High-pick Bryan Little rewarding Thrashers early

Bryan Little is literally skating past older, slower players, much to the delight of the Thrashers.

Little did it again Sunday, winning a race for the puck at the Florida blue line, then maneuvering around Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun and sliding the puck into the open net for his sixth goal of the season.

No other Thrashers player has scored more goals this season than Little, who in 12 games has equalled his goal total from his entire rookie season of 2007-08. At age 20, he already is delivering on the promise that made him the 12th overall pick of the 2006 draft.

Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said Little is benefiting from his playoff run with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Little played 48 games for the Thrashers last season and 34 regular-season games with the Wolves, but he really shined in the playoffs with eight goals in 24 games.

“He looks pretty good right now. He looks like the player we drafted,” Waddell said. “I thought it was critical for a guy like that to play in the playoffs last year. I don’t care if you’re playing in the American [Hockey] League, the National [Hockey] League, junior, whatever you’re playing, playoff hockey is tough, the competition you’re playing is tough, and that was going to make him a better player.”

Little said the difference this season has been less about a change in his skills and more about a change in his confidence.

“Last year [with the Thrashers] I was a bit intimidated playing with some of the well-known players,” Little said. “It was my first year. This year I’m more confident. I want to get in the rush with them and make plays with them.”

Eye on the election

Only six of the Thrashers were born in the United States, but that hasn’t kept today’s election from being a major topic of discussion. “It’s kind of important for us, too,” said Eric Perrin, a Canadian. “This is where we make our money. This is where we live nine, 10 months out of the year. There’s definitely good discussions going on, different points of view.”

Tough enough

Defenseman Garnet Exelby shoved a glove to the face of Florida’s Radek Dvorak Sunday after a play in front of the Atlanta net. Exelby committed slashing, roughing and fighting penalties in Saturday’s 6-1 loss at New Jersey, and got a 10-minute misconduct.

He’s not giving in.

“We’ve got to show the rest of the league … we’re not going to have the reputation of being a team that lays down when it gets tough,” Exelby said Saturday.

“It’s always going to be tough. It could be in a close game, it could be in a game where we’re down a few goals. It doesn’t matter. We need to play with that intensity no matter what, as a team.”

Award winner

Ondrej Pavelec was named AHL goalie of the month after he posted a 5-3-1 record with a 1.54 goals against average and a .947 save percentage for the Wolves. Pavelec, 21, had two shutouts. He started November with the Thrashers, allowing no goals in the third period at New Jersey before playing all of Sunday’s 5-3 victory over Florida.

Down time

The Thrashers took Monday off after playing four games in six days, including back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday. Today, they travel to Ft. Benning for a team-building excursion, part of coach John Anderson’s plan to build relationships between his players off the ice as well as on it.