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Hnidy leads Thrashers to sixth straight win vs. Devils

Dec 24, 2006 - 6:29 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Defenseman Shane Hnidy and the Atlanta Thrashers wanted the New Jersey Devils to know the recent play between the teams would continue to be one-sided.

Hnidy scored the decisive goal and Vyacheslav Kozlov added the insurance tally as the Thrashers posted a 4-2 victory over the Devils.

Defenseman Steve McCarthy had a goal and Bobby Holik added the game-tying tally for Atlanta, which has beaten New Jersey six straight times.

After Holik tied the game at 2-2 when his wrist shot deflected off Devils' defenseman Paul Martin into the New Jersey net with 33 seconds left in the first period, Hnidy tallied with Atlanta on the power play.

Hnidy received a pass from Glen Metropolit just below the point and one-timed a shot above the glove of goaltender Martin Brodeur to give Atlanta a 3-2 advantage.

"Its a great challenge to play that team," Holik said. "There is not much difference between our two teams as far as performance, going against each other."

The Thrashers took a two-goal advantage midway through the third session when Marian Hossa made a nifty pass from behind the New Jersey net to Kozlov, who whiffed on his first attempt but kicked the puck back out to his stick, wristing a shot past Brodeur for a 4-2 lead.

Ilya Kovalchuk had an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining for the Thrashers, who have won three straight after snapping a season-high five-game losing streak.

"Everybody, from the defense, to the forwards, to Kari (Lehtonen), all chipped in and played our game," Thrashers defenseman Niclas Havelid said. "I think we played a solid team game. We stayed out of the penalty box most of the time."

Lehtonen stopped 36 shots to go 3-0-0 in his career vs. New Jersey.

"We've had some problems the last couple of weeks and hopefully we can keep the good play going," Lehtonen said. "It takes a couple of good saves to get that good feeling back and after that it was so much fun."

Brodeur made 22 saves for the Devils, who had lost only four times in 20 games to the Thrashers prior to the NHL lockout in 2004-05.

"Atlanta had pretty good energy the whole way through," Brodeur said. "The loss is definitely disappointing because we had a little roll before now. It was the last game before the Christmas break and it would have been nice to pick up a few points."

"Both goaltenders played great but Atlanta got the bounces tonight," Devils center Scott Gomez said. "Bobby (Holik) shoots one of those off Martin's back. I'm not taking anything away from them but you know the bounces definitely went their way. Give them credit they did what they had to do."

Zach Parise scored twice for New Jersey.

"We kept giving them an opportunity to get back in the game, and at one point they took the lead over and never looked back," Devils coach Claude Julien said. "We have nobody but ourselves to look at because we made some unacceptable mistakes here tonight."