all of four postseason games since joining the NHL in 1999, the Atlanta Thrashers faced a playoff-type contest on Saturday at Buffalo.

But in a painful reminder of how thin the line is between the haves and have-nots, the Thrashers totally blew an opportunity to thrust themselves back into the race for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Atlanta was thrashed by Buffalo 8-2, a lopsided loss during which the Thrashers were rudely reminded what it takes to prosper in early spring. Atlanta was outhustled and never slowed the Buffalo offense.

The loss was very damaging to Atlanta’s flickering postseason aspirations. Coming into the game four points behind Buffalo for the eighth and final playoff spot, the Thrashers slipped further away from the line between a second trip to the playoffs and another early spring.

Atlanta now finds itself nine points out of eighth and, more importantly, in 11th place in the East. With Buffalo, Carolina and Toronto standing between the Thrashers and the playoffs, it might take the Thrashers losing just once or twice more in their final 10 games to mark another early end of hockey season in Georgia’s capital city.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 7:08 pm by bud

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