Thrashers recall goalie Pavelec

The Thrashers called up Ondrej Pavelec from the Chicago Wolves, who had dropped out of contention for a playoff spot.

“We’ll work him in a game or two [of the final three],” Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said. “Obviously he played well for us at times. This kind of experience this time of year is going to be good for him.”

Pavelec was 3-6 with the Thrashers in November and December. He stopped 28 of 29 shots in a victory at Ottawa and 29 of 30 shots in a loss to Columbus, but he had some shaky games, too, and had a 3.55 goals against average and an .884 save percentage.

He was much more consistent in Chicago; he had a 2.58 GAA and a .914 save percentage in AHL games.

With Johan Hedberg under contract for another season and Kari Lehtonen a restricted free agent, Waddell has a choice to make at the position.

“We have lots of options,” Waddell said. “We can carry three guys [on the roster next fall]. We could send one down. We could trade one. At the end of the year we’ll sit down and weigh out what the best options are. That decision doesn’t have to be made in April.”

Pavelec replaces Dan Turple, who didn’t play in three games backing up Hedberg.

Scoring balance

Colby Armstrong became a 20-goal scorer for the first time in his career and gave the Thrashers five 20-goal scorers in a season for the second time in franchise history.

This season, it’s Ilya Kovalchuk 42, Bryan Little 31, Slava Kozlov 26, Todd White 22 and Armstrong 20. In 2005-06 it was Kovalchuk 52, Marian Hossa 39, Marc Savard 28, Kozlov 25, and Peter Bondra 21.

Armstrong’s streak

Armstrong extended his point-scoring streak to seven games, one shy of the longest of his career. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin extended his point-scoring streak to eight games.

Another meeting

The Thrashers and Capitals play Tuesday in Atlanta.

“The biggest challenge is they’re going to be really ticked because of the third period [of Sunday’s game],” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said.