Thrashers close season with win

The standings say the Thrashers ended their season Saturday night the same place they ended 2007-08.

But this 76-point season wound up nothing like that one. This time, the spirit of 76 is as upbeat and optimistic as the Thrashers’ 12 victories in their final 18 games.

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Johnny Crawford / AJC

Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen makes a save against the Lightning. He stopped 33 shots.

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Johnny Crawford / AJC

The Thrashers’ Eric Boulton (left) takes on Tampa Bay’s Zenon Konopka in the first period of fan appreciation night at Philips Arena.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Box Score • Standings • Stats
• Moore: Good and bad of Thrashers
• Photos: Season finale

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“It’s definitely a different feeling than last year. Same outcome, but down the stretch I think we could see ourselves grow as a team,” Colby Armstrong said after scoring two goals in Saturday night’s season-ending 6-2 rout of Tampa Bay.

“It’s too bad it’s a little too late, but going into next year it really is an eye-opener to a lot of guys in here that we can win games. Moving forward we can build off that and have that confidence about us.”

This season’s team didn’t have a losing month after January en route to a 35-41-6 record. Last season’s team finished 34-40-8 after stumbling to a 4-14-4 finish.

“Some more pieces, and we can turn this thing around quickly,” team co-owner Bruce Levenson said. “We’ve got this franchise headed in the right direction now. I can’t wait for the [2009-10] season to start.”

Before then, the Thrashers hope to have signed captain Ilya Kovalchuk to a multi-year contract extension. Kovalchuk, awarded the team MVP award following the game, scored his 43rd goal of the season; he scored 22 goals in his final 26 games this season. He’s under contract through the end of next season and can begin negotiating his next contract July 1.

Kovalchuk said he wants to see the Thrashers invest in free agents.

“Hopefully this summer we’re going to do something to build our team,” he said. “Already we made great moves at the [trade] deadline. We kept the right guys here. Everybody worked so hard the last 35 games. I think we can play at a higher level.

“We need to sign some free agents, spend some money. … I don’t want to compete just for the playoffs. I want to compete for the [Stanley] Cup. I think this city deserves it.”

Asked if that means the Thrashers need to have a payroll closer to the salary cap, Kovalchuk first said “oh, yeah” but quickly qualified that with “I don’t know. I’m not an owner.”

Next for the Thrashers is the NHL’s draft lottery Tuesday night. They have a 10.7 percent chance of getting the first pick, a 66.7 percent chance of getting the fourth pick and a 22.7 percent chance of getting the fifth.

The team also has to decide whether to re-sign its restricted and unrestricted free agents. General manager Don Waddell says he wants to re-sign unrestricted free agent Marty Reasoner.

Ownership has to decide whether to keep Waddell. Levenson declined to make any statement about Waddell’s future Saturday night.

Another decision the Thrashers face concerns their goaltending. Do they keep Kari Lehtonen, Johan Hedberg and Ondrej Pavelec or trade one of them? Lehtonen, playing for the first time since an apparent head injury March 26, stopped 33 shots Saturday night.

“I think I can help this team, and I really want to take my game to the next level next year,” Lehtonen said. “I found something new there the last couple of months.”

So did the entire Thrashers team.