It's not something you see every day at the professional level, but at Chelsea Piers Rink in lower Manhattan Thrashers' associate coach Brad McCrimmon launched an expletive-replete tongue lashing of his team during practice Wed. Jan 23. The prior evening the Thrashers played poorly losing to the Rangers 4-0 and their collective effort was MIA.

Forget for the moment that this is the same team that came to New York last April and was embarassed in two straight games at Madison Square Garden in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Forget the fact that the Thrashers are fighting for first place in the Southeast Division but could miss the playoffs entirely if they don't win their division due to the tight playoff race. Forget the fact that heading into the final game before the All-Star break that the Thrashers managed just one point in its prior four games.

From his perspective, McCrimmon said the tirade was necessary. Some of his players agreed.

McCrimmon, who won a Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and went to the seventh game of the finals with Philadelphia in 1987, simply told his team that if they were unwilling to work hard in games, that they would work hard in practice. And, they did as "The Beast" put the team through a series of gassers, which in hockey is the equivalent to wind sprints after football practice. After each set of sprints, McCrimmon admonished the players about their body language, their failure to do what is required to play the game at the NHL level, and that individual goals for some players had supplanted team goals.

He continued by saying they need to be concerned about two points for every win — not how many goals or assists players amass individually. "Who the bleep cares who scores the goals," he yelled.

Mark Recchi applauded McCrimmon's efforts.

"The message was if you’re not going to work in a game, you’re going to work in practice. And hopefully the guys respond and wonder why they are doing it. The coaches are doing it for a reason and everybody has to buy into it," Recchi said.

I asked Recchi that if such a tirade has its place in the NHL, as I had never witnessed one of this magnitude before.

"Absolutely, it still has its place at the professional level. You have to send a message at some point, it has its place and its time and talking with some of the guys it was well needed," Recchi said.

"I think this team is still trying to find itself. Its identity is that obviously it has some talent but its consistency calls into question whether or not mentally we are as strong as we should be. That is something that we have to continue to work at. We have 30-something games left and we have to make a big push right now. That’s going to depend upon the mental aspect of the game. I believe the guys want to do it and are willing to do it. I believe the leadership is strong enough and we have to bring it out in everybody," Recchi added.

While talent and leadership could be enough to sustain the Thrashers through the end of the season, there is no guarantee they know what it takes to win come playoff time.

"It’s a process. Winning is a hard thing. It’s easy to lose, it’s hard to win. You’ve got to be willing to go above and beyond how you feel and what you do," Recchi offered. "There are not too many days that you feel good [physically]. You have to get through those days and push yourself to another level, and when you do that you are more successful as a team."

The following night, the Thrashers' play was markedly improved. They competed hard. Their positioning was much better — particularly on the penalty kill — and their forechecking in the first two periods was excellent.

Atlanta held a 1-0 lead heading into the game's final 10 minutes, but the ice seemed to tilt in the Rangers' favor. Atlanta surrendered a power-play goal on a nice pass from Nigel Dawes to Michal Rozsival. Thrashers' captain Bobby Holik shouldred the blame for the tying goal.

"The guys battled hard. Moose (goalie Johan Hedberg) played great and I made a bad mistake on their only goal in regulation," Hoilk admitted. "Letting down the team is what bothers me personally. It was my responsibility on that goal.

"The effort was a lot better. Obviously we made a stride in the right direction," Holik continued. "It could have been different. Like I said it was my responsibility on the breakdown in our end on that goal and I feel terrible about letting the team down. It was my mistake that they scored off of."

After a scoreless overtime session, Rangers' veteran Brendan Shanahan scored the only goal in the shoot-out giving New York a 2-1 victory. Atlanta got a much-needed point in the standings.

Thrashers' forward Eric Perrin, who kept the Rangers off the scoreboard in the first period when New York had a 5-on-3 power play with two great defensive plays, said the team responded to McCrimmon's words.

"I think we competed well tonight. We were physical, we put forth the effort that we need that Brad was talking about at practice yesterday. We demonstrated that and I think maybe that was the motivation to help kill off those penalties," Perrin said. "We took advantage of our power play and got the lead. It was a good game for us but we’re disappointed in the result.

"One point is better than none and we have to build on that. We have to feel good about the way that we played but this team at this point is all about results," Perrin added. "We’re not getting the results that we want, right now in our division it is anybody’s game and it is our time to take advantage of it. We’re going to the break to rest our bodies. We’re a little bit beat up right now. Hopefully we’ll have everybody back and get back on track."

With six of the next seven games at home after the break, getting on track is imperative. If the Thrashers fail to respond, it won't be from the lack of trying by McCrimmon.