Thrashers 5, Capitals 4

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Posted 9:35AM on Monday, December 2, 2002

ATLANTA - Brendan Witt took the blame. The Washington defenseman gave up the puck in his own zone, leading to Tony Hrkac's goal with 1:04 remaining that gave the Atlanta Thrashers a 5-4 victory Sunday. ``It was a stupid turnover,'' Witt said. ``And I shouldn't have done it, especially with a minute left. That's not like me and it cost us. If I put it off the boards, they don't make the play and we most likely get the point. It's my fault we lost.'' Hrkac beat goalie Olaf Kolzig high to the short side. ``I was looking to see if anyone was with me at first,'' Hrkac said, ``Then I kind of faked the shot and (Calle) Johansson went down and I waited until Kolzig went down a little bit and I beat him short side high.'' Atlanta (7-14-1-1), last in the Southeast Division, remains six points behind the fourth-place Capitals (10-13-2). Thrashers coach Curt Fraser was more relieved than happy after his team won its second straight game, following a home victory Thursday night over the New York Rangers. ``We've been in this position so many times, where we've outplayed teams,'' he said. ``We've done a great job and in the last minute, they score. I know the feeling, what they're feeling like right now. But I welcome this, I'm telling you.'' Atlanta took a 3-2 lead into the third period, but Sergei Gonchar tied the score at 11:35 for Washington, which had a 29-20 advantage on shots. Andy Sutton put the Thrashers back ahead just 45 seconds later, but Jaromir Jagr retied it at 14:08 with his 12th goal of the season, beating goalie Byron Dafoe. Dainius Zubrus put Washington ahead at 10:43 of the first, but Pascal Rheaume tied it 33 second later. Chris Herperger put the Thrashers ahead 2-1 at 14:07, and Mike Grier retied it at 18:53. ``We should have won that game 4-2,'' Fraser said. ``Every time they were down, you saw their defense get active and we couldn't handle that. We kept giving them chances.'' Rookie Mark Hartigan scored his first career goal with 1:33 left in the second to put Atlanta ahead. Dafoe, who signed with the Thrashers on Nov. 20, has won consecutive games. ``Definitely another offensive explosion,'' Dafoe said. ``It's good to see us scoring goals. That's what I like about this team, we can score. On the other hand, we want to be a little stronger in the third period. We don't want to give them a chance to get back in the game like we did. ``It shows a lot of character for a young team, for us to come back and score against a veteran team like that to win the game.'' Notes: Thrashers D-RW Francis Lessard sat out his sixth straight game with back spasms. ... Thrashers C Marc Sevard, who strained his right groin in Montreal last Tuesday, expects to skate Monday and return to the lineup against Edmonton on Dec. 8.