Atlanta Thrashers News

ATLANTA (AP) _ Atlanta captain Scott Mellanby retired Tuesday, less than a week after the Thrashers were swept in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Mellanby ended his 21-year career after Atlanta made the playoffs for the first time in its seven-year history, but lost four straight games to the New York Rangers. ``I've been fortunate to live my dream for the past 21 years, and it's with a ...

Washington Capitals forward Donald Brashear has been suspended for three games. Brashear, teammate Brian Sutherby and Atlanta forward Scott Mellanby were each automatically suspended for one game and coaches Glen Hanlon of the Capitals and Bob Hartley of the Thrashers were fined US$30,000 and US$10,000, respectively, the league announced Thursday. The disciplinary action pertained to a game Wednesday and was pursuant to a rule that states that ``a player deemed ...

Cristobal Huet gave a big nod to his defence on a night the Montreal Canadiens honoured Serge Savard, one of their best defencemen ever. Huet made 39 saves, and Michael Ryder and Alexander Perezhogin each ended lengthy goal-scoring droughts, leading Montreal to a 3-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night. Led by Huet, who recorded his third straight win, the Canadiens' defence frustrated a potent Atlanta lineup featuring ...

Ilya Kovalchuk broke out of his slump with two goals, Marian Hossa scored on a penalty shot and the Atlanta Thrashers kept up the best start in franchise history, beating the Florida Panthers 4-2 Saturday night. J.P. Vigier also scored and Kari Lehtonen turned aside 18 shots in the Thrashers' win, their sixth in the first eight games. Atlanta has picked up 13 of a possible 16 points, with its only regulation loss coming on a last-second ...

The Atlanta Thrashers are off to their best start ever and starting to look like one tough team. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Marian Hossa each scored in a shootout to give Atlanta a 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The Thrashers have won five of their last six games and are in first place in the Southeast Division with 11 of a possible 14 points after seven games. ``We never quit. That's what is big about ...

Star winger Ilya Kovalchuk only has one goal but the Atlanta Thrashers are off to their best start in franchise history. The reason for that is the man in net. Kari Lehtonen's sparkling 1.63 goals-against average and .943 save percentage has his team roaring out of the gates at 4-1-1. ``He has been outstanding,'' Thrashers GM Don Waddell said Wednesday. He has to be, not only for the Thrashers to ...

Ilya Kovalchuk scored in overtime to end his longest goal drought at the start of a season, and Atlanta spoiled ``Alex Ovechkin Tribute Night'' by beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 on Saturday night. Kovalchuk's winner came on a breakaway 3:02 into the extra period. He didn't have a goal in any of Atlanta's first five games. Scott Mellanby scored twice for Atlanta, and Kovalchuk assisted on the second, 2:10 into the third period. That put the visitors ahead ...

Ray Whitney scored on a tip-in with one-half second left in the third period Friday night, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes past the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3, the defending Stanley Cup champion's first win of the season. Cam Ward stopped 31 shots for the Hurricanes, who were off to an 0-3-1 start. An overtime period seemed inevitable until Whitney's first goal of the season in the final second. Whitney tipped in a shot by Eric Staal. The last-second shot capped a ...

Kari Lehtonen got the record out of the way. Then he got started on another scoreless streak. Lehtonen set an Atlanta mark for shutout minutes before finally giving up a goal on a deflection, and the Thrashers won their third straight by defeating the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Wednesday night. After back-to-back shutouts, Lehtonen learned that he was closing on the record held by Michael Garnett. ``It was kind of weird to go to the game and ...

Kari Lehtonen is giving the Atlanta Thrashers consistency in goal, something they sorely lacked last season. Lehtonen had 34 saves in his second consecutive shutout, and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored a first-period goal as the Thrashers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 on Monday night. ``It was just one of those days when everything seems to go your way,'' Lehtonen said. ``I try to do everything the same way, and sometimes ...

Kari Lehtonen had 34 saves in his second consecutive shutout, and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored a first-period goal as the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 on Monday night. Lehtonen, coming off a 6-0 win over Florida on Saturday, has five career shutouts. He has allowed two goals in three games this season. Kozlov put Atlanta ahead 1-0 from the right circle at 12:26 of the first. The goal ...

Marian Hossa had two goals and an assist, and goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped 22 shots to power the Atlanta Thrashers to a 6-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. Slava Kozlov added a goal and two assists for the Thrashers, who lost a 3-2 shootout to Tampa Bay in their season opener on Thursday night. Lehtonen, in his second season, earned his fourth career shutout. Atlanta opened the scoring on a goal by Jon Sim ...

The Atlanta Thrashers assigned goalie Fred Brathwaite to Chicago of the American Hockey League on Saturday. Brathwaite was 1-1 in the pre-season, allowing 4.29 goals per game. He and Johan Hedberg were added in the off-season to play behind Kari Lehtonen. Hedberg remains on the roster as Lehtonen's top backup. Brathwaite spent the past two seasons with Ak-Bars Kazan of Russian Super League.

Vincent Lecavalier scored the only goal of the shootout and Marc Denis shut out Atlanta after the opening period as the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Thrashers 3-2 on Thursday night in the season opener for the Southeast Division rivals. Second-year centre Ryan Craig scored Tampa Bay's first two goals, including the tying goal about two minutes into the third period. Tampa Bay edged Atlanta and the Toronto Maple Leafs by two points for the Eastern ...

Defenceman Kimmo Timonen set up three power-play goals in a 3:19 span to help the Nashville Predators beat the Atlanta Thrashers 5-1 on Saturday night in the final exhibition game for both teams. Tomas Vokoun made 25 saves to finish the pre-season 3-0. Scott Hartnell began the power-play streak with 2 seconds left in the first period, Steve Sullivan scored 37 seconds into the second and David Legwand capped the ...