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Tkachuk's goal in overtime helps Thrashers get past Sabres

Mar 18, 2007 - 10:39 PM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Keith Tkachuk and the Atlanta Thrashers need extra time but finally set a franchise mark for consecutive home wins.

Tkachuk scored a power-play goal with just 38 seconds left in overtime as the Thrashers won their seventh straight home contest, posting a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik had a goal and two assists and Ilya Kovalchuk and Eric Belanger also scored for Atlanta (39-25-10), which moved six points ahead of Tampa Bay (39-30-4) atop the Southeast Division.

The streak surpasses a six-game run by the Thrashers from March 20-April 15, 2006. Atlanta has won eight of 10 overall.

"Slowly but surely, we're building a pretty solid home record and that is definitely important for the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs," Thrashers coach Bob Hartley said.

After Buffalo's Derek Roy tied the game with 7:35 left in the third period, Tkachuk won it in OT. With defenseman Jaroslav Spacek off for holding, Tkachuk took a pass from Vyacheslav Kozlov in the slot and one-timed a shot past the glove of goaltender Ryan Miller.

Overall, Atlanta was 3-of-5 on the power play.

"Obviously, our power plays are clicking right now," Tkachuk said. "That is what wins and loses hockey games."

"It's tough to penalty-kill in that situation," Miller said. "We worked hard, we didn't quit. It was frustrating to lose that way."

It was Tkachuk's sixth goal in nine games for Atlanta since being acquired from St. Louis at the trade deadline.

"It's exciting playing in playoff-like games," Zhitnik said. "It's not the traps, it's not a boring game, it was back and forth."

Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 shots for the Thrashers despite being shaken up on the game-tying goal and improved to 6-0-0 in his last six home starts.

"I got hit in the ear," Lehtonen said. "I was out (mentally) for just enough time for them to score. It was just a lucky bounce for them. We didn't get the rebound and they scored right away."

Drew Stafford and Thomas Vanek each had a goal and Miller made 27 saves for Buffalo (46-19-7), which moved five points ahead of idle Pittsburgh (40-21-10) for the Eastern Conference lead.

"If you look at it from the chances we created and the ones we gave up, we didn't give much up tonight," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We generated quite a few opportunities to win it, but missed on some great chances."