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Thrashers hold off Rangers, snap 3-game skid
1028THRASHERS
New York Rangers' Brandon Prust (8) collides with Atlanta Thrashers ' Tobias Enstrom (39) as Thrashers goalie Chris Mason (50) stops a shot on the goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010, in New York. - photo by The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Niclas Bergfors had a goal and an assist and the Atlanta Thrashers scored twice early in the third period before holding on for a 6-4 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Thrashers broke an 0-2-1 skid and snapped the Rangers' winning streak at three games.

Bergfors gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the second period and assisted on Dustin Byfuglien's power-play goal in the third that stretched the Thrashers' edge to three goals. Bryan Little, Evander Kane, Eric Boulton and Andrew Ladd also scored to back the goaltending of Chris Mason, who made 24 saves.

Bergfors, Little and Boulton all scored for the first time this season.

Ryan Callahan, Sean Avery, Todd White and Brian Boyle had goals for the Rangers, who started backup goalie Martin Biron over Henrik Lundqvist for the second time this season. Biron allowed only one goal on 25 shots in a win at Toronto on Oct. 21, but was touched for five goals on 25 Thrashers shots.

White, with his first goal with the Rangers, and Boyle scored 2:11 apart to bring New York to 5-4 with 9:53 remaining. Defenseman Matt Gilroy nearly tied it at 5 with 6:45 left when his shot from the left point hit Mason's glove and then the crossbar.

Ladd sealed it with an empty-net goal with 23.2 seconds left

The Rangers came out flying and seemed determined to take the fight out of the Thrashers and extend Atlanta's losing streak. New York grabbed a 1-0 lead just 38 seconds in when Callahan scored his second goal.

Despite pockets of empty seats throughout Madison Square Garden, the crowd was into the game as the Rangers kept up the pressure on Mason.

New York held a 7-1 shots advantage through the first 4:46, but then had its offense run dry.

Atlanta turned the tide and got even with 8:32 left in the first when Little scored off a pretty rush through the Rangers. Little surged into the middle of the zone, cut to his right and got around sprawling defenseman Marc Staal, and then moved to the front of the net. Little beat Biron with a slick forehand-to-backhand move to tie it at 1.

The Thrashers bounced back from their slow start and outshot the Rangers 11-3 over the final 15-plus minutes of the period. Atlanta earned the only power plays of the first, getting them back-to-back late in the frame for a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 51 seconds.

New York killed off the first half before the period ended and finished off the power play in the opening minute of the second. But the Rangers couldn't build off that momentum.

Kane gave the Thrashers their first lead when he snapped a shot from the outside edge of the right circle at 10:17 of the second. Kane, the No. 4 pick in the 2009 draft, is off to a sizzling start in his second NHL season, scoring six goals in nine games.

Rangers coach John Tortorella burned his lone timeout as Kane retrieved the puck at center ice for 19-year-old rookie teammate Alex Burmistrov, who assisted on the goal for his first NHL point.

The little breather seemed to help the Rangers a bit as they tied the game just 2:31 later when Avery turned some hard work behind the Atlanta net into a stuff-in goal at the right post.

But New York couldn't sustain the surge, even after receiving its first power play less than a minute after Avery's goal, and the Thrashers soon went on top again.

After a turnover in the Rangers' end, Bergfors raced the puck up right wing on a 2-on-1 rush. With New York defenseman Michal Rozsival cutting off the passing lane, Bergfors fired a shot over Biron's shoulder to make it 3-2 with 3:53 left in the second period.

Atlanta's lead grew to two goals 49 seconds into the third when Boulton scored his first of the season with a backhander from the slot. Byfuglien made it 5-2 at 5:01 with a power-play goal.

NOTES: Little, Kane and Bergfors were first-round draft picks. ... The Rangers haven't won four straight since Dec. 17-23, 2009. ... Mason has played in all nine Thrashers games.

Community Events
Thrashers headed to Canada after team's sale
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The wait is over for Winnipeg hockey fans.

For Atlanta, it means saying goodbye to another NHL team.

True North Sports and Entertainment scheduled a news conference Tuesday at Winnipeg's MTS Centre to make "a significant community announcement."

True North has been in negotiations with the owners of the Atlanta Thrashers to buy the NHL team and move it to Winnipeg. The deal is reportedly worth $170 million, which includes a $60 million relocation fee that would be split by the rest of the league.

Winnipeg has been without NHL hockey since the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996. The Thrashers entered the league three years later as an expansion franchise, but ownership problems, a losing team and dwindling attendance doomed the club. The team ranked 28th out of 30 teams this year with an average attendance of less than 14,000.

Assuming the deal goes through - it still must be approved by the other owners - Atlanta would become the first city in the NHL's modern era to lose two teams.
The Flames moved to Calgary in 1980 after eight seasons in Atlanta.

True North was making its announcement one day before the start of the Stanley Cup final, which begins Wednesday in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins.
While there was no prohibition on announcing major news during that series, the league preferred to get the Thrashers' sale off its plate before opening its signature event.

For weeks, the two sides had been working through complex legal details on the sale and relocation of the team, while leaving open the possibility that a local buyer would emerge late in the process. No one ever came forward with a serious offer, according to the Thrashers' ownership group, Atlanta Spirit, and the city's mayor, Kasim Reed.

"It is going to hurt the city but we will withstand it just fine and we will get through it," Reed said.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on his weekly radio show that the inability to find an owner who wanted to keep the team in Atlanta was a barrier the league couldn't overcome.

"It would be one of those head scratchers where you say, 'Look at all of this great corporate opportunity, look at all of this grass roots hockey, why doesn't somebody want to own a team here?'" Bettman said. "And that would be a difficult, but unfortunate, situation to be dealing with if it has reached, or does reach, that point."

Bettman was asked if Atlanta had hopes of landing another NHL team if it lost its second franchise.

"The prospect of leaving Atlanta isn't something that I'm particularly fond of," he said. "So I can't even contemplate the notion of what would happen after that in terms of coming back. We respect the importance of Atlanta as a city. It's a big market, but this is a franchise that's got a problem in that market."

Team president Don Waddell says there remains some hope for a late development until a sale is made official and approved by the NHL board of governors, which is scheduled to meet June 21 in New York. But considering Atlanta Spirit, which also owns the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and the operating rights to Philips Arena, has been trying for years to sell the hockey team, that seems highly unlikely.

Also, any potential owner would have to agree to become a tenant at Philips Arena, a major stumbling block because it would cut into potential revenue from sources such as concessions, parking, luxury suites and other events.

"Ownership still is committed to selling at a greatly reduced price to anyone committed to Atlanta," Waddell said.