Kovalchuk back on track, so are Thrashers

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As Ilya Kovalchuk goes, so go the Thrashers.

The captain's overtime goal lifted the Thrashers to a 4-3 victory over Montreal on Saturday. The win snapped a three-game losing streak as Kovalchuk was held scoreless in the losses. In those past three games he had a plus-minus rating of minus-5. In the previous five games, for which the Thrashers were 1-4, Kovalchuk had one goal, one assist and a minus-7.

“He isn’t scoring at the pace that he did when he first came back [after missing six games with a broken foot], obviously,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said Saturday morning. “I think he’s a little frustrated because he wants to do well. All goal scorers go through a little bit of a hiccup now and then.”

The hiccup ended Saturday.

“I was glad for him," Anderson said after the game. "He had a couple of good chances tonight that he didn’t bury. You want your big scorer to feel good about himself.”

With the large contingent of Montreal media in town, Kovalchuk again was besieged with questions about his contract status. He is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, and contract negotiations with the Thrashers continue. Kovalchuk stood pat with his answer to such questions. He stated his desire to remain in Atlanta but referred all questions to his agent and Thrashers general manager Don Waddell, who are negotiating a new deal.

Line juggling

In an effort to break the Thrashers out of a three-game slide, Anderson again juggled his line combinations. On Saturday Kovalchuk skated with Nik Antropov and Bryan Little. Rich Peverley centered a line with Slava Kozlov and Max Afinogenov. Todd White centered a line with Evander Kane and Colby Armstrong. The fourth line was Eric Boulton, Marty Reasoner and Chris Thorburn.

Valabik back in the lineup

Defenseman Boris Valabik played his third straight game Saturday after making his season debut against Calgary on Wednesday. Valabik, returning from ankle surgery, has an assist and an even plus-minus rating.

“I thought it went good,” Valabik said of his two games played. “I tried to keep it simple.”

Anderson said Valabik would see more playing time.

“Excellent,” the coach said of his play. “He played safe. He was playing within himself, which I loved. He got into a fight [Thursday at Vancouver]. He made some big hits. That’s what we’re asking him to do.”

The Thrashers' scratches were forward Jim Slater and defensemen Mark Popovic and Anssi Salmela. Popovic did not participate in team’s morning practice due to a foot injury.

Road woes

Anderson pointed to the team’s second-period performances during their three-game losing streak. They gave up five goals in the middle period in Monday’s loss in Toronto. Anderson also pointed to the team’s struggles in getting out of its own zone.

“The thing was we didn’t spend enough time being urgent to get the puck in our zone,” Anderson said. “We spent so much time in the zone that they were tired by the time they came out. All they could do was dump [the puck] in and [the opposition would] come back and re-attack you.”

Johan Hedberg, who started in goal Saturday, said it was the little things that again cost the Thrashers.

“If you aren’t finishing your check, or sticking with your guy or the goalie isn’t finishing the save, it’s all the little things that end up costing you,” Hedberg said. “If you do the little things right, all the big things follow. Those are the things we lack when we start losing.”