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Enstrom, Peverley help Thrashers end home losing streak

Feb 25, 2009 - 4:09 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- A pair of shorthanded goals helped the Atlanta Thrashers end their woes at Philips Arena.

Defenseman Tobias Enstrom and Rich Peverley each netted their first career shorthanded goal as the Atlanta Thrashers snapped a four-game home losing skid with a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

Enstrom and Peverley also collected an assist apiece and Kari Lehtonen made 30 saves for the Thrashers, who had not won at Philips Arena since January 20.

"We had a good road trip with two good wins," Enstrom said of Atlanta's recently completed 2-1-1 West Coast swing.

"We wanted to bring it home. We wanted to show our fans we could play well at home."

All-Star Ilya Kovalchuk and Marty Reasoner also scored for Atlanta, which had posted a 4-8-1 record over its previous 13 contests.

"I think on the road, we simplified things," Peverley said. "We have a pretty good offensive team. First and foremost is defense. When we play good defensive games, we give ourselves a chance to win every game."

Milan Hejduk tallied twice, rookie Chris Stewart scored and Peter Budaj stopped 22 shots for the Avalanche, who have lost six of their last nine contests and sit in last place in the Western Conference.

"I think we thought it was going to be a little bit easier than it turned out to be," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "We made some mistakes on our own end. We got sloppy coming back to our end and with the skill they have offensively, they can score goals."

The Thrashers opened the scoring on their first shot after blue-liner Ron Hainsey was whistled for slashing early in the first period.

Eric Perrin led the rush and delivered a cross-ice pass to a streaking Enstrom, who skated in and beat Budaj with a backhander at 2:57. Kovalchuk scored 70 seconds later on Atlanta's next shot to give the club an early 2-0 edge.

"That was very nice," Lehtonen said of the club's early outburst.

"It was kind of the best start I could hope for. We scored and I got a couple of real good saves early."

Reasoner continued the early offensive onslaught, tallying his 10th goal of the season with 8:40 remaining in the opening session.

After Hejduk's two goals cut the deficit to 3-2, Peverley added a much-needed insurance goal with 4:44 left in the second period. Enstrom led the shorthanded rush and made the pass to Peverley, who converted with a wrist shot from the slot.

"That's unacceptable," Hejduk said of Colorado's play with the extra attacker.

"It's one thing to be on the power play and not score goals, but you shouldn't give up goals. It happened tonight and that's unfortunate."

Colorado center Paul Stastny, who had been sidelined for two months with a fractured right forearm, collected an assist in his first game back.

"It felt OK," said Stastny, who was injured by Olli Jokinen's slap shot on December 23. "I got a little tired here and there. Conditioning-wise, I felt fine.

"The speed of the game and the strength of the players took getting used to a little bit, but as the game wore on, I got a little more accustomed to it."