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Sunday, 10 April 2011 10:31

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Thrashers.

When and where: 3 p.m., Philips Arena.

TV: Root Sports.

Record: 34-35-12, 80 points. The Thrashers are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the Southeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Andrew Ladd (right), 58 points (28 goals, 30 assists).

Last Game: 6-1 home loss to the Hurricanes, Thursday. Bryan Little scored for the Thrashers.

Last Game against the Penguins: 6-3 road loss, Dec. 28. Sidney Crosby had two goals and two assists for the Penguins.

Thrashers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Little. He has three points in three games against the Penguins this season.

Ex-Penguins on the Thrashers: Chris Thorburn, RW.

Ex-Thrashers on the Penguins: Jason Botterill, assistant general manager; Pascal Dupuis, RW; Chris Kunitz, LW; Todd Reirden, assistant coach.

Useless Thrashers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The Thrashers are one of two Eastern Conference teams the Penguins have never faced in the postseason. The Lightning - who the Penguins will meet in the first round of this season's playoffs - is the other.

Best Thrashers Video We Could Find: Thrashers enforcer Eric Boulton having issues with finding a seat:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (36-20-5, 2.32 GAA, .918 SV%) for the Penguins and Chris Mason (13-12-3, 3.37 GAA, .895 SV%) for the Thrashers.

Injuries: For the Penguins, For the Penguins, forward James Neal (undisclosed) is day to day. Forward Dustin Jeffrey ("lower body") is out. Forwards Sidney Crosby (concussion), Nick Johnson (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (knee) are on injured reserve. For the Thrashers, forward Eric Boulton (knee) is questionable. Forwards Patrice Cormier ("upper body"), Radek Dvorak ("upper body) and defenseman Tobias Enstrom ("upper body") are out. Defenseman Freddy Meyer ("upper body") and forward Jim Slater (concussion) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins did not practice with a full crew yesterday. Factoring in James Neal's injury, this is a guess at their primary lines and defensive pairings:

Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Mike Rupp - Mark Letestu  - Alex Kovalev
Pascal Dupuis - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Arron Asham - Craig Adams - Eric Godard

-All seven defensemen skated. Their primary pairings Thursday against the Islanders were:

Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Deryk Engelland - Ben Lovejoy

-The Thrashers' primary lines in practice yesterday were:

Andrew Ladd - Bryan Little - Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane - Nikolai Antropov - Anthony Stewart
Eric Boulton - Robbie Schremp - Chris Thorburn
Ben Maxwell - Alexander Burmistrov - Tim Stapleton

-Their primary defensive pairings against the Thrashers Thursday were:

Johnny Oduya - Tim Stapleton
Ron Hainsey - Dustin Byfuglien
Mark Stuart - Andrey Zubarev

Notes:

-Matt Cooke is currenty serving a suspension.

-"I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody. I just want to go and play, have fun and win." - Fleury.

-Letang and Talbot could each play all 82 games this season.

-Staal has 198 career points.

-Dupuis has 146 career assists.

-Comrie has 197 career assists.

-Rupp has 48 career goals.

-The Thrashers recalled forward Carl Klingberg from Chicago of the AHL. He has never played in the NHL.

-Could this be the final game for the Thrashers franchise in Atlanta?

-The Thrashers will hand out their team awards prior to the game.

-Boulton has appeared in 549 career games.

-Little has 148 career points.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 3 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Comments (3)

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written by Max II, April 10, 2011 - 01:45 PM

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Forwards Sidney Crosby (concussion), Nick Johnson (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (knee) are on injured reserve.

Is Crosby on injured Reserve? or Just Malkin?

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written by Staalsy11, April 10, 2011 - 03:11 PM

More important question... Since when does Sid play for Atlanta??

Last Game against the Penguins: 6-3 road loss, Dec. 28. Sidney Crosby had two goals and two assists for the Thrashers.

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written by belial1134, April 10, 2011 - 03:12 PM

I thought all 3 were on IR which is why their salaries doesn't count against the cap.

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