DEL.ICIO.USNHL
Kozlov, Thrashers down Islanders
Atlanta wins back-to-back games for first time this season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, November 06, 2008
First-year coach John Anderson has shown plenty of patience his first 12 games at the helm of the Thrashers. He ran out of it after the second period against the Islanders on Thursday night, with his team down by two goals.
“That’s not what I wanted this team to be about,” he said.
Jessic McGowan/jmcgowan@ajc.com
Atlanta Thrashers’ Tobias Enstrom (#39) makes a break from New York Islanders Bill Guerin (#13) during the second period at Philips Arena.
Slava Kozlov got Anderson’s second-intermission message and led a rejuvenated attack in the third period. He scored his second goal of the game and team-high eighth of the season 29 seconds into the third period to start a three-goal comeback for the Thrashers in a 4-3 victory.
Tobias Enstrom fired the winning goal from just inside the blue line with 8:27 left for his first goal of the season.
“[Anderson] was very upset that we weren’t working,” Kozlov said. “He said if we were going to play like that, we’re not going to win.”
They came out with renewed energy, getting two goals back in the first 1:17 of the third period, including Jason Williams’ power-play goal that followed Kozlov’s goal. It came after Joey MacDonald of the Islanders was penalized for delay of game.
For their efforts, and after surviving a 6-on-4 power play for the final 10 seconds of the game, the Thrashers (4-7-2) won back-to-back games for the first time since Feb. 13-15 of last season when they beat the Capitals and Devils by shootout.
They hopscotched the Islanders (4-8-1) out of last place in the Eastern Conference.
“You saw what happened in the third period when we started to work,” Anderson said. “We scored a goal, and I don’t think they came out of their zone for the next 10 minutes just because we decided to go to work.”
Enstrom assisted on the tying goal, as well as Kozlov’s first goal of the game.
That’s a lot more of what Anderson wanted this team to be about, having offense come from the defense.
“We’ve been waiting for that,” Anderson said. “We’ve got some offensive weapons that haven’t really come to light yet. Usually the style that I like my team to play it comes out right away. This group has taken a little longer.”
Enstrom’s goal was his first since the second-year defenseman signed his four-year $15 million contract in September.
“I always put a lot of pressure on myself,” Enstrom said. “I don’t feel any pressure from the outside.”
Kozlov has five goals in the past four games. With eight goals, he’s almost halfway to his total of 17 goals last season.
“I’m having fun,” he said. “I’m still hungry.”
The Thrashers hadn’t played since Sunday’s win over Florida, and their muscle memory to start Thursday night wanted to take them back a little further than that.
The Thrashers, who had blowout losses to the Flyers and Devils last week, were caught on their heels for one disastrous 17 seconds in the second period when the Islanders scored twice to take a 3-1 lead.
Frans Nielson instigated both goals, scoring and then finding Trent Hunter in the slot for a 3-1 lead at 9:57 in the second period.
Ondrej Pavelec made his second consecutive start in goal in place of Kari Lehtonen, who is close to returning from a stiff back. Pavelec made 24 saves on his way to a second straight win and waits now to see if he’s headed back to Chicago soon.
“You never know what’s going to happen the next day,” Pavelec said. “I just focus on the next game.”
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