No winning streak for the Thrashers

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This is not how the Thrashers are going to get back into the playoff race.

Win one, lose one. Win one, lose one.

Thursday it was lose one -- to the team with the worst record in the NHL, no less.

Carolina scored three power-play goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Thrashers at Philips Arena. The loss prevented the Thrashers from winning back-to-back games, something they haven’t done since Dec. 12 and 14. Those victories came against Montreal (overtime) and the New York Rangers (shootout).

“I think we work hard,” Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk said. “We got a slow start again. We have to prepare for the game’s better. ... This was a huge game for us, but we have a lot of games ahead of us. If we play with the right intensity, hopefully things are going to go our way.”

The Thrashers (22-21-7, 51 points) fell into a tie for 10th place in the Eastern Conference, three points out of the eighth spot.

It was the special teams that did in the Thrashers. Carolina scored three times on four power-play chances. The Thrashers failed on six attempts.

“Our special teams, I don’t want to use the word horrific, but that’s the first word that comes to my mind,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “The power play is not generating a lot. We didn’t win a lot of draws, and as a result it goes down right away and we have to fight to get in the zone. We have to be much better than that. If we have to change personnel, we’ll have to look at it [Friday].

“Maybe we dumb it down a little bit. Take some skill off it. Put some grit in front of the net and just pound away.”

With the loss, the Thrashers are 2-2 after four games of a five-game stretch against teams it led in the standings. They won at the Hurricanes 5-3 on Saturday for one of those wins.

Eric Staal, playing in his first game since being named captain of the Hurricanes, scored three times. He opened the scoring with a goal 3:31 into the game. The Hurricanes added another 3:01 later with Sergei Samsonov’s power-play goal, which came with six seconds left on a tripping penalty to Pavel Kubina.

The Thrashers have allowed the opposition to score first in 31 of 50 games this season, compiling a 9-17-5 record.

“The first one we didn’t get out of our zone,” Anderson said. “Staal passed it off, and three guys just watched him go to the net. A guy like Staal, you can’t just be in the general vicinity of him. You have to check him. ... Three guys just let him waltz to the net and guess what happens?”

Carolina took a 3-0 lead 26 seconds into the second period. It came after a video review. With Jim Slater serving a tripping penalty, Jussi Jokinen took control of a loose puck to the left of the Thrashers' goal. He slid a shot on net that hit off the stick of goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Defenseman Ron Hainsey skated in to clear the puck but had it hit off his left skate and into the goal. Hainsey managed to kick the puck out with his right skate, but after a review it was ruled the puck had crossed the goal line.

Staal gave the Hurricanes a 4-0 lead with a power-play goal, his 13th of the season, 1:57 later. It came after an interference call on Nik Antropov.

Rich Peverley scored at the 13:30 mark of the second period. His 16th goal of the season came unassisted on a breakaway as he snapped a shot past Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward. Colby Armstrong added a third-period goal, his eighth of the season. It was his first goal in 19 games.

Staal completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 44 seconds left.

Ward stopped 32 of 34 shots to get the win. Pavelec suffered his first loss in five starts, stopping 17 of 21 shots.

As sharp as Ward was, stopping several point-blank shots from the Thrashers, the game turned during power plays. Carolina scored three times during their 6:54 with a man advantage. The Thrashers failed to score despite 12 minutes with an extra player. The win was only Carolina’s fifth on the road this season.

“The [penalty kill] gave up three and our power play got none, and you don’t usually win when that is the case,” Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey said.