Up-and-down Thrashers are down again after second loss in two days

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two steps forward, two steps back.

If the Thrashers are going to make the playoffs, it won’t be like this.

After climbing into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-0-2 run --  including two straight wins -- the Thrashers dropped back-to-back weekend games. Once again, they find themselves on the outside looking in.

The latest defeat was  Sunday, a 4-0 loss to Carolina at Philips Arena. It came less than 24 hours after falling to Tampa Bay.

The Thrashers (28-26-10, 66 points) are now ninth in the conference. They trail Montreal by two points. The New York Rangers, who played Buffalo Sunday night, could also jump ahead.

“With our schedule, we know we aren’t going to win all of them,” forward Colby Armstrong said. “You’d like to think that after you lose one you can bounce back as a group and we didn’t do that. It’s important right now to show up after we lose one and stay in the hunt. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”

Carolina goaltender Manny Legace, who was in the Thrashers’ training camp on a pro tryout, earned the shutout by stopping all 27 shots he faced. It was the 24th shutout of his career. The Thrashers were shutout at home for the first time since Nov. 22, 2008, a 2-0 loss to Columbus.

The Thrashers got off to a poor start with three first-period penalties, ending the opening stanza facing of 15-4 shots-on-goal disadvantage.

The Hurricanes opened the scoring, the first game in the past six in which the Thrashers did not draw first blood.

With four seconds left in an interference penalty to Evgeny Artyukhin, Brandon Sutter took a shot in close that Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec initially stopped. However, the puck trickled underneath his pad and into the goal at 16:57 on the first period. For Sutter, it was his 17th goal of the season and extended his point streak to six games with eight points (four goals, four assists).

“We got off to a really poor start,” Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey said. “It was more the penalties. We took three penalties in the first -- again. Any time you do that, you end up getting outshot badly and you never get any flow going the other way.”

The special team play may well decide if the Thrashers rebound and make the postseason for the second time in franchise history. Carolina converted twice on seven chances with a man-advantage. The Thrashers failed three times.

“The power play and the penalty killing are not doing a good job right now,” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “It’s the difference in the game and being in playoff position or not.”

The Hurricanes extended the lead to 2-0 with a second-period goal. Playing 4-on-4 after matching holding penalties, Joni Pitkanen was on the receiving end of a back-handed pass from Jussi Jokinen. Pitkanen took the pass in front of the net and snapped a shot past Pavelec with 4:25 left in the period.

Rod Brind’Amour and Jokinen added goals 2:19 apart early in the third period to add insult to injury. Jokinen's goal came on a power play.

The Hurricanes had a seven-game win streak snapped Saturday, but now have won eight of their past nine. Since naming Eric Staal captain in January they are 13-4-0, a streak that began with a win over the Thrashers. The Hurricanes outscored their opponents 64-33 during the run.

The up-and-down Thrashers, who have not won three straight since Nov. 30, continue a packed March schedule, where 12 of 17 games will be at home. They host Nashville on Tuesday.

“The game was obviously not what we wanted to have happen,” Anderson said. “There’s still time. We have to lick our wounds and get right back at it. …

“It’s going to be the nature of the beast right until the end. We are still in there. We are still in the hunt. We have to look at it optimistically.”