As far as the Atlanta Thrashers are concerned, there was nothing flukey about beating the New Jersey Devils.
Marc Savard scored into an open net after a bad bounce off the glass and Vyacheslav Kozlov tallied 15 seconds later as the Thrashers handed the Devils their first loss in regulation since Jan. 4 with a 4-2 win Friday night.
"Bob (Hartley) told us before the game to get everything up on the glass,'' said defenseman Andy Sutton, whose hard power-play dump-in led to Savard's goal with 6:56 to play. "With the partitions, you never know what kind of bounce you're going to get. ... Sure enough in the third, we got a lucky bounce.''
It certainly fooled Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur. He went behind his net to play the puck and was out of position when it bounced out in front to Savard.
"I probably should have stayed in the net the whole way but I was going with the flow,'' Brodeur said. "It kind of surprised me that it made that bad of a bounce.''
Ilya Kovalchuk and Dan Snyder also scored, and Byron Dafoe made 26 saves in his first game since Jan. 13 as Atlanta improved to 7-2-1 since Hartley took over as coach.
With their 19th victory, the Thrashers matched last season's total. They are 10 points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"We're on a roll right now,'' Dafoe said after playing for the first time under Hartley. "We're looking at that eighth spot. The last month or so it's becoming more and more realistic. Guys are believing more and more in each other and in the system and in our coach.''
Stephen Guolla and Patrik Elias scored for the Devils, who had earned points in a franchise-record 14 consecutive games since losing to Toronto 2-1 in early January. The loss also snapped a franchise record-tying eight-game winning streak.
"It's been a while,'' defenseman Brian Rafalski said after the Devils lost a chance to take over the top spot in the NHL. "It does feel a little weird. But it brings us back to reality quickly. It was bound to happen sooner or later.'' The win extended Atlanta's club-record road winning streak to four games.
After Savard put Atlanta ahead 3-2, All-Star game MVP Dany Heatley blocked Scott Stevens' pass after the ensuing faceoff, setting up a two-on-one that Kozlov put into another empty net.
The victory was only the Thrashers' second over the Devils (2-10-0-2) and their first against Brodeur, who is 10-1-2 against them.
Atlanta took a 2-0 lead on goals by Snyder and Kovalchuk in the final 5:27 of the first period, and the Devils tied it in the second on goals by Guolla and Elias.
Guolla, who had been sidelined since Nov. 5 with a back injury that required surgery, got New Jersey to 2-1 at 3:13 of the second period with a shot into an open net after Dafoe stopped defenseman Scott Niedermayer in close.
Niedermayer also made the centering pass that Elias tipped past Dafoe in close with the Devils on a power play.
Snyder, recalled from the minors last month, opened the scoring at 14:33 of the first period by deflecting Jeff Cowan's shot past Brodeur.
Kovalchuk put the Devils two goals down by beating Brodeur on a breakaway with 2:07 left in the period for his 29th goal. Patrik Stefan, who has assists in five of his last seven games, made the pass to spring Kovalchuk.
| SCORING |
PENALTIES |
First Period: 1, Atlanta, Dan Snyder 3 (Jeff Cowan), 14:33. 2, Atlanta, Ilya Kovalchuk 29 (Brad Tapper, Patrik Stefan), 17:53.
Second Period: 3, New Jersey, Stephen Guolla 2 (Jim Mckenzie, Scott Niedermayer), 3:13. 4, New Jersey, Patrik Elias 16 (power play) (Scott Niedermayer, John Madden), 10:02.
Third Period: 5, Atlanta, Ilya Kovalchuk 30 (power play) (Andy Sutton), 13:04. 6, Atlanta, Vyacheslav Kozlov 13 (Dany Heatley), 13:19. |
First Period: S Gomez, Njd (elbowing), 2:26; A Sutton, Atl (hooking), 15:09.
Second Period: Bench, Njd (too many men served by J Nieuwendyk), 5:16; A Sutton, Atl (slashing), 9:29; C Tamer, Atl (ob holding the stick), 11:39.
Third Period: V Kozlov, Atl (high sticking), 10:49; S Niedermayer, Njd (tripping), 12:16; D Heatley, Atl (cross checking), 18:19; A Sutton, Atl (board check), 19:38; J Nieuwendyk, Njd (roughing), 19:38.
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Attendance: 13,254.
Referees: Mark Faucette, Stephane Auger.
Linesmen: Dan Mccourt, Kevin Collins.
