Tuesday, April 3, 2001

Patrik Stefan scored twice in an 84-second span late in a wild third period as the last-place Thrashers ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the first-place Senators.

During the skid, Atlanta lost to Buffalo and New Jersey, two teams fighting for playoff position in the Eastern Conference. On Tuesday, the Thrashers prevented Ottawa from remaining tied with New Jersey for the top seed.

"They needed those points tonight," Atlanta center Ray Ferraro said. "They're in a battle for first place and for us to spoil that a little bit is part of what you play for right now."

Bothered by injuries, Stefan had just eight goals this season and no points in the last six games. But the former top overall draft pick was put on a line with veteran Ray Ferraro and banged in a loose puck that had deflected through the crease with 2:16 remaining.

"There were two guys in front and I turned and the rebound got loose," said Senators rookie defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski. "I don't know where Stefan came from, but those are the breaks and they got it tonight. It's unfortunate because we needed this win."

The goal came 52 seconds after Kwiatkowski's first NHL goal lifted Ottawa into a 2-2 tie.

"It was my first time with Ray. I thought we worked very well together for our first game," Stefan said. "He's told me what I should work on -- competing hard, going to the net. Tonight I scored that goal by going to the net. He always says when you go to the net hard, good things happen to you."

Stefan scored again into an empty net with 52 seconds to play and Shean Donovan tallied 36 seconds later to cap Atlanta's burst of three goals in two minutes.

The Thrashers were 10-23-6-2 at home in their second campaign, a slight improvement over last season's 9-29-3-3 mark.

"Maybe the best game of the season," Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said. "It was a special one, last game at home. We wanted to show the fans that we want to work hard for them."

The Senators have followed a six-game unbeaten streak with back-to-back losses and fell two points behind New Jersey with two games to play.

"We are a better team than we showed tonight," said Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson. "One thing that hurt us was the power play didn't produce. I don't think we were looking past tonight. Obviously, we can't wait until the playoffs start, but we really would like to finish first in the conference."

The Senators were 0-for-7 on the power play against the NHL's worst penalty-killing unit.

"Our penalty-killing did a great job tonight and we had struggled with that all year," Ferraro said. "Milan (Hnilicka) was good in goal, we scored enough goals to win and it sure was fun to win at home, especially on a night like tonight."

Hnilicka came up big in the third period, when Atlanta was outshot, 17-6.

Ottawa had an 8-5 edge in a scoreless first period, but the Thrashers grabbed the lead 12:05 into the second when Hnat Domenichelli put a backhander past rookie goaltender Jani Hurme off a scramble.

Tomi Kallio, the third member of the line with Stefan and Ferraro, made it 2-0 at 18:32.

"Whoever plays with Ray seems to do a great job," Fraser noted. "Patrik got his ninth and 10th, Kallio his 14th. A tremendous effort on everyone's part tonight."

Todd White got the Senators on the board with 34 seconds left in the second and Kwiatkowski tied it with 3:08 left in the third.