Thrashers change lines, pairings in victory

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Thrashers were willing to try anything to break their four-game home losing streak.

Coach John Anderson shuffled his offensive lines and defensive pairings in Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win over St. Louis.

Evander Kane was moved back to the line with Marty Reasoner and Colby Armstrong. Rich Peverley centered a line with Nik Antropov and Max Afinogenov. The line of Slava Kozlov, Todd White and Bryan Little was also reunited. The fourth line of Eric Boulton, Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn remained intact.

On defense, the duo of Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom were split. Bogosian skated with Ron Hainsey, and Enstrom was paired with Pavel Kubina.

The shakeup of defensive pairings came after a 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

“Obviously we didn’t play well in our zone last night. We did much better tonight [Sunday],” Kubina said.

Johan Hedberg even changed his goalie mask to start the third period. That move was made out of necessity. His regular mask was not fitting properly, he said.

Popovic returns

Defenseman Mark Popovic was back in the lineup and made a key diving poke check late in the game to stop a St. Louis breakaway. Defenseman Anssi Salmela was the Thrashers’ scratch.

Former Thrashers player Keith Tkachuk was among the Blues' scratches. The veteran was not injured, but given a day off.

Etc.

Enstrom scored a point for the third straight game. He has two goals and two assists. … Reasoner assisted on both the Thrashers’ goals. It was his first multipoint game this season. … The Thrashers improved to 7-6-1 (15 points). They travel to New York to play the Rangers on Thursday.