Byfuglien delivers another dramatic victory

Despite his on-ice exploits, Byfuglien remained understated about his latest heroics.

“It just feels good to get another two points in our home building,” said Byfuglien, who leads all NHL defensemen with seven goals. “We came back and tied it up and got a good result.”

Surely, he must show a little more emotion when the microphones and cameras are not on?

“You could say I’m a little bit different,” he said.

Byfuglien snapped a wrist shot past Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro 1:30 into the four-on-four overtime, starting a wild celebration. He also won the Oct. 29 game against Buffalo with an overtime goal.

“He wants to be a difference-maker all the time,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said. “That’s the biggest asset a hockey player can have, a professional athlete can have, to want to be the guy. When you say ‘Be the man’ he puts his hand up.”

The game-winner was possible after an incredible save by Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec late in the third game. With the score tied 1-1, PA Parenteau had an open net after a rebounded shot, but Pavelec slid over and gloved the slap shot with a highlight-reel effort.

“He had the open net,” said Pavelec, who finished with 28 saves. “I just tried to get there as soon as possible and I just put the glove there and he hit it. … It was a good save, but it was more important that we blocked the shot before because I didn’t see it. The guys blocked it.”

Pavelec has allowed just three goals in the past three games, stopping 79 of 82 shots. His .939 save percentage is tied for third in the NHL. Pavelec also dropped his goals-against average to 1.93, fourth best in the league.

“It’s composure,” Ramsay said of Pavelec’s third-period robbery. “For a goalie not to lose track of where he is and understand his only play and he took it. He couldn’t have climbed up. He couldn’t have done anything else. He just put everything he had out there and they shoot it in his glove. He put himself in the right position. That’s the key.”

The Islanders scored first with 12.7 seconds remaining in the second period. Michael Grabner, who drew a holding penalty on the Thrashers’ Ron Hainsey, poked a loose puck under Pavelec with the teams skating four-on-four. Thirty-three seconds after the Hainsey penalty, the Islanders’ John Tavares was called for cross-checking.

The Islanders’ goal snapped Pavelec’s scoreless streak at 120:26, dating back to late in the second period in Wednesday’s game against Florida.

The Thrashers evened the score 2:25 into the third period on Nik Antropov’s power-play goal. Just 12 seconds into a holding penalty to the Islanders’ Zenon Konopka, Antropov shot from along the wall that beat DiPietro.

“It was a broken play,” said Antropov of his sixth goal of the season. “I picked up the puck. The power play wasn’t working so I decided to shoot and I was lucky it went in.”

The Thrashers improved to 5-5-1 at home this season with the win halfway through a six-game home stand.

“You just get some bad feelings once in awhile against a team that hasn’t won in awhile,” Ramsay said. “You are controlling the play in the offensive zone, but not scoring, not getting anything out of it. … It’s tense of the bench. That’s the kind of game you grow with. As [good] as the win against Washington was, we had to fight through. We did.”