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Christensen lifts Thrashers over Wild

Sat 8th, March 2008

Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Erik Christensen scored the only goal of the shootout to lift the Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at Philips Arena.

In the second round, Christensen fired a wrister that went off the left post, then off the back of goaltender Niklas Backstrom and then into the net.

Johan Hedberg then made saves on Brent Burns and Brian Rolston to hold on for the win.

"We were not going to get denied tonight," said Hedberg. "We came back twice tonight and were determined to get the win."

Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist and Colby Armstrong also lit the lamp for the Thrashers, who snapped a season-high eight-game losing streak. Hedberg finished with 37 saves in the win.

"It's been a long time coming," said Atlanta coach Don Waddell. "We battled hard and finally it's a huge monkey off our back and hopefully it will take some pressure off our guys and give us an opportunity to put some wins together."

Burns and Rolston each had a goal and an assist while Backstrom stopped 24 shots for the Wild, who have dropped three straight.

"When you lose a game, even in the shootout, you can't be happy," said Backstrom. "We knew it was going to be a tough third period. Hedberg played great tonight and made some key saves early in the game."

The one point in the loss gives Minnesota 80 points, which moves them one point ahead of Calgary for first place in the Northwest Division and third overall in the Western Conference.

Calgary lost to Nashville, 2-1, on Friday.

Minnesota got the first goal of the game on the power play. Burns had the puck at the right point and skated over to the left. As Burns was skating to the left, Rolston moved to the right point where he blasted a one-timer from Burns past Hedberg with 9:13 left in the frame.

Backstrom needed to make just five saves in the first period to keep Atlanta off the board.

Atlanta had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the second as the team had 1:28 of a 5-on-3 power play to work with, but the Wild kept the team from getting any quality shots and were able to kill the advantage.

Backstrom stopped seven shots in the second period while Hedberg made 10 saves.

The Thrashers finally got one past Backstrom with a power-play goal after Branko Radivojevic was called for boarding. Holding the puck in the high slot, Kovalchuk let fly with a blast the Backstrom stopped, but the rebound went to the left side where Armstrong slammed it home with 5:30 to play.

However, the Wild answered with a power-play goal of their own to take a 2-1 lead as Burns' blast from the left point snuck through a screen with 2:22 left.

Atlanta pulled Hedberg with over a minute to play and the move paid off as Kovalchuk swept a shot on net from the low left side that squeezed between the arm of Backstrom and the right post and just barely trickled across the goalline with 44.9 seconds to play.

Game Notes

Atlanta plays in Florida on Saturday...Minnesota plays in San Jose on Sunday...Minnesota had been 5-0 with a tie in the six all-time meetings against the Thrashers coming into the game...Minnesota went 2-for-6 on the power play while Atlanta finished the game 1-for-4.

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