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Sim scores twice as Thrashers dump Canadiens

Mar 9, 2007 - 5:29 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- A second-period onslaught by the Atlanta Thrashers sent Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak to an early shower.

Jon Sim scored twice and Ilya Kovalchuk, Eric Belanger and Vyacheslav Kozlov had a goal and an assist each to lead the Thrashers to a 6-2 triumph over the Canadiens.

Atlanta (36-23-10) scored four times in a five-minute span of the second period en route to its fifth consecutive victory, which gave it a two-point lead over idle Tampa Bay (38-27-4) for first place in the Southeast Division.

"It's a big win," Sim said. "Everyone played hard. We had four lines (and) six defensemen all working hard."

After Kovalchuk opened the scoring with his 36th goal midway through the first period, Sim netted his 16th moments later by taking advantage of a turnover and shooting the puck between Halak's pads.

"That first goal on the power play (by Kovalchuk) gave us life because Montreal got off to a pretty good start," Thrashers coach Bob Hartley said. "They skated well and we knew they would be desperate with the kind of week they went through."

Kozlov and Belanger widened the lead to 4-0 in a 50-second stretch of the middle session before J.P. Vigier ended Halak's night with his fifth tally off the rebound of captain Scott Mellanby's shot, depositing the puck inside the right goalpost at 6:47 of the period.

"Everything we seemed to be shooting was going in," Atlanta's Keith Tkachuk said. "It's fun right now. Good things are happening, and that's the way we have to play."

"I felt good (at beginning of the game)," Halak said. "I wanted to win and let the guys, give (them) a chance to win the game. But I don't know, it just didn't work out."

David Aebischer replaced Halak and promptly yielded Sim's second tally of the game almost two minutes later. It was Sim's second multi-goal game of the season.

Marian Hossa collected two assists and Kari Lehtonen made 33 saves for Atlanta, which avoided being swept of the four-game season series between the clubs.

"Kari played great," Sim said. "He (is) a great goalie. He played well for us early, and then we got our heads in it and came back strong."

After Halak was pulled following just 10 saves, Aebischer stopped 14 shots for the Canadiens (33-30-6), who remained in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the New York Rangers (33-27-7) for the final playoff spot.

Toronto (32-27-9) and idle Carolina (33-28-7) also have one more point than Montreal.

"We gave the game to them," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We made some mistakes in the beginning. They took advantage of them."

Radek Bonk and rookie Guillaume Latendresse each scored their 12th goals of the campaign for Montreal, which slipped to 2-8-1 in its last 11 road games.

"It was a pretty tough loss for us, (to) be down by (one point) again," Halak said. "I don't know, even the bounces (were going their way). Hopefully, we can refocus and be ready for the next game and the bounces go (our way)."

"That game was embarrassing," Canadiens right wing Mike Johnson said. "Nothing else to say. There is not a positive to put on it, nothing to take out of it."