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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- The Atlanta Thrashers needed a win and Stephen Guolla made it happen. Add an assist for goalie Scott Fankhouser.
Guolla scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with 2:36 left
in the third period Friday night, helping the Thrashers to a 5-3
win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Sean Donovan added an empty-net goal with 8.1 seconds left as
Atlanta won for the second time in eight games.
Fankhouser, making his first start of the season after his
recall from the minors Nov. 2, stopped 27 of 30 shots by Tampa Bay,
which lost its fourth straight.
Guolla's second goal and sixth of the season was set up by
Patrik Stefan, who missed the last three games with a concussion
and broken nose.
Stefan broke loose for a back-handed shot, which bounced off
Tampa Bay goalie Kevin Weekes and onto the stick of Guolla, who
blasted it in from five feet out.
"Patrik made a great play driving toward the net and I just
went hard and it (the puck) was just sitting there," Guolla said.
"It's a dream come true to have a rebound like that with an
empty net," he said.
Fankhouser would have liked to have been even busier.
"Not facing a lot of shots, you've got to stay focused and
that's a hard thing," said Fankhouser, who appeared in three
previous games in mop-up roles.
"I felt pretty good. Overall, I thought I played well," he
said.
Thrashers coach Curt Fraser was quite impressed with his young
goalie.
"What a great start for the kid," Fraser said.
The Lightning got goals from Paul Mara, Brian Holzinger and Brad
Richards.
"The only way to keep yourself afloat is to try to learn from
these games," Tampa Bay coach Steve Ludzik said. "I cannot
question the effort. We played hard, but not smart in some areas of
the game."
Guolla's first goal gave the Thrashers a 3-2 lead at 14:20 of
the second period. The Lightning tied it in the third period on
Richards' eighth goal with only 3:21 gone.
The Thrashers, who lost at Tampa Bay by scores of 5-2 and 8-2
earlier this season, took a 1-0 lead in the opening period on a
goal by Yannick Tremblay.
Mara tied it for Tampa Bay at 5:07 of the second period before
the Thrashers took the lead again at 2-1 on Andreas Karlsson's
fourth goal 39 seconds later. Holzinger's fourth goal tied it at 2
at 7:29.
The Thrashers had an apparent goal waved off by the officials in
the second period when Denny Lambert was ruled to be in the crease.
Instead of getting a goal, he was called for a tripping penalty at
8:54.
Game notes
It was only the Thrashers' third win at home this season
(3-6-2-1). Tampa Bay fell to 2-9-1-2 on the road.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Tampa Bay Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 6
Buffalo 4
Washington 3
Boston 2
Atlanta 5
Tampa Bay 3
NY Islanders 0
New Jersey 0
Detroit 3
Florida 1
Chicago 2
Nashville 1
Colorado 4
Dallas 2
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