ATLANTA – The Atlanta Thrashers opened their 2008-09 season with a 7-4 win at home against the Washington Capitals.

In a game that saw Washington out-shoot Atlanta 43-31; goaltending proved to be the difference. Washington goaltender, Jose Theodore, the only addition to the Capital roster this year, was pulled at the halfway point of the game after letting in 4 goals on just 17 shots.

There were six different goal scorers for the Thrashers with Bryan Little’s second goal of the game at 13:57 of the third period being the game-winner.

Thrashers Coach John Anderson made his debut behind an NHL bench and was pleased with his team’s offensive performance. Anderson has an impressive resume in minor league hockey, including winning last year’s AHL Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves. He was facing his longtime friend and former Maple Leaf teammate, Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau, last year’s NHL coach-of-the-year.

Anderson received a raucous round of applause when introduced during the pregame introductions. After last year’s debacle in Atlanta, the fans of Blueland are hoping Anderson’s winning ways will rub off on the young Thrashers team.

The Thrashers, who had a tough time putting the puck in the net during their six preseason games, scoring only 14 goals in 6 games, found their offensive groove, turning the red light on 7 times in their first regular season contest.

Washington dominated play early with fierce fore-checking, controlling the puck and outshooting Atlanta by a landslide. Once the Thrashers settled down, they scored the first three goals of the game, including a power play goal by newly-acquired defenseman, Ron Hainsey.

Zach Bogosian, No. 3 overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, became the youngest player to ever play in a Thrashers uniform. The eighteen-year-old rookie had a rough first shift, turning over the puck deep in his zone then later on the same shift, being forced to take a holding penalty to compensate for a mistake.

Russia was well-represented in this contest with Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov going head-to-head against Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, Sergei Federov and Viktor Kozlov.

Ovechkin, last year’s NHL scoring leader, was awarded a penalty shot four minutes into the third period after Tobias Enstrom closed his hand on the puck in the crease. Ovechkin made a nice move on Thrashers goalie, Kari Lehtonen, who made a last-second save, kicking it out with his left skate to keep the score knotted at four.

Ovechkin has had great success against the Thrashers scoring 20 goals and 40 points in 24 games but was held scoreless in this contest.

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