Atlanta Thrashers continue hot play
The Atlanta Thrashers kept their recent hot streak alive on Sunday with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins. The Thrashers have now won five games in a row and are beginning to make some
noise in the Eastern Conference.
The Thrashers were once again led by defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and the strong goaltending of Ondrej Pavelec. Byfuglien was in on all of the Thrashers four goals, picking up a goal and
adding three assists. Pavelec, for his part, made 40 saves including 16 in the second period and improved his record to 6-4-2. During the Thrashers last five games, Byfuglien has four goals and nine points while Pavelec has made 154 saves on 157 shots with
two shutouts. The Thrashers have also outscored their opponents 19-3 during that span.
Atlanta raced out to an early 3-0 lead before the period was 15 minutes old on goals by Evander Kane, Byfuglien and Jim Slater.
The Bruins cut into the lead at 12:22 of the second period on a goal by forward Blake Wheeler. However, Thrashers forward Niclas Bergfors restored the Thrashers three-goal lead with just
13 seconds to go in the period after scoring on the power play.
Both teams failed to score in the third period giving the Thrashers a 4-1 win.
Tuukka Rask was in goal for the Bruins and dropped his record to 1-6-1 allowing four goals on 22 shots and felt bad in the loss.
"I let in four goals," Rask said. "I do not give us a chance to win. To go down three goals in the first makes it hard to come back."
However, Bruins coach Claude Julien was quick to take the blame away from his goalie saying his offence was snake bitten.
"We had 40 shots, but sometimes shots don't mean much," Julien said. "I figured we had 19 scoring chances, and all we had to show for it was one goal. We put ourselves out of the game
with four turnovers in the first period."
The Bruins had won 10-straight games over the Thrashers before losing on Sunday. After a strong start, the Bruins have struggled lately with only one win in their last five games.
Byfuglien now leads all defensemen in scoring with nine goals and 25 points in 24 games. Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay admits that Byfuglien’s offensive production has been key to their
success along with his improving defensive play.
"He's up more than probably the vast majority of forwards," Ramsay said. "He's growing in the defensive zone, and that's probably what I like better. When he gets in battles down low,
he comes up with pucks and makes plays off it."
The Thrashers have now moved into third place in the Southeast division and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
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