The Atlanta Thrashers picked up their first road win of the season, a 5-4 shootout victory against the Anaheim Ducks, and they did it by riding the shoulders of a few lesser-known players.

One of those players, Thrashers forward Anthony Stewart recorded his first career NHL hat trick on a team leading five shots to force the game to overtime. After a scoreless OT period, another new face, Nigel Dawes netted the game winner in the fourth round of the shootout.

Stewart’s hat trick was the first on the road for the Thrashers since February 15, 2009 which ironically also happened in Anaheim when Ilya Kovalchuk netted three.

The No. 1 star of the game, all three of Stewart’s tallies came on the power play; his first coming just 17 seconds into the game, still shy of a team record for quickest tally which was 8 seconds and happened in 2003.

In his entire NHL career, Stewart had found the back of the net just four times until last night’s career night on the West Coast. It was also his first multiple-point game since November 6, 2008 in Los Angeles when he was a member of the Florida Panthers and registered one goal and one assist in a game against the Kings.

Also contributing on the score sheet was forward Chris Thorburn who knocked in his third goal in as many games to set career highs for consecutive point and consecutive goal streaks. Newly acquired defenseman Dustin Byfuglien picked up his first points in a Thrasher’s uniform with two assists while his defensive mate Tobias Enstrom added two of his own.

Goaltender Chris Mason needs a solid mention after turning aside 37 of the 41 shots he faced and stonewalling the Ducks in the shootout. Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller stopped 29 of 33 shots for Anaheim.

The Thrashers take their 2-2 overall record to San Jose where they will conclude their West Coast road trip tonight with a meeting against the Sharks. Puck drop is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. at HP Pavilion.

Here’s the scoring summery of last night’s win.

Thrashers Scoring Summary

Period (Time) Goal (Assists)

1 – (0:17)   Stewart (1) (Ladd 2), Little (1))

2 – (13:21)  Thorburn (3) PPG (Byfuglien (1), Enstrom (1)

3 – (10:35)  Stewart (2) PPG (Peverley (1), Oduya (1)

3 – (14:38)  Stewart (3) PPG (Byfuglien (2), Enstrom (2)

4 – (SO)     Dawes

Scoring by Period

ATL:  1 – 1 – 2 – 0 – 5 (SO)

ANA:  1 – 2 – 1 – 0 – 4

Shots by Period

ATL: 10 –  8 – 11 – 4 – 33

ANA: 11 – 18 – 11 – 1 – 41

Special Teams

ATL: PP – 3/5   PK – 5/8

ANA: PP – 3/8   PK – 2/5

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC