Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - Anton Babchuk scored in overtime to lead the
Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at the RBC Center.
A turnover deep in the Atlanta zone was picked up by Justin Williams along the
left boards and he fed it to Babchuk at the right point. Babchuk skated down
low, went to the backhand to get Kari Lehtonen out of position and slid the
puck past the goaltender's right pad 1:11 into the extra frame.
Eric Staal and Andrew Hutchinson each had a goal and an assist and Cam Ward
stopped 32 shots for the Hurricanes, who stopped a two-game slide.
Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist while Lehtonen turned aside 33 shots
for the Thrashers, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
The Thrashers took a 1-0 lead at the 3:14 mark of the first period. J.P.
Vigier fought off a Carolina player behind the left side of the net and hit
Brad Larsen with a centering pass. Larsen fanned on the one-timer, but the
disc went right to Eric Boulton, who tapped the puck into the open net from
the right side for his first goal of the season.
The Hurricanes, however, tied the game when Staal picked up a turnover in his
own end, skated down the right wing and from the right circle snapped a shot
between the pads of Lehtonen at the 4:53 mark of the first.
Carolina scored twice more to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
On the power play, Hutchinson let fly with a shot from the left point that
deflected off the skate of Scott Walker in front of the net at the 16:40 mark
of the period.
With time winding down, Rod Brind'Amour dished the puck to Hutchinson in the
slot and he cranked a slap shot that went over the glove of Lehtonen with 36.6
seconds to play.
Lehtonen made a beautiful pad save on an Erik Cole backhand shot down low
about seven minutes into the second to keep his club within two goals.
Ward answered at the other end of the ice when he snared a shot from Steve
Rucchin out of the air halfway through the second.
However, Atlanta tied the game with a pair of goals to make it a 3-3 contests.
A turnover at the Carolina blueline resulted in a 2-on-1 rush and Kovalchuk
passed the puck under the defender's stick to Jon Sim, who snapped a wrister
from the slot into the right corner of the net with 8:29 left in the second.
With less than three minutes to play in the second, Greg De Vries had the puck
at the left point and blasted a shot that missed the net. The puck, though,
bounced off the back boards and it popped out the right side to Scott
Mellanby, who slid it under the pad of Ward for his fifth goal of the season.
Atlanta outshot Carolina, 22-11, in the second period.
The Hurricanes took a 4-3 lead 4:23 into the third period when Ryan Bayda
smacked a rebound into the net that Lehtonen was trying to cover up for his
first goal of the year.
The Thrashers, though, tied the game when Vitaly Vishnevski's left point slap
shot was deflected by Kovalchuk in front of the net at the 8:21 mark of the
third.
