A week and a half ago, cheers for Atlanta’s starting goaltender, Johan “The Moose” Hedberg, could have been mistaken for ‘boos’. However, after the Thrashers’ fifth consecutive win, a tie for the franchise’s longest, there is very little to find for the fans to boo about.
Atlanta started the scoring halfway through the first period and never looked back, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Friday night. The win was Atlanta’s second over Carolina in five days and also extended Atlanta’s streak of scoring at least one point in every game against a divisional opponent.
“Its been a very important stretch for us. Even though it’s early in these games we could be far behind,” Hedberg said. “So right now we are right back into it and feeling good about ourselves.”
Smiles were so prevalent across the Thrasher locker room that Atlanta head coach John Anderson was able to joke about the offensive display put on by the fourth line. Eric Perrin scored his first goal of the year to extend Atlanta’s lead to 2-0 in the second period after being set up by Eric Boulton on a perfect pass. With Perrin to his side, Boulton faked a pass, freezing the defender in his skates, before shooting the puck over to Perrin for the goal.
“Just that little thing put a smile on my face, because now even [Boulton] is getting it,” Anderson said after the game with a chuckle. “But I love him.”
Anderson wasn’t the only one surprised by Boulton’s move; even the goal scorer didn’t know if he got a clean stick on it. “Great pass, great heads-up play. We actually did that this morning and it wasn’t the same results,” said Perrin about the pass. “Give him credit, he had his head up and saw me wide alone and made a great pass.”
The goal was Perrin’s first of the season, while the assists by Boulton and Jim Slater were their first and second, respectively. While much isn’t expected from the Thrashers’ fourth line, Anderson knows the importance of a fourth line when it comes to the playoffs. “I had some teams in Chicago, we don’t win championships without a great fourth line.”
The game wasn’t without trepidation, however, as Atlanta let Carolina cut the lead to one twice in the game. The first time, Slava Kozlov finished a 5-on-3 power play to extend the Thrashers’ lead to two, on his ninth goal of the season.
The second time it was Hedberg’s turn to steal the show and keep the Thrasher lead safe. He made save after save with a pile of players in front to close out the game, and even survived a 1:30 stretch with Carolina’s goalie pulled in favor of an extra attacker. “It’s a team game, and maybe more than anything it’s a defensive team game,” said Hedberg.
Atlanta now heads to Philadelphia for a Sunday night matchup against the team that embarrassed the Thrashers 7-0 on their home ice three weeks ago.
Boral can be reached at jboral@scoreatl.com.
Loading ...
