Revived Thrashers tame Panthers

SUNRISE, FLORIDA - Rookie goalie Ondrej Pavelec stopped 36 shots, Ilya Kovalchuk scored his eighth goal in his last four games and the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Friday night.

Vyacheslav Kozlov, Chris Thorburn and Marian Hossa also scored for Atlanta, which improved to 7-3 under interim head coach Don Waddell after starting the season 0-6 under Bob Hartley. Bobby Holik had two assists.

Nathan Horton scored for the Panthers.

Tomas Vokoun, starting in net for the 10th consecutive game, made 23 saves.

Pavelec made his second career start. He began the season with the AHL's Chicago Wolves before being recalled when starting goalie Kari Lehtonen sustained a groin injury.

He was particularly strong in the second period, when he shut out Florida on 14 shots. His best save came late in the period when he snagged Olli Jokinen's wrist shot from close range with his glove.

Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 14th goal on a power play at 8:30 of the third period to give Atlanta a 3-1 lead. He took a feed from Hossa in the slot and fired a wrist shot past Vokoun.

Hossa added to the lead with a goal on a 5-on-3 power play with 5:16 left in the third.

Atlanta led 1-0 going into the third period before Horton tied the game 18 seconds in. His sixth goal of the season, but only his second in his last 10 games, came after he took a feed from Jokinen from behind the net and fired a wrist shot under the crossbar.

The Thrashers regained the lead at 3:22, when Thornburn scored his first of the season. Mark Popovic fired a shot through traffic from the point and the rebound slid across the front of the net to a wide-open Thorburn.

NOTES: Florida recalled D Jassen Cullimore from Rochester of the AHL, and sent down RW Anthony Stewart. Signed Oct. 26, Cullimore was sent to Rochester for a two-week conditioning stint. ... Panthers D Bryan Allen missed his second consecutive game because of a concussion he sustained Monday night in a game against Tampa Bay. ... Holik's first assist was the 400th of his career. ... Kozlov extended his point streak to six games. ... Florida entered the game with the league's best power play at home and Atlanta the worst overall penalty killing, but the Panthers had only one power-play opportunity in the game.