Ovechkin too much for Thrashers' third-period flurry

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Yes, Alexander Ovechkin is that good.

The Washington forward scored two first-period goals to lead the Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Thrashers on Thursday at Philips Arena.

Ovechkin, the NHL’s leading goal scorer this season, just might be on track for his third straight MVP award. He scored his 12th and 13th goals to put the Capitals ahead to stay.

“You can see he can score two goals every single game,” Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec said of Ovechkin. “It’s very hard to play against him. Every time he’s on the ice, he’s a danger. Well, a little bit more.”

Ovechkin also assisted on the Capitals’ third goal, a power-play tally by Brendan Morrison in the second period. Mike Knuble added an empty-netter for the Capitals, who have won five straight.

For the Thrashers (4-4-1), it was their fourth straight loss, the past three at home. It was also their first game without captain Ilya Kovalchuk, who is out four weeks with a broken bone in his right foot.

Not a good start.

The Thrashers finished with a flurry, scoring three times in the third period. Zach Bogosian scored twice, a power-play goal 1:23 into the period and another with a second remaining in the game.

“Doesn’t matter how many goals I score, we have to win as a team,” Bogosian said. “We’ve got to buckle down on a few things and not take as many penalties. [We need to] tighten up our all-around game.”

Just a week ago these two teams were playing for first place in the Southeast Division. Since a 5-4 Capitals win over the Thrashers on Oct. 22, Washington (8-2-2) has won three straight and now has 18 points. The Thrashers have lost their two games and remain at nine points.

Ovechkin opened the scoring with a power-play goal with 10:03 remaining in the first period. He one-timed a cross-ice pass from Mike Green. The power play was set up when Jim Slater was called for hooking.

Slater missed a chance to pull the Thrashers even when his penalty shot was stopped by Washington’s Semyon Varlamov with 6:12 remaining.

Ovechkin added his second goal when he raced in on Pavelec, burying the breakaway to the top right corner at the 14:56 mark. Pavelec finished with 28 saves.

“We’re not being prepared to go. That’s pretty evident,” said Colby Armstrong of the Thrashers' slow start. “We’re standing around watching.”

But the Thrashers do finish strong, narrowing gaps in their past four losses to come up one goal short each time.

“The mark of a good team is one that plays 60 minutes,” said Todd White, who had the Thrashers' other third-period goal. “Right now we are playing 30 or 40. That’s not enough in this league. We keep saying how encouraging it is that we keep coming back in the third period and are all over them, but at the same time we have to have that effort right from the start.”

After being outshot in their first seven games, the Thrashers have held the advantage the past two games. They had a season-high 41 shots Thursday. Several Thrashers had point-blank shots that were turned away by Varlamov.

“Part of the reason we start to flurry is we pinch our [defense] down,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “Maybe we should do that from the start of the game. It’s a little risky, but when we do it, teams have trouble getting out [of the zone], and we generate more offense. That’s something we’ll have to look at.”

Still, the losses are mounting.

“The teams that we lost against are no slouches,” Anderson said. “They are good hockey teams. There were times last year where we didn’t compete, but this year we’re getting closer, and with a little bit of patience and a little bit of luck here and there and our games have a different outcome.”

The Thrashers play their next two games on the road, Saturday at Ottawa and Tuesday at Montreal.