Thrashers giving up late goals, losing ties

Erik Christensen skated slowly into the Thrashers’ zone, his back turned to the Montreal Canadiens’ Andrei Kostitsyn, who zipped past him, grabbed the loose puck and went in alone to beat Johan Hedberg for the go-ahead goal.

That’s how the Thrashers fell out of a tie with 5:11 left in Tuesday night’s game.

Change the names and a few of the details, though, and it could describe a key third-period moment in a lot of Thrashers losses this season.

One reason Atlanta holds the NHL’s worst record is its failure to hold ties. The Montreal game was the sixth this season in which the Thrashers gave up a go-ahead goal in the final 10 minutes and went on to lose in regulation. That’s almost half of the team’s 14 losses.

There always seems to be a penalty the Thrashers shouldn’t have taken or a breakdown they couldn’t afford to make. The culprits have varied; the results haven’t.

“They’re mistakes that if you’re going to compete on any level in this league you cannot make,” defenseman Ron Hainsey said.

Had they held onto those ties and forced overtime, they’d have at least six more points in the standings, just one point out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Had they forced six overtimes and won a third of those games, they’d be in the middle of the standings and on pace for a playoff berth.

“That’s a big difference between where we’re at,” Hainsey said, “and where we feel we could be.”

Here’s what happened.

• On Nov. 30, St. Louis’ Brad Boyes breaks a 2-2 tie with 8:15 left by scoring in the closing seconds of a penalty against Nathan Oystrick. The Thrashers’ penalty kill unit ranks worst in the NHL.

• On Nov. 20, Pittsburgh’s Petr Sykora knocks in a power play goal to break a 2-2 tie with 2:40 left, after Chris Thorburn’s interference penalty.

• On Nov. 16, Philadelphia’s Joffrey Lupul skates to a sudden stop on his rush to the net. Niclas Havelid, who had been backpedaling ahead of him, falls to the ice and out of the play, and Lupul skates into the slot with plenty of time and space to notch the goal that breaks a 3-3 tie with 6:17 left.

• On Oct. 30, the Thrashers chase in a disorganized fashion around their defensive zone. The Rangers’ Dan Girardi breaks a 2-2 tie with a shot from the boards with 6:27 left.

• On Oct. 25, Boston’s Milan Lucic completes his hat trick with 1:41 left in a game that had been 4-4.

The Thrashers are aware of the problem, and though it hasn’t been the same breakdown or the same player every time, they say the mistakes are easy things to correct.

“Anytime we give ourselves a chance to get a point, we have to play with confidence, play with that opportunity,” forward Colby Armstrong said. “We’re just finding ways to give it up. We have to bear down, bear down in our system, bear down in the way we’re playing, show some pride.”

Late-game setbacks are going to happen occasionally over an 82-game season. But six times in the first 25 games is a bit much for the Thrashers to take. They’ve won only gone game by breaking a tie in the final 10 minutes of regulation; Tobias Enstrom did it to the Islanders with 8:31 left on Nov. 6.

Winning is always the goal, but getting no worse than overtime when you’re tied late in the game is the first priority.

“We’ve got to learn how to manage the clock,” Thorburn said. “We have to know what to do in those crucial situations so we can squeak out with at least a point.”