Bryan Little News

Defenseman Martin Skoula scored two goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Atlanta Thrashers in a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.

The Atlanta Thrashers will try to start a new winning streak tonight when they invite the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins for a test at Philips Arena.

As they have so many times already this season, the Thrashers found themselves in a two-goal hole at home before mounting a comeback charge.

Patrice Bergeron got the lone goal of the shootout, and Tuukka Rask produced a solid effort with 32 saves, as Boston got by a hot Atlanta Thrashers club, 4-3, at Philips Arena.

As the Thrashers continue to use their two-goalie rotation of late, Ondrej Pavelec will start Thursday against Boston, and Johan Hedberg is scheduled to start Saturday against Pittsburgh.

The morning report from Thrashers practice on Tuesday is in. Bryan Little and Pavel Kubina were on the ice prior to the start of practice.

Pavel Kubina missed Sunday's game against Edmonton with what the team announced as "lower body soreness." The defenseman missed time at the end of Friday's win over Los Angeles after he was hit by a shot.

Slava Kozlov hopes his first goal is the start of something good. Kozlov broke out of his slump with his first goal of the season and the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Sunday for their fourth consecutive victory.

The Atlanta captain knows he and the Thrashers can only improve. Ilya Kovalchuk has seven points in two games since returning from a foot injury.

All Ilya Kovalchuk needed was proof that he had not re-injured his foot. After that, he was on the Thrashers' plane bound for New York.

Ilya Kovalchuk will not be in the Thrashers' lineup Thursday against the New York Rangers.

The Thrashers are getting goals in Ilya Kovalchuk's absence most of it from their defensemen.

Atlanta suffered the same defensive lapses that it did in their 4-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at Philips Arena, allowing way too many shots by the once-offensively challenged Islanders.

While the Islanders have struggled as the guest this season, they have had success at Nassau Coliseum.

Each year a round about this time we show up here and find a handful of skaters who are still residing Schnide Islanda that tiny spec of land that sits smack-dab in the middle of the vast expanse of the Ocean of Zilch.

When the Atlanta Thrashers learned last week that captain Ilya Kovalchuk would miss several weeks with an injury, general manager Don Waddell called it an opportunity for other players to step up.

Brian Gionta, who scored two goals, is stopped by goaltender Ondrej Pavelec during Tuesday's game against Atlanta, which ended the Habs' home winning streak.

Washington Capitals left wing Tomas Fleischmann made his anticipated return to the ice Thursday against the Atlanta Thrashers .

Bryan Little is one of several Thrashers who will need to pick up his scoring while Ilya Kovalchuk is out with a foot injury.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice to add to his NHL-leading total, Semyon Varlamov stopped a penalty shot and the first-place Washington Capitals held on at the end to hand the Atlanta Thrashers their fourth straight loss, 4-3 on Thursday night.