Atlanta Notches Its First Win Against Rangers
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The Thrashers had a new coach, and something else was different: They won.
One day after Bob Hartley was fired, Atlanta scored two goals in the first 6 1/2 minutes, overcame an injury to goalie Kari Lehtonen and finally picked up its first victory of the season, beating the Rangers 5–3 last night.
The Thrashers lost their first six games, leaving them as the only winless team in the NHL and leading general manager Don Waddell to fire Hartley before the season totally fell apart.
The GM is serving as interim coach, just as he did after dismissing the only other coach in franchise history, Curt Fraser. Waddell urged the defending Southeast Division champs to forget about the first two weeks and treat it as the start of a new season.
Well, this opening night turned out much better than the last one. Pascal Dupuis put the Thrashers ahead 4:21 into the game, and Slava Kozlov stuffed the puck past Henrik Lundqvist during a two-man advantage just over 2 minutes later. Todd White added a short-handed goal midway through the second period, and the Rangers never recovered.
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ISLANDERS 5, CAPITALS 2
Bill Guerin scored his first three goals with the Islanders, two on the power play, to lead New York to a 5–2 victory over the Washington Capitals last night. Guerin, who has a team-high six assists, netted one goal in the first period and two in the third. The Islanders went 3-for-5 on the power play and rallied for three late goals after blowing a 2–0, third-period lead. Rick DiPietro made 27 saves as the Islanders snapped a two-game losing streak.
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FLYERS 4, DEVILS 0
Martin Biron made 38 saves in his second straight shutout and Philadelphia proved again it is back as a Stanley Cup contender, beating the Devils 4–0 last night.