Gretz Round 1 Game 3

[JiriHrdina]

Wow. Just befuddled at the Habs. Totally stunned.

Lines for tomorrow should be in by noon please.

Day 3
17 PANTHERS 2 LIGHTNING 1 (OT)
18 CANADIENS 1 THRASHERS 7
19 HURRICANES 1 PENGUINS 2
20 CAPITALS 2 RANGERS 1 (OT)

[Flickered Flame]

Thrashers in complete control.

[MJK]

Man is that 3 games in a row we have gone to OT!?!? Game 2 went into double OT! What a tight series...TB are tough!!!!!!

[OILFAN #81]

THRASHERS BEAT HABS 7-1, TAKE A 3-0 SERIES LEAD!!

(AP - Atlanta)

Three games, three wins, three Robert Lang shows. For the third straight game, Robert Lang took over the game and the Atlanta Thrashers cruised to a 7-1 win in game 3 to take a 3-0 series lead in their first round matchup vs the Montreal Canadiens. Lang recorded 2 goals and 1 assist Saturday afternoon to now give him 7 goals and 3 assists in 3 games.

"These three games have definately gone my way offensively. I sound like a broken record but it's great to chip in and get the wins. It's playoff time and these are important games for us. Shawn and Scott make it so easy for me out there and again we are contributing. It feels good. Now we need one more this round." - Robert Lang who had 2 G, 1 A in game 3 and has 10 pts in 3 games in the series

Looking to shake things up, Montreal started backup goaltender Patrick Lalime in this game after Tomas Vokoun was pulled in the first 2 games. Things didn't get any easier as the Thrashers scored four 1st period goals. Shawn Horcoff, Steve Sullivan, Mattias Ohlund and Martin St.Louis scored 4 goals in just over 8 minutes to take a 4-0 lead into the 2nd period. Things didn't change in the 2nd period as Robert Lang scored a pair of goals in just under 6 minutes. The first of which ironically chased Lalime in favor of Tomas Vokoun. Scott Walker scored on a late powerplay to send the Thrashers to a 7-0 lead in the 2nd intermission. Daniel Alfredsson got the visitors on the board in the 3rd period to make the final score 7-1.

"I've been pretty happy with all 3 performances but especially the last two. Our offense has been great all 3 games and our defense and goaltending have been very good the last 2 games. Marc had a little bit of an off night in game 1 but we still got the win, but has been outstanding the past 2 games and we couldn't ask for more. Lang, St.Louis, Horcoff, Walker, Sullivan.....those guys came to play and we know we need versus a good Montreal club. It's nice to be up 3-0 in this series but we know we still need one more win. We like where we are in this series so far but we haven't accomplished anything yet. They say that fourth win is the toughest to get but we will be ready on Monday to try and do that in our building. We know Montreal will come out hard and it should be a tough game." - Thrashers GM Sutaria

Notes: Game 4 of the series goes Monday Night @ 7 pm in Atlanta. Martin St.Louis so far in this series seems to have the edge on Peter Forsberg in who he was traded for earlier this season. Their lines so far:

Martin St.Louis: 3 G, 3 A, 6 points, + 2
Peter Forsberg: 0 G, 0 A, 0 points, - 4

[Beerfund]

Completely outclassed. Simply embarassing.

[Goffie]

Axel's prediction is turning into a good one as Kolzig steals the show in game 3. Gelinas has stepped up huge for me with the GWG giving him a goal in the last 2 games. Game 4 will be a tough one, should be a battle.

[Hanna Sniper]

Is that Rita McNeil warming up?


The Pittsburgh Penguins escape a horrific 1st period only to come out of the 1st Intermission still in a scoreless affair. The Penguins didn’t make the same mistake and came out flying their second time around. With the Penguins new atheism it proved too much for the Hurricanes to counter, in a complete reversal of the opening period the now surging Penguins took it too the ‘Canes. But unlike their rivals the Penguins made sure that they didn’t enter the 2dn intermission as the ‘Canes allowed them to escape and took it too their opponents with a 2-1 lead. Penguins received goals from Dainius Zubrus and Martin Gelinas, for the ‘Canes big Mike Komisarek got their lone goal.

The Penguins now hold a commanding control of the series as the Hurricanes look to claw themselves back into the series tonight. To do so the Hurricanes are going to have a find a way to control Dainius Zubrus who has so far been the series MVP.