Friday, Feb. 9 7:30pm ET
Thrashers have Bruins' number
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) – Damian Rhodes decided not to carry the weight of
the Atlanta Thrashers' slump on his shoulders.
Rhodes played with confidence and turned in one of his best
games of the season Friday night, stopping 34 shots as the
Thrashers beat the Boston Bruins 5-1.
Ray Ferraro and Per Svartvadet each scored two goals and Shean
Donovan also scored as Atlanta won for just the second time in 19
games.
Atlanta head coach Curt Fraser said Rhodes had been trying to be
a miracle-worker in goal for the injury-riddled Thrashers. He
instructed his goalie to relax.
"He's right, I do need to relax," said Rhodes, who won for the
second time in 13 games. "I think when I play well it does give
our team a better chance to win. But I have to realize I need to
keep rolling the same way, win or lose, and relax some. Getting out
to a two-goal lead was huge for us."
Atlanta has beaten Boston in all three meetings this season by
the combined score of 18-8.
P.J. Axelsson scored for the Bruins, who lost for the second
time in seven games.
Ferraro opened the scoring for Atlanta when he beat Boston's
Byron Dafoe with a hard shot from the right face-off circle at 8:31
of the first period. The goal came off a feed from Jiri Slegr.
Donovan made it 2-0 in the second period when he skated the
length of the ice and beat Dafoe.
"That showed how sharp our team was tonight," Fraser said.
"They're (opponents) usually coming at us. This game, we were
going at them."
Boston coach Mike Keenan pulled Dafoe after Donovan's goal, but
the Bruins' defense was also at fault. The Thrashers continually
had odd-man rushes against Boston.
"We weren't very sound defensively," Keenan said. "We made
some defensive errors that cost us chances early and really didn't
allow us to get involved in the game."
Ferraro scored a power-play goal with 1:54 left in the second
period as Atlanta stretched its lead to 3-0.
Alexsson scored 14 seconds later and the Bruins faced a 3-1
deficit after two periods.
Svartvadet scored twice in the third period, his eighth and
ninth goals of the season, as the Thrashers put the game away.
Game notes
The Thrashers acquired right wing Ladislav Kohn on Friday
from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for defenseman Sergei Vyshedkevich
and minor league goalie Scott Langkow. ... Boston center Joe
Thornton did not play. He was completing a two-game suspension for
cross-checking against Montreal before the All-Star break. ... The
Thrashers, who are last in the league in penalty killing, stopped
all five Boston power plays.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
Atlanta 5
Boston 1
Philadelphia 5
NY Islanders 2
NY Rangers 4
Florida 2
Minnesota 2
Dallas 1
Calgary 5
Colorado 3
Phoenix 2
Edmonton 0
Washington 4
Anaheim 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Ray Ferraro slams on the brakes and fires the slapshot past Byron Dafoe.
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