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Eric Perrin, Atlanta's fourth shooter, beat Jocelyn Thibault with a fake before scoring in the shootout to give the Thrashers a 5-4 win over Buffalo on Friday night.

Perrin faked to his right before pulling the puck back and shooting past Thibault to the left side of the net, ending the Sabres' three-game winning streak.

Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg stopped shots by Ales Kotalik, Derek Roy, Clarke MacArthur and Thomas Vanek in the shootout.

Mark Recchi, Bobby Holik, Jim Slater and Tobias Enstrom scored in regulation for Atlanta. Jochen Hecht, Jason Pominville, Daniel Paille and Dmitri Kalinin had the Sabres' goals.

Buffalo led 4-3 but was hurt by two penalties in the last minute of regulation.

MacArthur was called for hooking with 56.4 seconds left, and Tony Lydman drew another penalty for delay of game with 19 seconds left.

With Hedberg pulled, the Thrashers had a three-man advantage that paid off quickly as Enstrom found the net with a long shot from beyond the right circle with 17 seconds left, forcing the overtime.

Buffalo's Ryan Miller gave up two first-period goals but shut out the Thrashers in the second period. Miller stopped 18 shots through two periods but suffered a leg injury in the second period. He left with a 3-2 lead and was replaced by Thibault to start the third period.

Thibault gave up a game-tying goal to Slater 2:25 into the third period, but Kalinin answered with a power-play wrist shot for the Sabres less than 3 minutes later for a 4-3 Buffalo lead.

Hedberg, looking to atone for giving up seven goals in a 10-1 loss to the Sabres in Buffalo on Jan. 18, couldn't hold a 2-0 lead after one period. The Sabres rallied with second-period goals by Hecht, Pominville and Paille.

Hedberg and the Thrashers played strong defense early in their first of at least two games without Ilya Kovalchuk, who hurt his right knee when hit by Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu Wednesday night.

The MRI on Kovalchuk's right knee was negative. He also will miss Atlanta's game at Washington on Saturday but could return Tuesday against Philadelphia.

The Thrashers had another injury scare when their other All-Star, Marian Hossa, was sent crashing hard into the boards behind the Buffalo net by Jaroslav Spacek early in the third period. Hossa left the game but returned later in the period.

Coach Don Waddell asked for balanced scoring, as well as strong defense, to compensate for the temporary loss of Kovalchuk. The Thrashers answered the call with first-period goals by Recchi and Holik.

Notes: The Thrashers improved to 6-4 in shootouts while the Sabres fell to 1-5. ... Slater has two goals in two games after having none in Atlanta's first 52 games. ... Buffalo RW Maxim Afinogenov skated with the team Thursday but missed his 13th straight game with a groin injury. ... RW Drew Stafford was held out with an ankle injury suffered in Buffalo's win at Florida on Wednesday.

Labels: Atlanta Thrashers, Hockey, Hossa, NHL, Thrashers

Jeff Carter scored two goals within a span of 13 seconds in the second period and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 on Tuesday night.

It was the Flyers' eighth straight win over the Thrashers. The Flyers are 12-2-1 all-time at Atlanta and overall have won 23 of 30 games in the series, including two games this season.

The Thrashers led 1-0 before the Flyers scored four second-period goals.

Carter scored at the end of a power play to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead 13:42 into the period. Then, at the 13:55 mark, Carter scored again on a wrister from the top of the right circle.

Carter, who had a goal and an assist in a 4-0 win over the Thrashers on Oct. 16 in Philadelphia, has seven goals and four assists in 10 career games against Atlanta.

Scott Hartnell added the 100th goal of his career with one second left in the period for a 4-1 lead. Hartnell's short-handed goal came off a pass from James Dowd.

Hartnell had two assists, including one to set up the Flyers' first goal, by Steve Downie, only 32 seconds into the second period.

The Flyers are 4-1 on their six-game road trip which ends Thursday against the New York Rangers.

Ilya Kovalchuk's league-leading 35th goal midway through the opening period gave the Thrashers a 1-0 lead.

Antero Niittymaki shut out the Thrashers the rest of the way, stopping 27 shots to win the battle of backup goalies.

Atlanta's Johan Hedberg started his second straight home game ahead of Kari Lehtonen after making a season-high 37 saves in a 5-2 win over Buffalo on Sunday. Hedberg made 25 stops but couldn't overcome the Flyers' second-period scoring outburst.

Niittymaki started ahead of Flyers regular Martin Biron, who shut out Atlanta 4-0 on Oct. 16 at Philadelphia. Niittymaki stopped 54 of 56 shots in a 3-2 win at Toronto on Saturday, but his 6-0-0 career record and 1.68 goals against average against Atlanta may have played the larger role in his start.

Atlanta's Chris Thorburn and Philadelphia's Riley Cote traded punches with less than 5 minutes left. Each drew 5-minute penalties for fighting, and Thorburn also drew an interference penalty.

Labels: Atlanta, Atlanta Thrashers, Flyers, Hossa, Thrashers

- Patrick Elias scored with :27 left in regulation to break a 5-5 tie and give the Devils a 6-5 win against the Thrashers at Philips Arena ... Atlanta's record now stands at 0-5-0.

- Darren Haydar, who was recalled from Chicago (AHL) on Thursday, scored his first-career NHL goal at 2:21 of the first period ... Haydar added one assist to give him a two point night in his second game with the Thrashers this season.

- Ilya Kovalchuk tallied two goals and now leads the team with four points (three goals, one assist) on the season ... Kovalchuk's second goal of the night, at the 16:40 mark of the third period, tied the game at five goals apiece.

- Rookie Brett Sterling recorded his first NHL point with an assist on Haydar's first period tally ... Sterling has appeared in the Thrashers first five games this season, posting 14:30 of ice time in that span.

- Kari Lehtonen made his second consecutive start, making 29 saves in the loss.

- The Thrashers are back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Philadelphia ... That game can be seen live on VERSUS ... Atlanta returns to Philips Arena next Thursday for its last home game of October against the New York Rangers.

Labels: Alpharetta, Atlanta, Hockey, Thrashers

Labels: Capitals, Hockey, Thrashers