Kovalchuk notches 40th goal

Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov weren’t just playing for the Thrashers and their fans Saturday night.

They were playing for the two Russian national-team coaches in the Philips Arena crowd of 17,053.

Slava Bykov and his assistant Igor Zakharkin saw Kovalchuk clinch a fifth consecutive 40-goal season and Kozlov have a three-point night in a 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Kovalchuk is a shoo-in for national-team selection after being the hero of last season’s gold medalists at the world championships. Kozlov hasn’t played on the national team since the 1990s but might make a comeback.

“We have to talk. It’s important to know he’s willing to play,” Bykov said when asked what would determine whether Kozlov is on the team.

“If they ask me, I’m going to think about it,” Kozlov said. “In the past years, sometimes I said no, sometimes they didn’t invite me, I got some injuries sometimes. We’ll see. If they’re going to ask me, definitely I’m going to think twice.”

Kozlov, 36, is having one of the more productive offensive seasons of his 17-year NHL career. Only Alex Ovechkin has more power-play points than Kozlov’s 42. Kozlov has 24 goals and 46 assists overall and 16 points in his past 11 games.

Kovalchuk’s fan club presented Bykov a T-shirt. Bykov and Zakharkhin are scouting Russian players around the league.

“It’s always great when your coaches pay attention to what you’re doing and they care,” Kovalchuk said. “It’s a long flight from Moscow.”

Kovalchuk scored only 12 goals in the 38 games before New Year’s Day. He has scored 28 goals in the 38 games since.

“If he had a strong start, he might have gotten 50 or 60 [goals this season],” Thrashers coach John Anderson said. “When he does well, our team does well.”

The Russians weren’t the only Thrashers who had big nights. Tobias Enstrom wrapped up a breakthrough month with a goal and two assists, Johan Hedberg won his 100th NHL game and Colby Armstrong had a goal and an assist as the Thrashers continued to play better than many of the teams above them in the standings.

They concluded a 9-4 March, their best month since October o2006. February was their first winning month since 2007.

Enstrom’s three-point night gave him a total of 14 points in 13 games in March. The hot streak coincides with three things: the trade of his former partner Niclas Havelid to New Jersey, his new pairing with Zach Bogosian and his move onto the first power-play unit.

It was Enstrom’s fifth goal of the season, matching his rookie total from 2007-08.

Nathan Oystrick and Marty Reasoner also scored for the Thrashers, who broke away from a 2-2 tie by outscoring Ottawa 3-0 in the second period.

The Senators got two first-period goals from Jason Spezza and a third-period goal from Ryan Shannon.

Hedberg stopped 18 shots to win his third consecutive start.

The Senators had won five of their past six games and nine of their past 11 and were still talking about the playoffs. The Thrashers have been eliminated from contention.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Ottawa coach Cory Clouston said. “It’s hard to explain that.”