Thrashers take road show to Long Island for Saturday night matchup with Islanders

November 7, 3:20 PMAtlanta Thrashers ExaminerPhil Foley

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Rookie Evander Kane leads Atlanta into Long Island for a tilt against the Islanders on Saturday.
(AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

The Atlanta Thrashers will be raising Kane with the Russians as the road warrior Thrashers take on the New York Islanders on Saturday night (7:00 PM, NHL Center Ice, 680 “The Fan”).

The AJC’s Chris Vivlamore reports that coach John Anderson made the switch on Friday, moving rookie Evander Kane alongside Atlanta’s top-six line of Nik Antropov and Maxim Afinogenov. The struggling Slava Kozlov, who is still looking for his first tally of the season, was relegated to the third line of Colby Armstrong and Marty Reasoner.

Kane played well when pitted next to Antropov and Afinogenov on the night that Ilya Kovalchuk broke a bone in his foot against the San Jose Sharks, tallying a goal in that one.

The Thrashers hope for the same success from their No. 4 overall pick on the Island in the club's first matchup against rookie John Tavares' Islanders.

Tavares, the first pick in the 2009 draft, has not recorded a point in his last two games.

Atlanta enters this one with a modest one-game losing streak, after dropping a 4-3 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets at home on Thursday.

It was the same old story for the Thrashers at Philips Arena: spot a team an early multi-goal lead, come back with a fury, but fall short. Atlanta followed that same blueprint in each of its last four games in Atlanta, only to fall by one goal each time.

“I have no idea (why we’re struggling here),” Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec said after the loss. “If I knew it, I’d be rich. It’s a real tough question, but we have to find (an answer) right away. If we want to make the playoffs, we can’t lose home games. We’ve played good on the road, but we have to play good at home.”

Don’t be shocked if the Thrashers switch up their home routine for their Sunday contest against the St. Louis Blues.

“The very first game we played, I had the guys stay in a hotel,” Anderson said before joking that GM Don Waddell might not like the added expense. “Maybe we have to stay there (again). We’ll try to win any way we can.”

But the Thrashers are a different team away from Blueland, where the club is 5-1-1 in seven road games.

Atlanta will be facing a rejuvenated Islanders team that is playing well at the Nassau Coliseum.

New York has dropped two straight after posting a four-game winning streak. However, they are 4-2-2 on Long Island, while 1-4-3 on the road this season.

The Isles have struggled to find the net of late, scoring just one goal in its last seven periods. They should also be without the services of defenseman Radek Martinek, who left Friday’s contest with a right leg injury.

Look for Dwayne Roloson to get the start in net for the Islanders in this one. Pavelec will start for the Thrashers.

Thrashers announcer Dan Kamal tweets that Anssi Salmela will be Atlanta’s lone healthy scratch.

Atlanta is 4-2-0 over its last six contests in Long Island.