Capitals 5, Thrashers 4

The Basics

• The Thrashers returned home tonight, following a five-game road swing, dropping a 5-4 game to the Southeast Division leading Washington Capitals ... The Thrashers record now stands at 4-2-1 for nine points this season.
• After falling behind 1-0 early in the first period, Maxim Afinogenov tied the game 1-1 with his second goal of the season at the 4:09 mark ... Afinogenov would later add an assist for two points (1g, 1a) in tonight's contest.
• Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk picked up his 8th and 9th goals of the season in the loss tonight ... Kovalchuk has posted 10 points (9g, 1a) through the first seven games this season.
• Forward Nik Antropov earned two assists for his second multi-point game in a Thrashers uniform ... Antropov now has six assists on the year.
• With the teams tied 2-2 entering the second period, Washington scored three straight goals to open up a 5-2 lead ... Atlanta would climb back into the game in the third period as Zach Bogosian scored his first shorthanded goal of the year just 4:51 into the third and Kovalchuk scored his second goal of the game at the 19:21 mark.
• Ondrej Pavelec was given the nod in goal for the Thrashers, but was relieved after allowing five goals on 14 shots ... Johan Hedberg was perfect on all 14 shots he faced ... Semyon Varlamov allowed four goals on 26 shots in the win.
• The Thrashers will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 24 when the San Jose Sharks make their only visit of the season to Philips Arena at 7 p.m. (680 The Fan).

What You Really Need to Know

Despite the outcome the Thrashers were reasonably happy with how they played against their division rivals. Ilya Kovalchuk thought they had more than enough chances to tie the the game in the third period and said that he and both of his linemates missed empty nets in the dying the seconds. Head coach John Anderson counted the scoring chances as being about equal, and save for a two minute lapse in the third period when Washington scored three times the game was very even. The Thrashers held the Capitals' most dangerous forwards- Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Knuble- off the scoresheet and limited defenseman Mike Green to a single assist. Meanwhile Ilya Kovalchuk scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season, moving into a tie for the league lead with Ovechkin.

Ondrej Pavelec's off night will quickly be forgotten as the team focuses on the way they battled back and almost tied the game in third period. After Kovalchuk's last-minute power-play goal Ovechkin took a penalty and were it not for three huge saves by Varlamov in the final 24 seconds the game would have gone to overtime.

The Thrashers' special teams were outstanding again as the penalty kill held Washington scoreless on seven power plays while Atlanta's league-leading power-play unit converted on two of eight chances.

Offensive Spotlight- Ilya Kovalchuk

Ilya Kovalchuk did his best to keep his team in the game, tying the score at 2-2 heading into the first period and then cutting the deficit to 5-4 with less than a minute remaining. His two goals came on a game-high seven times and he also had six shots blocked. Kovalchuk now has three two-goal games just seven games into the season and his nine goals tie him for first in the NHL. Kovalchuk also logged an incredible 9:40 of PP time, which was still second to Ovechkin's 10:41 of power-play time.

Defensive Spotlight- Zach Bogosian

The sophomore defenseman struggled at times on the road but had a solid game against the Capitals including a short-handed goal that sparked an Atlanta rally. In addition to his goal he had three takeaways and a blocked shot in 22:36 of action, the second-most time of any Thrashers defenseman.

What Went Right

- Ilya Kovalchuk continued his torrid pace and will keep drawing the attention of the opposing defense, which is good news for Nik Antropov and Max Afinogenov. Afinogenov picked up a goal and assist while Nik Antropov added a pair of assists, giving the line three goals and six points.

- Special teams came up huge as the PP went 2-8 and the PK went 7-7.

- Rich Peverley continued his faceoff-winning ways, coming out ahead on 65% of his draws.

- The Thrashers showed the ability to battle back in the face of adversity, even though they came up short.

- Johan Hedberg stopped all 14 shots he faced and improved his save percentage to an incredible .964.

What Could Have Gone Better

- The Thrashers had gotten outstanding goaltending all season up to this point. With a 22-year-old rookie in goal there was bound to be an off night at some point. Pavelec is mentally tough and shouldn't have any trouble bouncing back.

- Last season's very effective line of Kozlov, White and Little was held shotless.

- Semyon Varlamov wasn't tested often early in the game and when the Thrashers applied pressure he gave up a soft goal or two. More pressure may have led to a different result.

- Penalties got the best of the Thrashers, coming at inopportune times as they tried to battle their way back into the game.

Quotes of the Night

Ilya Kovalchuk on the result of the game:

"I think we played overall a pretty good game. Just a couple of lucky bounces on their side. We got great chances at the end to tie the game."

On the comeback:

"It's a 60 minute game. You can't stop after 40. We just say let's work hard and good things happen. We got two goals and we got some great chances. I missed the empty net, Max missed the empty net and Antro [missed]. If we're going to work that hard like we did in the third period we're going to win a lot of games.

On battling with Washington:

"We're going to battle all year long."

Three Stars

1. Jeff Schultz
2. Maxim Afinogenov
3. Ilya Kovalchuk