DEL.ICIO.USThrashers surge up standings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Raleigh — Less than a week ago, the Thrashers ranked last in the NHL standings.
Today, they’re just four points out of first place in the Southeast Division.
AP
Thrashers’ Marty Reasoner shoots and scores on Carolina Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward.
That’s what a four-game winning streak can do for you.
Sunday’s 5-2 victory over Southeast Division leader Carolina extended the Thrashers’ longest winning streak since December 2007 and continued the personal hot streaks of Jason Williams and Johan Hedberg.
Hedberg, who two days earlier was fighting for his job as backup goaltender, stopped 35 of 37 shots for his second consecutive victory. The brilliance he showed in the third period in Buffalo continued in the first period at Carolina, and he never let up. He got his mask knocked off in the second period but never lost his poise.
Williams scored a goal for the third consecutive game and added an assist. Four of his six goals this season have come during the last three games. The team’s winning streak coincides with his switch from the right wing to center.
“I guess I feel a little more comfortable there,” he said. “I can use my speed a little more there.”
Williams’ emergence is part of a team-wide offensive surge. The Thrashers have scored five goals three times during their streak and four goals in the other game. Sunday, they got two goals from third-line center Marty Reasoner, who had scored one goal in the season’s previous 14 games.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Ron Hainsey each had a goal and an assist.
How could this team have been 2-7-2?
“There was a couple of games in there we just didn’t show up, but there was a couple of other games we felt like we should have had better results,” Reasoner said. “We weren’t as far away as maybe it seemed.
“We still have a ways to go. We’re still climbing back into it.”
It’s the first time since October 2007 the Thrashers have won consecutive games that were both on the road. The three-goal margin was Atlanta’s biggest since this year’s season opener. There’s no telling exactly how long it has been since the team played this well.
“As a team I think we played our most complete game of the year,” Hedberg said, “and going back to last year, too, it’s been a long time.”
Williams, who scored the game-winner in overtime at Buffalo Friday, scored the goal that put Atlanta ahead to stay on Sunday. He beat goalie Cam Ward on the blocker side off a rebound on the power play.
Three minutes later, after Erik Christensen won the puck behind the net, Williams took a pass near the boards and fired the puck across the crease to Kovalchuk, who easily put it away for a 4-2 lead at 18:23 of the second period.
Reasoner had the only goal of the third period, an unassisted beauty on which he skated past Ward and tucked the puck inside the far post.
The Thrashers don’t play again until Friday, when they take on the Hurricanes again, this time at home. The next faceoff can’t come soon enough for the Thrashers.
“When you get on a streak like we’ve been on, you’ve got to ride it as long as you can, because it can sure stop at a halt,” Williams said. “We want to make sure we can take full advantage of this.”
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