News » The Devils went back up on Severson’s power

ATLANTA (AP) The playoff run by the Winnipeg Jets has ripped the bandages off some old wounds in their former home.Hockey fans in Atlanta – yes http://www.redwingsshoponline.com/authentic-dylan-larkin-jersey , they actually exist – are still bitter about the way they lost the Thrashers seven years ago , a move that deprived this city of a team for the second time and probably any chance of ever again being a member of the NHL club.In the A-T-L, a popular refrain of the postseason seems to be A-B-T-J.Anybody But The Jets.”I won’t support the Jets,” former Thrashers fan Fred Johnson wrote in an email. ”In fact, I’d like to see their fans suffer for a lot longer like we did.”Instead of suffering, the Jets and their fans are thriving . Winnipeg reached the Western Conference final against the Vegas Golden Knights – a sort of double-whammy for Atlantans, who have seen what their former team could have been while getting a tantalizing glimpse of what a well-run expansion franchise can do its very first season.Founded in 1999, the Thrashers managed just 14 wins and 39 points in their debut year, which remains the worst full-schedule total in almost a quarter-century. The Golden Knights piled up 51 wins and 109 points, captured a division title and were just two wins away from playing for the Stanley Cup going into Game 4 of their series against the Jets on Friday night.”It’s not hard to feel like just yesterday Atlanta was an expansion team,” said another Thrashers fan, Tiffany Burns. ”I couldn’t have imagined how surreal it would have been to be a part of something so successful so quick.”In contrast to the Golden Knights, the Thrashers never really had a chance in Atlanta, doomed by a bickering group of owners who spent more time suing each other than caring about what was happening on the ice, clueless management and inept coaching, and a roster perennially low on talent.The lone highlight came in 2007, when the team captured the Southeast Division title and finally made the playoffs for the first (and only) time.The euphoria didn’t last long.The Thrashers were swept in four straight games by the New York Rangers. Atlanta began the following season with six consecutive losses, leading to the firing of coach Bob Hartley, and the dismantling of the franchise commenced a few months later.In what became an all-too-familiar scenario, the frugal Thrashers dealt away Marian Hossa rather than lose him as a free agent – one of many horrible deals engineered by general manager Don Waddell, who somehow kept his job throughout the Thrashers’ entire existence without ever really demonstrating that he knew what he was doing.Anyone remember Angelo Esposito Frans Nielsen Jersey Kids , a supposed top prospect who was acquired in the Hossa deal?Anyone?Bueller? Bueller?The Thrashers always seemed to operate under a dark cloud, most tragically exhibited in 2003 when star player Dany Heatley lost control of his Ferrari on a narrow Atlanta street, struck a wall at high speed and killed teammate Dan Snyder . Heatley recovered but was never the same, eventually requesting a trade so he could get a fresh start elsewhere.The Thrashers soon followed Heatley’s lead. In 2011, after a proposed move of the bankrupt Phoenix franchise to Winnipeg fell apart, the NHL quickly engineered a deal to send Atlanta’s team north in place of the Coyotes , collecting a hefty relocation fee and ridding themselves of another troublesome franchise.While it’s impossible to deny that the team has been more embraced by hockey-mad Winnipeg than it ever was in Atlanta, this city’s fans have long gotten a bum rap that goes all the way back to its first NHL team.Yes, the Flames lasted only eight years in Atlanta before moving to Calgary in 1980. But they averaged more than 10,000 fans every season (not a sure thing in those days) and outdrew the NBA’s Hawks every year but their last. That franchise was largely doomed by the economics of the late 1970s.For the Thrashers, it was a similar story.They averaged more than 17,000 in their debut season despite putting one of the worst teams in modern NHL history on the ice. But the franchise was essentially doomed when it was sold to a group known as Atlanta Spirit (what a malicious example of false advertising that was).The new owners wanted only the Hawks and Phillips Arena. Almost immediately, they began trying to pawn off the Thrashers. Not surprisingly, no one was interested in acquiring a team that would have to rent an arena from an increasingly dysfunctional group. As the losses mounted, reportedly in the range of $130 million, Atlanta Spirit began looking for another way out. When the Winnipeg offer came along, there was no real attempt to keep the team in Atlanta.Through all the turmoil, the Thrashers never ranked at the bottom of the NHL in attendance. In fact, the average from their gloomy final year would have beaten out three teams this season.Many Thrashers