Thrashers have to get hot to bring playoff hockey to Philips
By Bud L. Ellis
It’s a pretty safe bet one tenant of Philips Arena – the Atlanta Hawks – will bring playoff action to the arena this spring.
The Atlanta Thrashers? Their hopes of reaching the NHL playoffs are slim. But a few more wins like Saturday’s 4-3 overtime thriller over Florida at Philips could ignite a much-needed late-season surge.
The Thrashers watched a two-goal lead disintegrate in a three-minute span of the third period, but rallied with Andrew Ladd’s game-winning goal 25 seconds into overtime. Ladd scored twice, and newly acquired Blake Wheeler added two goals, including a tally 6:30 into the third to make it 3-1 Atlanta.
Florida rallied with a power play goal from Stephen Weiss at 7:58, and a goal from David Booth exactly three minutes later. But Chris Mason stopped the Panthers from there, recording 29 saves in the victory.
The Thrashers sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, seven points behind Buffalo for the eighth and final playoff spot with just 16 games left. Atlanta plays a critical game Wednesday at Carolina. The Hurricanes are one point behind Buffalo in ninth place. Toronto is 10th with 67 points.
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