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.
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.
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