Three straight! Thrashers grind out big OT win at Buffalo

Nov 08 2008

Published by bud006 at 12:36 pm under Thrashers Recaps Edit This

By Bud L. Ellis
thrashers.today.com

Thrashers 5, Sabers 4 (OT)

Top of the Slot: Jason Williams buried a rebound 48 seconds into overtime, as the Thrashers won for the third straight game with a resilient performance.

The Good: Man, the Slava Kozlov, Todd White, Bryan Little line is carrying this team offensively. Kozlov’s goal-scoring streak ended at four games, but he finished with three assists and a plus-2. White scored once and finished plus-1. Little netted two goals and added a helper, finishing at plus-2. Nic Havelid continued his good work with an assist and a plus-2 rating. Then there was Williams, who scored the first goal and the last goal, ripping home the game-winner off a rebound of Ilya Kovalchuk’s one-timer. Speaking of Kovy, he finished with two assists. Johan Hedberg was shaky in goal early, but was spectacular late, finishing with 28 saves. Atlanta scored on two of its three power-play chances, White power-play goal eight minutes into the third tying the game, and Williams’ game-winner in OT.

The Bad: Hedberg really looked rough in the early going, so much so I was fearful I was seeing the end of Moose’s career in Atlanta. Ondrej Pavelec has looked great, and with Kari Lehtonen poised to return from back and flu problems for Sunday’s game at Carolina, a goalie’s gotta go. Colby Armstrong took two of the four Atlanta penalties, one of which led to a Buffalo goal.

View from the Sports Garage: Beating the Panthers and Islanders, two teams that share space with the Thrashers near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, is one thing. Beating Buffalo – the second-best team in the East – on the road, in a game where you have to bounce back from three one-goal deficits, is something altogether. It’s the biggest victory of the year, bar none. A three-game winning streak, and this one was impressive because the Thrashers dug deep and really worked hard in the third period and overtime. Honestly, when the Sabers went up 4-3 late in the second period, I thought Atlanta was in trouble. But the Thrashers kept working. They earned this one, folks. It was great to see. Look at White (15 points), Kozlov (14 points) and Little (14 points), all three leading the team in scoring. That line is playing with amazing chemistry and jump. I hereby apologize for all the bad things I said about White in the offseason and preseason, ha ha! Just keep playing this way, boys! Now it’s on to division-leading Carolina. A win in regulation brings the Thrashers to within four points of first place … yeah it’s early, but so what!