ATLANTA – The Atlanta Thrashers kicked off their NHL season with a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night 
at Philips Arena in front of 18,545 fans.
Starting the scoring for the Thrashers was Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger who jumped on a rebound from an Illya Kovalchuk shot and fired it behind stunned teammate goaltender Mike Smith, turning on the red light, erupting the crowd and sparking a collection of quotes from his bench in language so colorful it cannot be put in print.
Never hurts to get spotted a goal in the low-scoring NHL and the Thrashers took advantage of it, scoring the game’s next three goals to take a 4-0 lead; a lead they never salvaged.
Thrashers forward Rich Peverley, one of last year’s bright spots, started the season where he left off netting two goals and an assist. Not to be outdone, Thrashers Captain Illya Kovalchuk matched the effort netting three points of his own (2g, 1a).
All eyes were on 18-year-old rookie Evander Kane, No. 4 overall pick by Atlanta in this year’s NHL Draft. Kane made his debut compiling 11:09 of ice time and picking up his first NHL point when he assisted on Peverley’s first goal at 12:42 of the second period.
The ice did tilt with a shift in momentum late in the second period when Lightning speedster Martin St. Louis scored two goals in the final six minutes making it 4-2 at second intermission.
Rejuvenated by St. Louis’ efforts, the Lightning came out flying in the third scoring early at 2:11 to narrow the gap to 4-3 but the Thrashers refused to send their fans home without a win and scored the final two goals for the win.
The game also featured a few fights. Thrashers enforcer Eric Boulton dropped Lightning player Todd Fedoruk with a solid right in one match and Chris Thornburn went toe-to-toe with Zenon Konopka for nearly a minute in another brawl. (see video here)
Winning goaltender, rookie 22-year-old Ondrej Pavelec had great looking stats on paper; stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced and being named third star of the game but looked shaky during much of the contest.
Pavelec looked behind his back for a red light on several occasions and was out of position, his back completely turned to the shooters on a few others. Luckily for the Thrashers, those shots didn’t find a way behind their goalie but in the NHL, sometimes you need a little luck.
Like Captain Kovy said post-game referring to the goal he got credited for that Ranger fired in his own net, “It takes a little bit of luck sometimes. I’ll take it.”
And so will the 18,545 faithful who visited Blueland Saturday night.
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