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Hossa brilliant as Thrashers win in shootout

Dec 20, 2006 - 5:30 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Marian Hossa bailed out the Atlanta Thrashers. Hossa scored a pair of shorthanded goals and tallied in the shootout to lead the Thrashers to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

"We saw 'The Marian Hossa Show,' " Thrashers coach Bob Hartley said.

Vyacheslav Kozlov opened the shootout by beating Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur in the left corner of the net. After Kari Lehtonen stopped a rush by Zach Parise, Hossa drilled a shot between Brodeur's pads.

Lehtonen then smothered a shot by Brian Gionta as the Thrashers improved to 3-2 in the shootout.

"It's always exciting to play against a guy like Brodeur," Lehtonen said. "He used to be one of my idols, and that's why it feels especially good for me. We have such great shooters that I always feel comfortable in the shootout."

Atlanta has beaten New Jersey five straight times since March 26, 2004, and won four straight on the Devils' ice since January 25, 2004, to tighten what had been a lopsided series. They are now 9-13-3 against the Devils, including 6-6-1 mark in New Jersey.

Jamie Langenbrunner scored his team-leading 14th goal on a wrist shot from the left circle at 6:43 of the third period to convert a 5-on-3 and give New Jersey a 3-2 edge. But Hossa netted his second shorthanded goal of the game and team-best 24th tally of the season just 19 seconds later, racing to a loose puck and firing it past Brodeur from the left side of the slot.

"I just tried to get the puck and use my speed," Hossa said. "I saw their guy was cutting in already so I knew I had to take a shot and maybe just surprise him."

Brodeur denied Hossa's bid for a shorthanded hat trick moments later, using his right pad to stop a breakaway from the speedy right wing.

"It would have been nice to get the third one, but I guess it would have been asking for too much," Hossa said. "I was glad to get the win."

"I had to stop him once," Brodeur said.

Hossa scored just under eight minutes into the game with teammate Shane Hnidy in the penalty box. Hossa stole the puck, jetted down the left wing, maneuvered toward the net and slipped a backhander under Brodeur to open the scoring. He had not scored a shorthanded goal this season after tallying seven in 2005-06.

"Last year I took advantage a lot (of teams using four forwards on the power play) because I can use my speed," Hossa said. "But it takes a lot of energy killing penalties and playing the power play. You can't go all the time."

"Once Marian gets one step on whoever is on the blue line, you know he's gone," Hartley said. "That's his strength, and tonight he gave us two huge goals."

The Devils are tied with Ottawa and Philadelphia for the league lead in shorthanded goals allowed with eight.

"I don't know what the answer is," Langenbrunner said. "We have to try to score more and be a little smarter getting back when we need to. When you're on the power play you're thinking offense and not defense, so it was a good opportunity for (Hossa) to take advantage of that."

"It's a momentum-breaker," Brodeur said. "It's going to happen eventually, but when you get two a game, it gets tough a little bit. When you play four forwards and a D, teams notice that and they take chances sometimes, especially with a player like Hossa. He's tough to contain. It's rare to see a big offensive player on the (penalty kill)."

Sergei Brylin scored his seventh goal of the season and his third in two games to tie it 1-1 at 6:37 of the second period. With the Devils on the power play, Brylin lifted a backhand shot over Lehtonen from the front of the net after corralling a shot by Parise that was blocked.

Rookie defenseman Johnny Oduya notched his first NHL goal 2:32 later when his slap shot from the left point went through traffic and into the top left corner of the net. The shot appeared to hit Parise's glove and change direction enough to elude Lehtonen.

Atlanta tied it 2-2 on a delayed penalty as Jon Sim put the rebound of a shot by Ilya Kovalchuk into the net on the short side of a prone Brodeur.