ATLANTA, GA. – It didn’t take long for the Atlanta Thrashers to get going Saturday night at Philips Arena in their important match-up against their Eastern Conference rival Philadelphia Flyers.

After the Thrashers’ Jim Slater squared off with Flyers’ enforcer Dan Carcillo and sent Carillo to the ice with a solid punch just 39 seconds after the puck was dropped, the Thrashers fed off that adrenaline and rookie Niclas Bergfors scored the game’s first goal about one minute later to take a 1-0 lead.

That tally was Bergfors’ 20th of the season and 7th since coming over from New Jersey in the Ilya Kovalchuk trade.
A short time later Ian Laperriere attempted to avenge Carillo’s thrashing and took on Thrashers’ enforcer Eric Boulton.

Like watching a replay, Laperriere ended up on the ice after exchanging a few punches with Boulton and again the Thrashers responded by putting the puck in the net a short time later to take a 2-0 lead.

The Thrashers never let up and played with more desperation than the visitors, carrying the play much of the game and with the help of 2 Colby Armstrong goals, his 14th and 15th of the season, went on to earn a 5-2 victory. Like Bergfors, Armstrong has come to life as of late and has 4 goals and 1 assist in the past two games.

This game was important to both teams. The Flyers came into the contest sitting in the # 5 spot in the Eastern Conference just one point ahead of the # 7 Montreal Canadians while the Thrashers were just three points behind the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot.

With the ice tilted in the Thrashers’ favor, Carillo returned to the ice after serving his fighting major penalty and regained some momentum for his team, tipping in a Chris Pronger shot for his 10th of the year at the 8:16 mark to narrow the gap to 2-1.

That is as close as the Flyers would get all night as the Thrashers never trailed in the game and each time the Flyers would score, the Thrashers would respond with another goal.

The win moved the Thrashers one point away from that final playoff spot that is owned by the Boston Bruins.

The Flyers and Thrashers meet again Sunday night to complete their back-to-back series then the Thrashers return home to face the Bruins Tuesday night for another important game at Philips Arena at 7pm.

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