After watching the replay, Boris Valabik didn't think the hit was so bad. Carolina's Joe Corvo hit Thrashers forward Eric Boulton late in Friday's loss to the Hurricanes and Valabik took exception. It looked a lot worse live.

The 6-foot-7 rookie defenseman threw Corvo to the ice and it was obvious Corvo wanted no part of the fight.

"Late in a 7-1 game and [Corvo]'s taking a charge there on one of our players," Valabik said after practice Sunday. "I didn't like that, so I reacted the way I reacted."

The penalties piled up on Valabik, who got a game misconduct. As of Sunday afternoon, Valabik hadn't heard from the league about any suspension, but he has no regrets.

If nothing else, Valabik won over one of the toughest Thrashers players in Boulton.

"That's what team is all about," Boulton said. "You see a guy get hit, to stick up for the guy, that shows that he is willing to do whatever it takes to play. The hit wasn't as bad as we thought, but the game is pretty fast out there."

And you better believe associate coach Brad McCrimmon liked it when he saw the rookie defenseman jumping to the defense of his teammate.

"I won't fault a guy who sticks up for his teammates," McCrimmon said. "I thought Corvo, who is not a physical player, came across the ice and took a pretty good liberty run at [Boulton]."

Four games into Valabik's NHL career, he knows there's a lot to improve. He's worked closely with McCrimmon on positioning, making that first pass and using his size to his advantage.

Joel Kwiatkowski said he's been impressed with Valabik's ability to transfer his game from the AHL to the NHL without trying to do too much. He's staying within himself, Kwiatkowski said, and after a rocky first game is showing improvement.

And even in that first game, in which Valabik was a minus-two, McCrimmon didn't think his overall play was that bad.

"He was a victim of some non-support in a couple of those goals," McCrimmon said.

Before exiting after the Corvo fight, Valabik played a career-high 18:02 against Carolina and finished the game a plus-one. He also had 29 penalty minutes, giving him 37 penalty minutes in four games.

Boulton, who leads the Thrashers with 123 penalty minutes, said experience will help Valabik perfect the balance between good penalties and bad penalties.

"Obviously, he's a big, strong guy who has to make his presence known," Boulton said. "You're trying to show you can be physical without taking penalties. It's tough getting used to the speed. You don't want to put your team short-handed. It's tough to show how physical he can be and walk that fine line of not hurting your team taking penalties."

Valabik will learn, and that's one of the reasons he was called up from the AHL to play in the final seven games of the season.

On Sunday, the Thrashers promoted another AHL player to get a taste of the NHL.

Forward Jordan LaVallee got the call to join the Thrashers in Tampa Bay and likely will make his NHL debut against the Lightning tonight.

"Being in the NHL is a great accomplishment, but you don't want to stop working," Valabik said. "Nothing is for sure next year. I'm trying to prove what I can do out there."

NEXT FOR THRASHERS

> Who: at Lightning

> When: 7:30 p.m. today

> Radio: 680 AM