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Thrashers outlast Lightning in shootout

Apr 8, 2007 - 4:55 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Thrashers made sure they would not be seeing the Tampa Bay Lightning again too soon.

Jon Sim scored the deciding goal in the sixth round of a shootout as the Thrashers toppled the Lightning, 3-2, to help avert a rematch between the two teams in the opening round of the playoffs.

With nothing to play for after having already clinched the first Southeast Division title in franchise history and the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta still battled back from a 2-0 deficit before prevailing in the shootout.

"It's a big win," Thrashers right wing Marian Hossa said. "It may mean nothing in our standings, but it means something for us."

It certainly meant something to Hossa, who picked up a pair of assists to become the first player in franchise history to record 100 points.

The Thrashers (43-28-11) will play the sixth-seeded New York Rangers (42-30-10) in the conference quarterfinals. The loss denied the Lightning (44-33-5) a chance to leapfrog the Rangers and sends them into a first-round matchup against the Atlantic Division champion New Jersey Devils.

"It would have been great to win the division, but we didn't," Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis said. "We had an up-and-down season, and if you would have told us in December that we'd be where we are right now, we would have paid for it."

Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov each scored a goal for Atlanta. Kovalchuk, who held the previous team record with 98 points, also kept the Thrashers alive in the shootout, converting for just the second time in 14 attempts this season.

Keith Tkachuk scored in the fourth round of the bonus format to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead, but Vaclav Prospal answered for Tampa Bay. After Sim converted by deking goaltender Johan Holmqvist and scoring over his right leg, Kari Lehtonen preserved the victory by stopping Eric Perrin.

"We wanted to finish the season on a good swing," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "I felt we generated lots of momentum. Our guys deserve lots of credit. Both goalies made some unbelievable saves. I think we got our fans going, and once again, our fans were unbelievable for us tonight."

Prospal scored on Tampa Bay's first shot of the game, beating Lehtonen with a 30-foot wrist shot. Defenseman Filip Kuba doubled the lead at 12:22 of the middle session, when his shot deflected off Thrashers blue-liner Shane Hnidy and past Lehtonen.

Kovalchuk halved the deficit with a power-play tally just over five minutes later, giving him 42 for the season.

Kozlov scored the tying goal at 56 seconds of the third with a spectacular individual effort. Skating in from the left side of the net, he reached back to corral the puck, brought it back and stuffed a shot past Holmqvist.

After yielding four goals on 12 shots before being pulled in Friday's loss to Florida, Holmqvist rebounded in this one by finishing with 41 saves.

"Throw out yesterday's game, it was ugly," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "In Holmqvist's last four starts, he's been really good. He made some great saves tonight, Lehtonen made some great saves. It was a great game to watch. But they ended up getting one more save than we did, so they get the point."