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Updated Tuesday, October 30 at 9:49 PM
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Thrashers beat Canadiens, 3-2
Associated Press
MONTREAL - Ilya Kovalchuk scored the decisive goal in the shootout to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Kovalchuk put a shot past Montreal rookie Carey Price on Atlanta's third attempt, and Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg forced Alex Kovalev to shoot off the post after Thrashers rookie Bryan Little and Canadiens captain Saku Koivu both scored in the second round.
Chris Higgins scored Montreal's second power-play goal of the game with 1:58 remaining in regulation to tie it at 2.
Todd White took Atlanta's third straight penalty at 17:50 when he was sent off for hooking. The Canadiens quickly took advantage as Koivu put a centering pass from the right corner to Higgins, who beat goalie Johan Hedberg for his fourth goal.
Kovalev, who assisted on the goal, also scored in the second.
The first three goals were all scored unassisted, including both tallied by Atlanta. Eric Perrin and Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 57 seconds apart late in the second period to give the Thrashers a 2-1 lead.
Hedberg stopped 31 shots for Atlanta (4-8), which won consecutive games for the first time this season.
The Thrashers improved to 4-2 under GM Don Waddell, who took over behind the bench on an interim basis after he fired coach Bob Hartley following an 0-6 start.
Kovalev also scored unassisted for Montreal, which ended a season-high, four-game winning streak.
Price made 31 saves in his Bell Centre debut. Price, who won for the second time in three road starts in Saturday's 4-3 shootout victory at Pittsburgh, made consecutive starts for the first time.
Kovalev opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season on a power play 8:10 into the second. He held the puck on the right side as Thrashers defenseman Ken Klee kept his distance before putting a shot over Hedberg's right arm into the left side of the net.
Perrin tied it at 16:16 with his second of the season.
The Montreal native pumped his arms in the air after he put a shot past Price from the edge of the crease when Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov inadvertently swatted the puck out front.
Kozlov took advantage of a dreadful giveaway by Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges moments later to give Atlanta a sudden lead.
Gorges blindly backhanded a centering pass from the left side of his own zone, and Kozlov drove in to pick up the puck and beat Price for his fifth goal. That put the Thrashers ahead 2-1.
Notes: Gorges, who played his third game of the season, dressed for consecutive contests for the first time. He played in place of D Francis Bouillon, who injured his shoulder Saturday at Pittsburgh. ... RW Andrei Kostitsyn was Montreal's only healthy scratch.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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