The Thrashers finally made the most of a first-period lead.
They scored two first-period goals en route to a 5-1 victory over Minnesota on Thursday night, snapping a three-game losing streak. The Thrashers had only two leads after the first period this season and lost both in extra time -- in a shootout against St. Louis and in overtime against Washington.
That wasn't the case with this early lead as the Thrashers (7-6-3, 17 points) improved to 3-3-1 at home. The one goal allowed was their fewest this season, and the four-goal margin was easily their biggest win.
“Yeah, why not?” Fredrik Modin said when asked if it was the Thrashers’ best game of the season. “I thought we played solid all the way through. [Ondrej Pavelec] played terrific. Everyone came through. There are going to be some breakdowns, but I thought we handled them pretty well. Overall, we played the kind of way we wanted to play.”
Ben Eager and Jim Slater scored in the first period. Eager’s goal came 3:24 into the game. He was on the receiving end of Modin’s assist. Modin took a pass from Dustin Byfuglien and wrapped around the net. He slid a pass to a wide-open Eager, who beat Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom for his second goal of the season.
“It was a nice play,” said Eager, who previously had scored in the second game of the season. “We got it in deep. Big Mo was wheeling around pretty nice and took it around the net, and I was just in the slot. He made a great pass, and I tried to get it away quickly. It was nice to see that one go in. It’s been awhile.”
Slater gave the Thrashers a two-goal lead at the 13:11 mark after he gathered the rebound of a Byfuglien shot from the point.
“Buff has a great shot, and he creates a lot of rebounds,” Slater said.
The win was the first for Thrashers goaltender Pavelec this season. His best game of the season?
“For me it was, for sure because I finally got the win,” said Pavelec, who stopped 32 of 33 shots and allowed just a power-play goal. “Finally. It was a great team effort, and they played great in front of me, and [the Wild] didn’t have a lot of scoring chances.”
Byfuglien’s two assists improved his point total to 16 (five goals, 11 assists). He entered the game tied for second among NHL defensemen in points. Andrew Ladd and Modin each finished with a goal and an assist.
Ladd gave the Thrashers a three-goal lead in the second period, thanks to the hard work of Rich Peverley. The center outmuscled Minnesota defenseman Cam Barker for the puck behind the Wild net. After bring the puck out front, Peverley found a wide-open Ladd in front of the net. The alternate captain easily put the puck in the net with 44.7 seconds left for his sixth goal of the season.
The Thrashers snapped the Wild’s three-game winning streak. Minnesota entered the game with a 6-2-1 record in its past nine games. The Wild got on the scoreboard 3:15 into the third period with a power-play goal. Antti Miettinen tipped a Brent Burns shot past Pavelec with Zach Bogosian in the penalty box for slashing.
The Wild got another power play two minutes later, but Modin scored short-handed to push the lead back to three. Alexander Burmistrov took control of the puck in the defensive zone and passed to Tobias Enstrom. The defenseman, who finished the night as a plus-4, took the puck deep into the Wild zone before dishing to Modin, who buried the puck for his fourth goal of the season. Nik Antropov scored at the 14:52 mark, on an assist from Ladd, to add insult to injury.
“I think it’s staying with the concept, understanding the concept,” Thrashers coach Craig Ramsay said of the difference between this win and the loss to Ottawa on Tuesday. “We changed [lines] better. If you want to play up ice, if you want to play an up-tempo game, then you’ve got to change.
"You can’t possibly do it staying on the ice for 45 seconds to a minute. You can’t play with that kind of effort and enthusiasm. Secondly, was a quicker transition game, not always looking for a better play but just getting it, getting the red line deep or throwing it up for a tip in and then attacking it with speed.”
With the Falcons playing across the street, the Thrashers announced an attendance of 10,555.
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