The Atlanta Thrashers soundly beat the Minnesota Wild six to three.
Minnesota’s Derek Boogaard went to the penalty box for roughing two minutes and eighteen seconds into the game. Forty-five seconds later Atlanta’s Carl Mallette took a slashing penalty just as his teammate Chad Wolkowski put the puck in the net past Brady Block. The goal and power play were nullified by Mallette’s penalty.
It only took Atlanta six more seconds to get on the board though after Mallette went to the penalty box when Dany Heatly scored. Back at even strength four and a half minutes into the game Atlanta scored again from Karl Stewart, assisted by Heatly.
Stewart was then caught holding with Luke Sellars already in the penalty box for slashing. Block went to the bench on the delayed penalty, giving the Wild a six-on-four advantage. Stephan Veilleux scored at five forty-nine with assists from Eric Johansson and Travis Roche.
Minnesota opened the second period with two goals in the first five minutes of play. The first goal was scored a minute and sixteen seconds into the period from Chris Heid with assists from Veilleux and Nick Schultz. The second goal was put in the net five minutes into the second from Matt Dzieduszycki with assists coming from Lyle Rolling and Roche.
Atlanta scored three goals before the period ended taking away Minnesota’s lead. Jeff Dessner scored the first of three with a helper from Zdenek Blatny. Then Ilja Kolvachuck skated down to the Wild’s net and just slipped the puck between Block’s left skate and the goal post on his way past the net, putting Atlanta ahead once again.
With 33.6 seconds left in the second period Heatly cut between the face-off circles and scored his second of the night, despite the fact that the Thrashers were shorthanded. It was a quick wrist shot through Block’s five-hole.
The last of the scoring came from Atlanta’s Derek MacKenzie with eleven minutes left in the game making the final score six to three.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Nashville Predators
The Columbus Blue Jackets won their third game and improved their record to 3-0 in a three to one win over the Nashville Predators.
There was no scoring in the first period but Columbus scored two in the second. Aaron Johnston scored the first goal putting the puck behind Jure Penko, with assists going to Brian Cummings and Mizzi. Marc-Andre Binette scored the second goal with an assist from Tyler Sloan with forty-one seconds remaining in the period.
Konstantin Panov shot the puck past Pascal Leclaire eight minutes into the third period for Nashville, but they weren’t able to generate any more offense.
Columbus’ Mizzi finished out the scoring with seven minutes left in the game when he got a cross ice pass from Ryan Bowness and shot it past Penko.
