Kozlov gets first goal, Thrashers win fourth straight

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It took Slava Kozlov 17 games to get his first goal of the season.

It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Kozlov’s tie-breaking goal with 8:01 remaining gave the Thrashers a 3-2 victory over Edmonton on Sunday. It was Atlanta’s fourth straight win and third in the last four days.

“It’s very exciting,” Kozlov said. “First one for me and game-winning for the team. It’s a huge win for us. It was a slow start for me and hopefully I’m going to pick it up.”

The Thrashers (10-6-1, 21 points) moved into second place in the Southeast Division, behind Washington, and are tied for sixth in the Eastern Conference. More importantly, the Thrashers improved to 4-4 at home, winning three straight at Philips Arena after a streak of four consecutive losses.

“You always have to remember history,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said of the slide at home. “[Assistant general manager] Larry Simmons gave me a stat that teams under .500 at home never make the playoffs. I didn’t want to be the first team to do it, although it would have been nice to do. I prefer to win at home.”

Johan Hedberg (4-1) got the win and stopped 34-of-36 shots. He has started three of the last four games -- winning all them -- after relieving Ondrej Pavelec for the third period of last week’s loss to the New York Islanders.

“I thought it was a really good game,” Hedberg said. “We continued to do the little things. We didn’t give them too many odd-man rushes.

“…We have to realize what we are doing when we are successful and what we are doing when we’re not successful. There’s no secret in hockey.”

The goal was a long time coming for Kozlov. Entering the final year of his contract, Kozlov had just six assists on the season. This was coming off last season when he had 26 goals and 50 assists.

Kozlov assisted on the Thrashers first goal, a power-play goal by Zach Bogosian 4:37 into the game. Kozlov fed the puck to Ilya Kovalchuk, who made a cross-ice pass that Bogosian sent a one-timer blast past Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin for this eighth goal.

But it was a goal that Kozlov longed for.

With the score tied 2-2, the Thrashers cycled the puck deep in their offensive zone. Rich Peverley found Todd White in the corner who made a back-handed pass to Kozlov in front of the net. He fired a shot passed Khabibulin into the top left corner.

“I just tried to stay calm and work hard,” Kozlov said. “Guys supported me. That helps. … Right now, the team’s got a good start and that’s most important. If you can’t score you have to play for the team. That’s OK. We’ve got 22 guys that can score.”

His teammates recognized the importance of getting Kozlov into the scoring column.

“He’s such a good player,” Hedberg said. “We need him. He’s a big part of our team. For him to get that goal, I’m sure it was even bigger for him. I’m sure he’s going to get more.”

The Thrashers improved to 7-0 this season when they score first. However, the Oilers took a 2-1 lead with second-period goals by Shawn Horcoff and Dustin Penner.

The Thrashers went into the second intermission tied at 2-2 on another highlight-reel goal from Max Afinogenov.

With the Thrashers on a power play they were pinned in their own zone. The Oilers fired several point-blank shots at Hedberg until Peverley gained control of the puck and passed to Afinogenov on a breakaway. The Russian made several fakes and beat Khabibulin with 22 seconds left in the period. It was Afinogenov’s seventh goal of the season and fourth in the past three games.