The Atlanta Thrashers are quickly learning how to make their own luck.
Marc Savard scored into an open net after a fortunate bounce off the glass, sending the streaking Thrashers to a 4-2 road victory over New Jersey on Friday night.
PHOTO: AP
With Atlanta on a third-period power play, defenseman Andy Sutton dumped the puck in hard and high along the boards. Devils goalie Martin Brodeur got caught behind his net trying to play the puck and it came ricocheting wildly out in front to Savard, who snapped a 2-all tie with 6:56 to go.
Sutton credited coach Bob Hartley.
"Bob told us before the game to get everything up on the glass," Sutton said. "With the partitions, you never know what kind of bounce you're going to get ... Sure enough in the third, we got a lucky bounce."
Vyacheslav Kozlov scored 15 seconds later on a perfect pass from Dany Heatley, and Atlanta handed the Devils their first loss in regulation since Jan. 4.
The Thrashers improved to 7-2-1 since Hartley took over and won their 19th game overall -- matching last season's total. They're 10 points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"We're on a roll right now," goalie Byron Dafoe said. "We're looking at that eighth spot. The last month or so it's becoming more and more realistic. Guys are believing more and more in each other and in the system and in our coach."
In other NHL games, it was Vancouver 4, Buffalo 2; Washington 3, the New York Islanders 0; Minnesota 4, San Jose 3; Calgary 4, Edmonton 3; Los Angeles 8, Carolina 2; and Anaheim 3, Phoenix 2.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Dan Snyder also scored for Atlanta, and Dafoe made 26 saves in his first game since Jan. 13.
Stephen Guolla and Patrik Elias scored for the Devils, who had earned points in a franchise-record 14 consecutive games. The loss also snapped a franchise record-tying eight-game winning streak at home and cost New Jersey a chance to take over the league's best record.
"It's been a while," defenseman Brian Rafalski said. ``It does feel a little weird. But it brings us back to reality quickly. It was bound to happen sooner or later.''
Atlanta extended its club-record road winning streak to four games and beat Brodeur for the first time in 13 tries.
Canucks 4, Sabres 2
At Buffalo, New York, Markus Naslund scored his NHL-leading 36th goal and added an assist as Vancouver beat the Sabres.
Daniel Sedin, Artem Chubarov and Brendan Morrison -- with his first goal in 18 games -- also scored for the Canucks, unbeaten in their last five games (2-0-3).
Naslund moved ahead of Mario Lemieux for the league lead with 70 points.
Ales Kotalik and Dmitri Kalinin scored for the Sabres, who have lost five straight.
Capitals 3, Islanders 0
At Washington, Peter Bondra, Jeff Halpern and Steve Konowalchuk each had a goal and an assist, and Olaf Kolzig made 20 saves for the Capitals.
Washington won all four games of the season series and is 23-1-3 in its last 27 games against New York.
Wild 4, Sharks 3
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Cliff Ronning followed a disallowed goal early in the third period with one that counted 45 seconds later to lift Minnesota over San Jose.
The Wild won their 27th game -- more than each of their first two seasons.
Teemu Selanne had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, who lost for only the second time in six games.
Antti Laaksonen, Richard Park and Pascal Dupuis also had goals for Minnesota. Patrick Marleau and Scott Hannan scored for San Jose.
Flames 4, Oilers 3
At Edmonton, Alberta, Jarome Iginla scored his third goal of the game with 1:08 left to lift Calgary over the Oilers.
Chris Drury also scored for the Flames, and Iginla added an assist. Roman Turek made 27 saves. Todd Marchant, Alexei Semenov and Mike York scored for Edmonton.
Kings 8, Hurricanes 2
At Los Angeles, Bryan Smolinski scored three power-play goals for his third career hat trick and Jared Aulin got his first two NHL goals as the Kings sent Carolina to its fifth straight loss.
The Hurricanes, who went to the Stanley Cup finals last season, have dropped 13 of 14 and are 10 points out of a playoff spot with 27 games left. Earlier in the day they traded Sami Kapanen to Philadelphia for Pavel Brendl.
Brad Chartrand, Joe Corvo and Ziggy Palffy also scored for Los Angeles.
Mighty Ducks 3, Coyotes 2
At Anaheim, California, Stanislav Chistov's goal put the Mighty Ducks ahead to stay and Jason Krog had three assists.
Patric Kjellberg and Niclas Havelid also scored in the second period for Anaheim, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 31 shots. Mike Johnson and Paul Ranheim scored for Phoenix.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and