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Kozlov, Thrashers look to keep rolling

Dec 8, 2007 - 2:28 PM Atlanta (14-13-1) at Washington (9-17-2) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - Vyacheslav Kozlov will try to lead the Atlanta Thrashers to their third consecutive victory when they visit the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Kozlov scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in Friday's 4-2 triumph over the New York Rangers. The Russian left wing has eight tallies and 16 points this season.

The 35-year-old Kozlov is coming off a career season, notching 28 goals and 80 points in the 2006-07 campaign as the Thrashers won the division for the first time in franchise history.

Atlanta, which has the second worst power play (15 percent) in the Eastern Conference, is 14-7-1 since general manager Don Waddell replaced Bob Hartley behind the bench.

Ilya Kovalchuk has a league-best 23 goals and leads the Thrashers with 38 points.

The Capitals are the only other NHL team to make a coaching switch this season, but it has not made much of a difference. The club fired Glen Hanlon on November 22 and promoted Bruce Boudreau, who was with the Hershey Bears of the AHL, as the interim coach.

After winning Boudreau's first two games, the Capitals have lost four of their previous five games.

Washington has the worst record in the league and is the only team yet to reach double digits in wins.