Thrashers lose in shootout

The Thrashers played with the defending Stanley Cup champions -- right up until the fifth round of the shootout.

Viktor Stalberg's shootout goal gave Chicago a 5-4 overtime victory over the Thrashers on Saturday night in front of announced crowd of 16,022 at Philips Arena. Jonathan Toews, who had two goals, also scored for the Blackhawks in the 2-1 shootout win. Andrew Ladd scored for the Thrashers in the tiebreaker.

Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec is now 0-6 in shootouts, including 0-2 this season. He wanted to get the extra point for his team.

“I know I’ve got to be better there and help the team grab the extra point,” said Pavelec, who made 36 saves. “We deserved to win. I know my record. I know I have to be better there. The guys played really well tonight and deserved to win. They deserved better help from me. I should have made some more saves early.”

The Thrashers (6-5-3, 15 points) have earned points in six of their past seven games (3-1-3), but were coming off a 3-0 shutout by Columbus. The Blackhawks snapped a two-game losing streak and got just their third win in their past eight games.

“We battled,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said. “We chased. We skated. We really looked like our team again. We looked like we had speed. We put a lot of pressure on their defense. Chicago is a pretty good team, and when they had their chance, they responded. I was so thrilled with that first period. We did not play safe. We went after them.”

The Thrashers were 3-for-5 on the power play and allowed goals on both Blackhawks’ man-advantages.

The teams entered the final period tied 4-4, and the score stayed that way. Evander Kane and Alexander Burmistrov scored 55 seconds apart four minutes into the second period to give the Thrashers a 3-2 lead. Kane scored his team-leading seventh goal on his first career power-play goal. Burmistrov got his second goal less than a minute later.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville called timeout after the goal -- and it worked. Toews scored his second goal of the game, beating Dustin Byfuglien and Pavelec on a breakaway.

Rich Peverley gave the Thrashers a 4-3 lead with a power-play goal at the 11:56 mark of the second. Peverley, who got his 100th point as a Thrasher, was on the receiving end of two perfect passes from Ladd and Nik Antropov.

The Thrashers entered the game with a 5-0-2 record when Peverley had a point and a 3-0-2 record when Kane had a point.

Chicago’s Patrick Kane tied the game at 4-4 with 3:16 left in the period. Toews took the puck from Pavelec behind the net and kicked it to Kane in front of the empty net.

The Thrashers opened the scoring, 3:14 into the game, with a power-play goal by Antropov. The goal came 11 seconds after Chicago’s Jack Skille was called for holding. It was Antropov’s third goal of the season and marked the first time this season the Thrashers have scored first on home ice.

The Blackhawks got the equalizer with a first-period power-play goal of their own. Toews scored with 53 seconds left on an Anthony Stewart hooking penalty -- called in the Thrashers’ offensive zone. The Thrashers had not allowed a power-play goal in the previous six games (0-for-14).

Kane gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead after the first period with another power-play goal. Kane picked up a loose puck in front of the net and beat Pavelec with 3:57 left. Johnny Oduya was in the penalty box for holding the stick.

The Thrashers had 16 shots in the first, the most they have had in any period this season.

Byfuglien, Ladd and Ben Eager all had assists against their former team.