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 Thrashers
get first win, top Rangers 5-3
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[October 19, 2007]
ATLANTA, Ga.
(AP)
--
The Thrashers had a new coach, and something else was different:
They won. One day after Bob Hartley was fired, Atlanta scored two
goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes, overcame an injury to goalie Kari
Lehtonen and finally picked up its first victory of the season,
beating the New York Rangers 5-3 Thursday night.
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 The
Thrashers lost their first six games, leaving them as the only
winless team in the NHL and leading general manager Don Waddell to
fire Hartley before the season totally fell apart.The GM is serving as interim coach, just as he did after dismissing
the only other coach in franchise history, Curt Fraser. Waddell
urged the defending Southeast Division champs to forget about the
first two weeks and treat it as the start of a new season.
Well, this opening night turned out much better than the last one.
Pascal Dupuis put the Thrashers ahead 4:21 into the game, and Slava
Kozlov stuffed the puck past Henrik Lundqvist during a two-man
advantage just over 2 minutes later. Todd White added a short-handed
goal midway through the second period, and the Rangers never
recovered.
Lehtonen stopped eight shots before going out with 8 1/2 minutes
left in the first, having injured his troublesome groin again. A
similar problem in 2005-06 sidelined the Finn for more than two
months, but it wasn't immediately known how long this ailment might
keep him out.
Johan Hedberg took over in net and kept the Rangers off the board
until they scored three power-play goals in the final 10:23.
The Thrashers had actually lost 10 in a row, going back to last
season's playoffs. The Rangers swept Atlanta in the opening round, a
stunning end that seemed to carry over into the new season.
But the coaching change inspired the Thrashers, with Waddell vowing
to play his stars more and not be quite as demanding as the
autocratic Hartley. At the first intermission, the interim coach
stood next to the tunnel, patting each player as they headed off
with a 2-0 lead.
Atlanta jumped ahead after Lehtonen made a big save on Michal
Rozsival at the side of the net and the Thrashers took off the other
way with a 3-on-2. The Rangers knocked the puck behind the net, but
Brad Larsen picked it up and made a backhanded, no-look pass to
Dupuis all alone in front of the net. He ripped a shot past
Lundqvist before the goalie had time to budge.
Then, just 11 seconds into a two-man advantage, Marian Hossa got the
puck along the goal line and flipped a pass across the crease to
Kozlov standing by himself. He stuffed it in for his second goal of
the season, with Lundqvist again left helpless.
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White added to the lead with a great effort while the Thrashers were
short-handed in the second period. First, he knocked the puck away
from Chris Drury at the blue line, then passed off to Eric Perrin to
set up a 2-on-1.
Perrin passed back to White, whose blistering shot was stopped by
Lundqvist. But the puck slipped out from under the goalie's pads
while he was sprawled face down on the ice. White spotted it first,
tucking it around the post before the Rangers could react.
Lundqvist slammed his stick off the goal in disgust after getting
up.
The teams went back and forth in the third. Rookie Bryan Little and
Marian Hossa scored for Atlanta, twice giving the Thrashers a
four-goal lead. Dan Girardi, Brendan Shanahan and Scott Gomez had
late goals for New York to make it respectable.
Notes: Lehtonen wasn't the only Atlanta player to go down. D Tobias
Enstrom smashed into the boards after getting a cross check from
Martin Straka in the second period. Enstrom had to be helped to the
locker room, but the team didn't announce his condition during the
game. ... Waddell's first game as interim coach produced the same
result as his last stint behind the bench. Atlanta beat Carolina 5-3
a day after Fraser was fired in December 2002. Waddell went 4-5-1 as
coach before hiring Hartley.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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