Kovy, offense wakes up as Thrashers break winless skid

Nov 03 2008

Published by bud006 at 6:00 am under Thrashers Recaps Edit This

By Bud L. Ellis
thrashers.today.com

Thrashers 5, Panthers 3

Top of the Slot: A win, at long and blessed last, as the Thrashers broke a 15-day, six-game winless streak by riding Ilya Kovalchuk’s three-point night at Philips Arena.

The Good: Kovy woke up; now, somebody keep him awake. The front-line left-winger and one of the NHL’s most explosive players has been asleep for most of the season so far, but No. 17 broke out in a big way Sunday: two goals, one assist, and very active on the offensive end of things. Definitely a good sign. Slava Kozlov and Bryan Little continued their good offensive work, each scoring their sixth goal of the season. Todd White added an empty netter and an assist. One night after being scratched, Erik Christensen returned to the ice with a pair of helpers. All of it was plenty for Ondrej Pavelec, who earned the victory in his first start of the season in goal, stopping 18 of 21 shots.

The Bad: Kari Lehtonen was scratched for the second consecutive game. The organization describes the starting netminder as being “under the weather.” It’d probably be more accurate to describe Lehtonen as being “under the weathering avalanche of shots allowed by the Atlanta defense this season.” Up 4-1 after Little’s goal with three minutes left in the second, the Atlanta defense broke down and allowed two goals in the next 6:17, allowing Florida to pull within one goal.

View from the Sports Garage: So this is what a win feels like, huh? Only the third one of the year, but hey, you gotta start the upswing somewhere. Might as well be here. Kovy finally cut loose, netting his fourth and fifth of the season in the first 31 minutes of the game. The second goal, on the power play less than four minutes after Florida cut a 2-0 Atlanta lead to 2-1, seemed to give the Thrashers a much-needed spark. As for the other K in the scoring punch, Kozlov extended his goal-scoring streak to three games, netting his fourth in the past three games. That’s six points in his past five games. Pavelec played well, considering he didn’t know he was being called up until mid-afternoon Saturday (he stopped six shots in the third period in Saturday night’s loss at New Jersey). The Thrashers took only three penalties and outshot the Panthers 31-21. Good win, without a doubt, and definitely encouraging signs on offense, as the Thrashers netted their most goals in a game since scoring seven in the home-opening win over Washington way back on Oct. 10. Now it’s time to take three days off and get ready for the Islanders on Thursday at home.