Hossa leads Thrashers over Bruins

Hockey Betting Lines

02/27/2007 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marian Hossa scored the game-winning goal to help the new-look Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden.

Atlanta made a couple of big moves over the weekend that the team hopes will improve its chances in the playoffs.

First, Atlanta sent defense prospect Braydon Coburn to Philadelphia in exchange for Alexei Zhitnik on Saturday. Then on Sunday, the Thrashers picked up Keith Tkachuk from St. Louis in exchange for forward Glen Metropolit, first and third round draft choices in 2007 and a second-round draft pick in 2008. Tkachuk has 20 goals and 23 assists on the season and 911 career points (466 goals, 445 assists).

Zhitnik tallied an assist while Tkachuk was held off the scoreboard in their first game with Atlanta.

Scott Mellanby and Eric Belanger each scored a goal for the Thrashers, who had lost six of seven coming into the game.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots for Atlanta, which has 74 points, good for sixth place in the Eastern Conference and one point behind Tampa Bay for first place in the Southeast Division.

Shane Donovan and Brad Boyes each scored a goal while Tim Thomas made 17 saves for the Bruins, who have dropped their past two games after a four-game winning streak.

Boston has 64 points and currently resides in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

The game was tied, 2-2, to start the third period, but Atlanta grabbed the lead when a wrist shot by Hossa at the top of the left circle went through a screen and over the glove of Thomas 7:28 in.

The Thrashers held Boston off the scoreboard, also killing two Boston power plays, the remainder of the game for the win.

The Bruins drew first blood in the game when a shot by Jason York at the right point was stopped by Lehtonen, but the rebound bounced out to the slot and Donovan's turnaround shot went into the net just 1:29 in.

Atlanta, though, answered on the power play when a shot by Andy Sutton at the top of the left circle hit off of Mellanby and went by Thomas with 5:25 left in the first.

However, the Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when a wrist shot by Boyes at the left circle went through a screen and into the net with 1:38 left in the frame.

The Thrashers tied the game just 2:09 into the second period when Greg De Vries sent a pass from the right side across the goalmouth to Belanger, who tapped the puck into the open net for his 11th goal of the season.

Game Notes

Atlanta hosts Ottawa on Friday...The Bruins continue their three-game homestand on Thursday when they face Philadelphia...Atlanta has won all three games against Boston this season and five straight overall...Atlanta went 2- for-5 on the power play while Boston was held off the scoreboard in all four of its chances...Hossa has 36 goals on the season...Atlanta's Slava Kozlov had two assists in the game.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.