I have revived my postgame recaps just for Steve In Atlanta who once told me, "That is my favoritest thing in the whole wide world, man..." I think he had been drinking in the pressbox.

It was sooo nice to wander back in to the arena (legally) last evening. It feels like home. Free flags were given out to all 1,604 of us that showed up for the game. I sat up in my perch with Labatts last night. This cat knows crap about hockey. Though he did point out that Fank not playing at all last night probably means we have no plans to use him at the NHL level. Sheez, Labatts is a lot older than I thought too. He remembers the goalie from the 1980 Olympics!!! It was like sitting next to Willie Plett. It was "Omni this... Atlanta Flames that" all night long. After I spent the first period explaining how ice is made, the game got interesting and he was on his own...

One of the first things I noticed last night was how improved we appeared on faceoffs. Though one of our shiny new free agents, Tony Hrkac, won't score many goals, he won a noticible amount of his faceoffs. It was nice to see. As an aside, according to Grandma Hrkac is pronounced- Cir-cut, only you change the C to an H (Hir-hut?) then change the R to a K and the T to a C (Hikhuc?). Then, change the I to an R and the U to an A (Hrkhac) and finally, drop the last H. Makes perfect sense to me?!?! He was pronouncing it Her-kiss when he won the Hobey Baker Award at UND, and Her-kiss last year when he played for the Ducks. Now, however, he has moved to the South and apparently changed his name. I'm just gonna call him, "The Hobey Baker Winner Formerly Know As Tony Hrkac, pronounced Her-Kiss". Looks like I've wandered off topic again...

Second period, the Homebirds waz lookin' frizzy on da schnizzy. Sachl and Brennen scored early on for the Predleys. Although the second was a deflection, both goals were high on the glove side where Milan is still weak. So we were down 2-0, but that was before Ilya Kovalchuk took matters into his own hands. I know people who have seen him in practice say he is not impressive, but the two goals he scored last night were. The second was a game tieing breakaway where he froze the goalie before putting the puck by him.

After Nash-vegas took the lead later in the 2nd, it was Dany Heatley's turn. He buried one to tie the game 3-3 before scoring the game winner early in the 3rd period. This guy has a nose for the net, can find open ice, and will excite fans this year.

A few other notables last night were Derrick MacKenzie and Kamil Piros. Both looked like they will see some NHL action this year. Meanwhile, Brad Tapper's stock is falling fast. SELL! SELL! SELL!!! I will not be at the Pittsburgh game tonight, but will follow up when the Thrashers return home again...

• THE GOOD- Kovalchuk & Heater 2 goals each!!!!

• THE BAD- Here come the unrealistic expectations!

• THE UGLY- Thrashheart with out makeup...