Kozlov finally finds net, leads Thrashers to win over Oilers

November 15, 6:56 PMAtlanta Thrashers ExaminerPhil Foley

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Slava Kozlov celebrates his tally with fellow Russians Max Afinogenov and Ilya Kovalchuk on Sunday.
(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Slava Kozlov has had one of the more frustrating beginnings to the season of any player in the league: grand larceny by goaltenders, countless shots off of the post and a disallowed goal or two.

The Russian picked a great time to finally hit the back of the net.

Kozlov netted the game winning goal and Zach Bogosian and Maxim Afinogenov added tallies, leading the Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday afternoon at Philips Arena.

Johan Hedberg set aside 34 shots for the Thrashers, who have won four straight games.

“You’re not going to believe this, but I heard (one of) our owners in the box picked him, he told Kozie’s son that he was going to score the game winner tonight,” Atlanta coach John Anderson said. “I just told him to please tell me before the game so at least I know we’re going to win.”

The unnamed owner’s prediction could not have come at a better time for the Thrashers who won this one despite coming out a tad bit flat after playing three games in four nights.

The accelerated schedule also seemed to take a bit of a toll on Ilya Kovalchuk, who had seven points (three goals and four assists) in his first two games back from his foot injury. The captain only notched one point in this one.

But two of his fellow countrymen were there to pick up the slack as the club rallied from a 2-1 deficit on Sunday.

It was hard to tell that Atlanta was actually on the power play late in the second period as the shorthanded Oilers were blistering puck-after-puck at Johan Hedberg deep in the Thrashers zone.

But Edmonton pinched too hard, Rich Peverley got the puck and fed it to a streaking Afinogenov at center ice. Not-as-Mad Max managed to get a step on Jason Strudwick before beating Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to post Atlanta to a 2-2 tie with 22 seconds left in the middle period.

It was the third goal over the past two games for Afinogenov, who has rebounded with a vengeance from his mediocre 2008-09 campaign with the Buffalo Sabres.

“He’s been very exciting,” Anderson said. “It was a timely shot.”

From there, Kozlov put it away, finally blistering a shot where neither a goaltender nor a high stick would keep it off the score sheet.

The eldest Thrasher blistered a long shot past the outstretched glove of Khabibulin to seal the win with 8:01 remaining.

“I hit a couple of posts, but I didn’t panic,” the 37-year-old Kozlov said of his long scoring drought. “I just play and do not try to think about goals or points.

It’s very exciting, the first one for me and the game-winner for the team. We played against a good team. It was a huge win for the team. I got off to a slow start, so it was (also) good.”

Hedberg held the fort from there, withstanding a 20 shot attack over the final two frames to send Thrashers fans home happy from Blueland for the third consecutive game.

The Thrashers, who started the season a dismal 1-4-0 at Philips Arena, evened their record at 4-4-0 here after the Sunday matinee victory.

“You always have to remember history,” Anderson said. “We don’t want to let it slide. I think (Assistant GM) Larry Simmons gave me a stat that teams under .500 at home never make the playoffs. I didn’t want to be the first team to do that. I prefer to win at home.”

Bogosian opened the scoring for the Thrashers with his NHL-leading eighth goal by a blueliner with a power play tally at 4:37 of the first period before Edmonton took a one-goal lead on second period tallies by Shawn Horcoff and Dustin Penner.

Peverely added a pair of assists for the Thrashers, who moved into a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference with the win.