Peverley, Armstrong lead Thrashers to victory in Montreal

November 4, 1:57 PMAtlanta Thrashers ExaminerPhil Foley

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The Thrashers celebrated yet another goal and another road victory in Montreal on Tuesday.

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Maybe the Atlanta Thrashers should wear their white road uniforms at Philips Arena, too.

Rich Peverley notched a goal and dished a pair of assists and Colby Armstrong tallied the game winner, leading the Thrashers to a 5-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.

Bryan Little, Mark Popovic and Pavel Kubina each found the net for the first time this season for Atlanta, which improved to 5-1-1 on the road this season.

“It is a tough building (to play in),” Armstrong told the Associated Press of the Canadiens' home rink. “I think it’s an exciting atmosphere and I think guys get up to play here, but at the same time it is a nerve-racking place to play. To come in here and play like we did tonight on the road, I thought we played pretty well.”

When star Ilya Kovalchuk was hurt, Atlanta desperately needed someone to pick up the slack for their leading scorer.

Thus far, it looks like Peverley is the man to do just that.

“He’s one of the most dynamic players in the league,” Peverley told the AP about Kovalchuk. “We have a lot of depth on our team this year. We’ve got some key pieces up front, on the back end, and in goal, too, so that just shows you the overall depth we have on our team right now.”

Pevs seemingly rejuvenated the underachieving line of Todd White and Little, assisting on Atlanta’s first goal, which was redirected into the net by Little before finding the net for Atlanta’s second tally.

The former Predator grabbed the puck between the circles and beat Montreal goaltender Carey Price stick side to give the Thrashers a 2-0 lead with 13 seconds remaining in the first period.

The Canadiens drew the contest to within a goal on second period tallies by Brian Gionta and Michael Cammalleri, which was sandwiched around Popovic’s first NHL goal at the 7:30 mark of the period.

Gionta found the net again, 86 seconds into the final period to knot the contest at 3 before Kubina deposited a loose puck into the unoccupied left side of the Montreal net to restore the Atlanta lead 4:10 into the third.

Tomas Plekanec drew the game even with a shot from the right faceoff dot with 7:20 remaining, but Atlanta quickly answered.

Marty Reasoner slid a cross-crease pass to Armstrong, who blistered the puck past Price 34 seconds after the Pelkanec tally to win yet another game on the road for the Thrashers.

“Every time they scored we seemed to come back and have a good shift and kind of get back in the game,” Peverley said. “That showed a lot of character on our team.”

Eleven of Atlanta’s 13 points this season have come away from Philips Arena.

Ondrej Pavelec was not as sharp as he was in Ottawa, but who could expect another 50 save performance from the youngster?

The Atlanta netminder steered aside 34 shots in this one, including a sensational save on Gionta in the game’s final minutes.

This was one of the more bizarre games I have ever watched. And not because of the play on the ice.

As most Thrashers fans are well aware, televised games in the local market have been few and far between this season. Those willing to dole out about $160 have had the opportunity to watch a lot of these games on NHL Center Ice.

Tuesday’s game was on Center Ice, but only in French.

It was interesting to see some of the different (and sometimes better) camera angles that RDS used and watching some of those commercials in a foreign language that I have not had the pleasure of learning since about third grade was neat.

About the only thing I understood during the whole telecast was the second intermission interview with Colby Armstrong that was broadcast in English.

Otherwise, the game might as well have been televised in Greek.

But… what was up with the RDS on-ice guy, Chantal Machabee or whatever his name is?

Seriously, that second extra unbuttoned button on his tieless shirt was way over the top.

The dude looked like he should be out trolling for women at a local Montreal hot spot, not center ice at a hockey game.

Rico Suave reincarnated.

Yes, I am an ignorant red-blooded American that wouldn’t have the same problem if it was a female showing some extra skin.

Call me a hater, full of double standards, a misogynist pig, whatever you want to call me. I fully admit it.