Thrashers goaltender Chris Mason got his second start in two days Friday night against Vancouver. He faced only 15 shots, a season-low for the Thrashers, in Thursday night's 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders.
"He wasn't busy, but they had a few opportunities, in the third period especially, on a couple of rush plays," coach Craig Ramsay said.
One of Mason's saves came on a breakaway from the Islanders' Michael Grabner, who has 31 goals this season.
“He didn’t have a lot to do, but he was there,” Ramsay said. “The Islanders feast on those kinds of plays. The save was made. The right save at the right time.
"It was so drastically, incredibly important not only to the outcome of the game, but the psyche of the team.”
Maxwell back in lineup
Ben Maxwell remained in the Thrashers' lineup Friday after Ramsay said he was impressed with the young player against the Islanders. Maxwell played his fourth game since he was acquired by the Thrashers from Montreal before the trade deadline.
The play of Maxwell, who saw 11:25 of ice time over 13 shifts, enabled the Thrashers to give Eric Boulton another day off. Boulton received 25 stitches to the inside and outside of his mouth after getting hit by a puck in practice Tuesday.
Better penalty kill
The Thrashers' penalty-kill unit easily had its best effort of the season against the Islanders. After entering the game with the NHL’s worst unit, they killed all four penalties, allowing one shot. That came in the final 35 seconds of the game with the Islanders on a 6-on-4 with their goal empty. Much of the time short-handed was spent in the Islanders’ zone.
“We were able to use six or seven people,” Ramsay said. “On our first penalty kill, we have five or six groups on before it was over. In two minutes, we had five sets of people out there. That’s how you kill, with that chase and that aggression. We’ve done it on occasion, but [Thursday] night was our best outing where we were absolutely determined.
"[Andrew] Ladd and [Bryan] Little started one, and they didn't even finish it, and they were out there twice."
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