Little playing big for Thrashers

Bryan Little woke up Saturday morning tied with guys such as Marian Hossa and Eric Staal for 10th in the NHL in goals scored.

Dany Heatley and Jarome Iginla were one goal behind him. Everyone ahead of Little was older than he is (although in Phil Kessel’s case by only a month).

Little, a 21-year-old right winger, isn’t doing half bad for a guy in his first full NHL season.

Little’s 17 goals through less than half the Thrashers’ 2008-09 schedule already are two more than he scored a year ago in a full season split between the Thrashers and the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. And his five goals against the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes are his most in a two-game stretch since, well, he can’t remember.

“Last year it seemed like no bounces were going my way,” Little said. “This year it seems like all the bounces are going my way, and they’re all hitting my stick.”

There’s more to it than that, of course. A lot more.

“He has a nice set of hands, some real good intelligence. Good player,” Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice told reporters Friday night after watching Little score the Thrashers’ first hat trick of the season.

“He’s got some offensive instincts and some talent,” said Staal, who had 45 goals and 100 points the season that he turned 21.

Earlier in the season Little scored goals with his speed. He would beat defenders up the ice and score on a two-on-one or a breakaway.

All five of Little’s goals the past two games have come on deflections or tap-ins from within a few feet of the net, an area he plays so well you might be forgiven for thinking he has done it his entire hockey life. Guess again.

He played the point on the power play in junior hockey and scored a lot of his goals on one-timers. It was Thrashers coach John Anderson who put Little in front on the power play, beginning last season when both were with the Wolves. Even having played there a bit in 2007-08 didn’t make Little feel like he had gotten the hang of it. That happened this season.

“It took me awhile,” he said. “Sometimes you feel like you’re not really accomplishing a lot when you’re screening the goalie or trying to get open. I’m starting to get used to it, used to the fact guys are shooting it right past me.”

Linemate Slava Kozlov has seen Little’s development up close.

“He finds the spot in front of the net where there’s all the loose pucks,” Kozlov said, adding that Ilya Kovalchuk’s powerful shot from the point draws the defense and produces opportunities for Little.

“He gets his nose dirty and battles for the pucks in front of the net,” Kozlov said. “He’s strong on his skates, and he wins some battles. He’s very solid.”

Kozlov said the NHL’s post-lockout rules changes help a guy like Little take advantage of his quickness while playing in an area of the ice once ruled by big men.

Anderson has had success with smaller players near the net.

“I had Brett Sterling who did kind of the same thing for me in Chicago,” he said. “It’s not so much the size but his slinkyness to get away from the boxing out of the D. He’s got a quickness, so if it’s a big [defenseman] in front, he can beat them to that one little first step to the puck. Just that little half a second you can see make a difference.”