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Thrashers, Hurricanes meet again in Southeast Division battle

Mar 4, 2007 - 3:31 PM Carolina (33-27-7) at Atlanta (33-23-10) 2:00 pm EST

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Thrashers and Carolina Hurricanes must be getting tired of seeing each other.

The Southeast Division rivals meet for the third time in two weeks Sunday when the Thrashers host the reigning Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

After posting a 3-1 win at Carolina on February 20, Atlanta dropped a 4-1 decision here to the Hurricanes four days later to fall to 2-3-1 against its division rival this season.

However, the Thrashers (33-23-10) climbed within two points of first-place Tampa Bay (37-25-4) in the division with a 4-2 win over Ottawa on Friday.

Vyacheslav Kozlov tallied to snap a third-period tie and Eric Belanger scored twice for Atlanta, which is just 4-7-2 since January 31.

The Thrashers look for their second straight win when they take on the Hurricanes, who are hoping to avoid being just the third defending champion to miss the postseason the following campaign. Carolina is just one point ahead of Montreal for the final playoff spot.

The Hurricanes maintained their position by snapping a two-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh. Scott Walker netted his second goal of the game midway through the third period to snap the tie.