NHL - Match Recap: Atlanta Thrashers 3-2 win against Florida Panthers
Rich Peverley had two goals and Ondrej Pavelec made 33 saves to guide Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-2 win over Florida Panthers at Bank Atlantic Centre on Wednesday night.
Niclas Bergfors also lit the lamp while Andrew Ladd had two assists for Atlanta, which has now won its third game out of four in total.
"I thought we did a pretty good job of managing the game, obviously," said Peverley. "We had a pretty good second period keeping the puck in their zone and making the most of our chances."
Stephen Weiss scored a goal while Chris Higgins added another and also had an assist for Florida, which has lost for the second time in its nine games. Tomas Vokoun surrendered three goals out of 15 shots in the loss for Florida. He was later substituted
by Scott Clemmensen who made 16 saves for his side in the dying moments of the game.
“We’ve been playing some good hockey recently,” Higgins said. “We didn’t play well for most of this game, but we’ve just got to put in a full 60 minutes again. Took a couple of minutes off, let them take the lead and couldn’t recover.”
Atlanta struck on the board first and got a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of the first period. Bergfors rang a long shot that bounced off the post and trickled behind Vokoun.
Florida equalized with six minutes left in the first period as Weiss slipped a wrist shot through Pavelec's legs for a 1-1 game.
With just 31 seconds remaining in the opening period, Peverley skated Thrashers to a 2-1 lead with his first goal on 5-on-3 power-play. He skated around defenseman Mike Weaver and put in his own rebound with a backhander.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of managing the game,” Peverley said. “Obviously, that second (Florida) goal we’d like to have back. We had a pretty good second and keeping the puck in their zone and doing a good job of capitalizing on our chances.”
On 7th minute of the second period, Atlanta doubled its advantage 3-1 with Peverley’s second goal of the night. Peverley rushed into the Panthers zone and ripped a long wrist shot from the left wing over Vokoun's shoulder.
Florida’s goalie Vokoun was pulled for Clemmensen thereafter.
Late in the second period, Peverley got a golden chance for the first hat-trick of his career on a breakaway. But Clemmensen stopped Peverley’s wrist shot with his glove.
“He had some chances,” Craig Ramsay said. “On the breakaway, he had a good opportunity against a cold goalie. Their goalie made some really good saves.”
Florida got the best scoring opportunity when Panthers' forward Shawn Matthias was called for boarding on a power-play in the second minute of the third period. Florida’s penalty-killer Marty Reasoner had the chance to capitalize on it when he came alone
on Pavelec and attempted to slip a backhander through Pavelec’s legs, but it was saved by Pavelec to keep it a two-goal margin for Atlanta.
Higgins brought Panthers within 3-2 as only eight minutes remained in the final period. He rushed in alone and managed to get a shot through Pavelec's legs.
At 14th minute in the final period, Florida appeared to have equalized the contest when Bryan McCabe's shot somehow got through Pavelec and settled in the mesh near the left post.
The goal was not reviewed, despite mild objections from Panthers' skaters.
"It looks like a goal to me. I'm baffled as to why the referees, who need to make certain, didn't go on to the penalty box to ask to take a look at it," said Florida Coach Peter DeBoer. "They looked at everything else. I got no explanation from them other
than they said if it was close, Toronto would have buzzed them and they never got a buzz."
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