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Thrashers look for payback vs. Lightning

Oct 9, 2006 - 2:06 PM Atlanta (1-0-1) at Tampa Bay (1-1-0) 7:30 pm EDT

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Imagine how much better the Atlanta Thrashers will be once Ilya Kovalchuk starts scoring goals again.

Marian Hossa tries to continue picking up the slack during Kovalchuk's drought Monday when the Atlanta Thrashers visit the Tampa Bay Lightning in their second meeting of the season.

A former Maurice Richard Trophy winner, Kovalchuk scored a career-high 52 goals last season. However, he did not record a tally in the final four games of the 2005-2006 campaign and is without a goal in the first two contests of this season.

Hossa has answered with five points, including two goals and an assist for the Thrashers in Saturday's 6-0 triumph over the Florida Panthers. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots for his fourth career shutout.

Atlanta will be looking to get even with Tampa Bay after failing to hold a two-goal advantage in Thursday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Lightning.

After Scott Mellanby and Hossa put the Thrashers in front, Ryan Craig scored a pair of goals and Vincent Lecavalier netted the clincher in the shootout for Tampa Bay.

Craig and Ruslan Fedotenko recorded tallies on Saturday for the Lightning, who rallied from a two-goal deficit again before suffering a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in their home opener.

Tampa Bay won five of the eight meetings last season.