fans are still upset about being ridiculed for a perceived lack of support after the team moved. And unlike the Flames, who retained their name and some sense of their Atlanta history after moving to Calgary (and were largely cheered by their former fans for winning the Stanley Cup in 1989), the Jets made a clean break with their past.Johnson Gordie Howe Jersey , the former Thrashers fan, recalls the vitriol when the move was announced. He said some Jets fans who trolled the Thrashers’ message boards belittled Thrashers fans as ”worthless” and said the team would now win the Stanley Cup in Winnipeg because that’s where ”real fans” were.”They had no idea about the dysfunctional management,” he said.Atlanta deserves a third chance at making the NHL work, but that’s not likely to happen.As if closing the door on any chance of getting another team, Philips Arena is finishing up a $192.5 million renovation that will essentially make it a basketball-only facility.No thought was given to accommodating hockey.For those who still love the game in Atlanta, they’ll have to make do with watching games on television and rooting for other teams.Anybody but the Jets, that is.—Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/paul newberry— ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Three Anaheim goals in regulation deflected in off opposing players. When the game went to a shootout and New Jersey’s Taylor Hall had a chance to tie it, his shot ricocheted off the crossbar.That left an opening for Ryan Getzlaf, who followed Daniel Sprong’s earlier goal in the shootout with a nifty wrist shot to give the Ducks a wild 6-5 victory Sunday over the Devils.“It was a bizarre game,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “It was one of those games that seemed like the last shot would win it.”The Ducks have won six of their last seven, though none quite equaled Sunday’s bizarre victory.Jakob Silfverberg, Kiefer Sherwood, Brandon Montour, Pontus Aberg and Ondrej Kase scored in regulation for the Ducks. The goals by Sherwood, Aberg and Kase all went off New Jersey players. Kase’s goal was actually knocked in by Andy Greene when he swung his stick attempting to bat it away from the net.“It was the first time in my experience where you had three that went in,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “Something gets deflected in, and hits someone and goes in. Those were a little bit odd tonight.”Kyle Palmieri had two goals for the Devils, and Damon Severson, Brent Seney and Marcus Johansson also scored. Cory Schneider stopped 33 shots.The Devils snapped a six-game losing streak in their last outing, but have now lost seven of eight.The Ducks started the shootout Authentic Gustav Nyquist Jersey , but Aberg’s shot was blocked by Schneider. John Gibson then blocked Palmieri, before Sprong — in his first career shootout attempt — sliced a backhand past Schneider.When Palmieri’s shot went off the crossbar, Getzlaf’s goal provided the game-winner.“Our guys did a good job of sticking with things,” Getzlaf said. “When you get a few bounces, it’s big. We didn’t get any of those the first two months of the season.”Anaheim’s Ryan Miller, looking to become the all-time leader in U.S.-born goaltender wins, left the game with 12:47 left in the third period after a pair of players crashed into him at the net. He appeared to have injured his left leg. Gibson was in goal the rest of the night.The night began with a wild opening period as both teams scored three times. Three of the goals were scored within 59 seconds.Palmieri opened the scoring, snapping in a rebound past Miller just 1:38 into the game.The Ducks answered quickly, a screened Silfverberg firing from long distance to tie it. Sherwood gave Anaheim a brief lead when he completed a breakaway, his shot deflecting off the leg of Stefan Noesen in front of the crease and into the net.New Jersey tied it at 2-2 on Palmieri’s second goal of the period, wristing in a quick shot on a feed from Taylor Hall behind the net.The Devils went back up on Severson’s power-play goal, but the Ducks tied it again on Montour’s goal to end the high-scoring period.“That first period was a little helter-skelter,” Schneider said. “Both sides (played) a littler looser. You come out of it 3-3, it’s basically a 0-0 hockey game. … You have that mentality of starting over. I thought we did a good job in the second and took control of the game. The Ducks made a push in the third.”New Jersey led 4-3 in the third when Aberg fired a long, blind, backhanded shot that went off the hand of New Jersey’s Ben Lovejoy and hopped in the net.Kase’s goal gave Anaheim a 5-4 lead, but the Devils emptied their net and scored after a wild scramble in front of the net with 57.8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.NOTES: Sunday marked Carlyle’s 900th game as an NHL coach. … The Ducks have won their last five games at home against the Devils. … Getzlaf is now 27 for 76 in career shootout attempts.