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Saturday, Nov. 25 7:00pm ET
Injury-plagued Atlanta finds way | |||||
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ATLANTA (AP) -- The importance of Atlanta's fifth win this season was not lost on goalie Milan Hnilicka. Hnilicka made 27 saves as the Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals 2-1 Saturday night. "It was such a big win, it was probably the biggest win of the season for us," Hnilicka said. Atlanta snapped a four-game winless streak, which included embarrassing losses this week to Tampa Bay, 8-2, and Montreal, 6-0. The Thrashers, who have shown marked improvement in their second season, were struggling with injuries to key players and looked like they might regress to the level of their expansion season when they were the worst team in the NHL. Defenseman Frantisek Kaberle scored his first goal of the season and Tomi Kallio forced a turnover that led to Per Svartvadet's short-handed goal -- the eventual game-winner. Hnilicka allowed eight goals in the losses to Tampa Bay and Montreal, but was much better against Washington. He yielded only Dmitri Mironov's goal. He kept the Capitals scoreless in the final 78 seconds when Washington controlled the puck in the Atlanta zone after pulling goalie Craig Billington for an extra skater. "Pucks were flying everywhere. I couldn't see where they were," said Hnilicka, who made a team-record 12th consecutive start. "I was just hoping they didn't hit anybody's skate and deflect in." The Capitals had won three of their previous four games. They are 1-8-3 away from home, the league's worst road record. "We started this way (bad on the road) last year, but we finally figured it out and did better," Mironov said. The Thrashers controlled play in the first period, but couldn't convert numerous scoring chances. Atlanta outshot the Capitals 14-6. The Thrashers also failed on three power plays in the period, pushing their scoreless streak with the man advantage to 26. Atlanta finally scored with 12:25 left in the second period on Kaberle's first goal since April 8 of last season, a slap shot from the top of the left circle. The Thrashers made it 2-0 less than three minutes later when Washington's Peter Bondra was pressured into a turnover by Tomi Kallio. Svartvadet intercepted Bondra's bad pass in front of Billington and easily scored a short-handed goal. It was Svartvadet's third goal of the season. "We just stopped in the middle of the power play," Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "It's just frustrating." Bondra made up for his blunder with a nice pass out of the corner to Mironov, cutting to the net. Mironov's quick shot from three feet out was his third goal of the season and made it 2-1 with 6:53 left in the second period. Game notesThe Capitals came in with consecutive wins for the first time all season. Washington is 3-2-2 in seven games. ... Atlanta captain Steve Staios left with seven minutes remaining in the first period with a Grade 1 concussion after a collision with Washington's Craig Berube. Staios did not return and is day to day. ... The Thrashers already have two key players, forward Patrik Stefan and defenseman Petr Buzek, sidelined with concussions. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Washington Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS Atlanta 2 Washington 1
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