Two early scores propel Thrashers to third win in row

Winning two games in a row doesn’t constitute much of a streak. Three, including a 4-2 win over Montreal? That’s another story.

The Thrashers can tell it now because playing some of their best hockey of the season, as evidenced Tuesday when they led the Canadiens wire to wire.

Enlarge this image

Scott Cunningham/NHLI via Getty Images

Thrashers’ Chris Thorburn celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens at Philips on Tuesday. His fourth goal of the season.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Box Score • Standings • Stats

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

“It’s a good win,” said Kari Lehtonen, who made it stick with 18 of his 34 saves in a third-period onslaught. “They’re one of the best teams in our conference.”

Montreal had won nine of 11, not that Coach John Anderson thought the Thrashers should feel cheated by weekend victories over Toronto and Nashville.

“These are always big games for us,” Anderson said. “We have to work hard all the time just to eke out points.”

Newcomer Rich Peverley was back at it, scoring what was ultimately the winning goal for a 3-0 lead in the second period, good for his seventh point in four games as a Thrasher. But he was a complement to the contributions coming from the checking lines.

The Thrashers got two goals from the third and fourth lines — one each from Chris Thorburn and Erik Christensen to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. And Zach Bogosian scored the decisive goal off a defenseman’s stick at 8:55 of the third period.

That gave the Thrashers a two-goal breathing room they hadn’t had since the first period.

For Bogosian, the rookie first-round draft pick, it was his second consecutive game with both a goal and an assist in four games back from a broken leg.

“It was pretty cool for me because I only live like an hour and a half from Montreal,” Bogosian said. “They’re a good team. They’ve got a lot of big-name players, a lot of skill guys. I thought for a majority of the time we outworked them, but the times we didn’t they really capitalized on us.”

The Canadiens cut the lead to 3-2 with two goals in the second period — one on a power-play goal by Max Pacioretty after Boris Valabik was called for boarding and the second off the skate of Steve Begin in a disputed goal.

That just made things harrier for Lehtonen, who had four glove saves among his 18 in the third period to secure his third consecutive win.

“We were working Kari to death there in the third period,” Anderson said. “I guess we’re not used to having leads too often. Your tendency is just to chip it out instead of making some plays and back their D off. They re-attacked very well.”

But the Thrashers found a way to re-attack, too, using a rare opportunity in the offensive zone in the third period to convert. And with it they celebrated their most sustained run of success since winning five in a row in early November.

“When we play the system to a tee, and guys are working and committing, we give ourselves a chance to win,” Thorburn said.

The Thrashers knew they could score against Montreal, having set a team-record with three goals in a minute against the Canadiens in a 5-4 loss Dec. 2. They took one minute and 24 seconds to score twice in the first period Tuesday.

For Christensen, it was his fourth goal and Thorburn’s fifth. Jim Slater, who assisted Thorburn’s goal, left in the first period with a shoulder injury after crashing into the boards. He was not expected to travel to Philadelphia for Wednesday’s game against the Flyers.