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Saturday, Nov. 18 7:30pm ET
Atlanta suffers first road loss since Oct. 15 | |||||
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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins thought an early lead meant an easy night. It was anything but. The Penguins went ahead just 1:07 in, but needed a two-man advantage and a fluke goal to put away the Atlanta Thrashers 3-1 Saturday night. Martin Straka and Jan Hrdina scored in the third period. "There are no easy games in the NHL," Pittsburgh coach Ivan Hlinka said. "We got two points but we need to play a more simple game. We stopped shooting the puck." Pittsburgh let up with the early advantage and almost got caught coasting against the second-year Thrashers. "We got a little complacent and (goalie Garth) Snow made some big saves for us. He was awesome," defenseman Andrew Ference said. The Thrashers' seven-game road unbeaten streak (3-0-4) ended with their first loss since Oct. 15 at Tampa Bay. Atlanta played its third game in four nights and fifth in seven nights. "I think you could see as the game went on that we were losing a step," coach Curt Fraser said. "That would be tough for anybody in this league, especially for a team trying to compete hard every night." Snow had a strong game for the Penguins as he started his third consecutive game. Snow stopped Shean Donovan on a short-handed breakaway with the score tied at 1 early in the third period. The Penguins, who were given just 32 seconds of power-play time in the first two periods, converted their first extended chance during a two-man advantage at 4:35 of the third. Straka, positioned at the top of the left circle, one-timed Robert Lang's pass from the goal line past Milan Hnilicka. "You can't give Pittsburgh a 5-on-3," Fraser said. "That's not a smart thing to do. I think it was out of fatigue." Pittsburgh got the unusual goal at 14:16. Hrdina's shot got caught in Hnilicka's pads and fell in the net as the players were skating to the corner, thinking the puck was there. The officials didn't realize the puck was trapped in the goalie's pads and needed video replay to verify the goal. "He was looking for the puck in the corner and lost sight of it," Fraser said. "I thought you were supposed to blow it dead. There's nothing you can do about it now." The Penguins' first goal came at 1:47 of the first period. Hnilicka blocked Rene Corbet's first shot, but Corbet put in the rebound for his fifth goal in seven games. Atlanta got the tying goal at 3:49 of the second period. Pittsburgh defenseman Hans Jonsson gave the puck away behind the net. Patrik Stefan jumped on the turnover and centered to Steve Staios, who scored his first in 16 games this season. Game notesHnilicka started his seventh consecutive game. Damian Rhodes, the team's No. 1 goalie, is out with a groin injury and isn't expected back until next week. ... The Penguins are 5-0 against Atlanta. ... Straka had nine power-play assists, but the goal was his first with the man-advantage. ... The Thrashers had a four-minute power play at the end of the first period, but managed just two shots on goal. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 3 Carolina 2
Pittsburgh 3
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