Thrashers end 5-game slide with 3-2 win over Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. - Mark Recchi scored with 6:13 left in the third period to help the Atlanta Thrashers snap a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.

The loss damaged the Panthers' playoff hopes. Florida has 81 points with four games remaining. Boston, which beat Toronto on Thursday, and Philadelphia are tied for the last two playoff spots with 88 points.

Nathan Horton and Radek Dvorak scored for Florida, which lost its second in a row after going 8-0-1 in its previous nine games.

Florida was 0-for-7 on the power play, while Atlanta was 0-for-4.
Bobby Holik scored twice for Atlanta, including an empty-netter in the final minute.

Dvorak scored with 1.9 seconds left.

The Thrashers, who won for only the third time in their past 18 games, already have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Atlanta's Kari Lehtonen stopped 42 shots.

Tomas Vokoun made 26 saves for Florida.

Recchi's goal, his first since Feb. 23, came after Bryan Little poked the puck away from defenseman Karlis Skrastins deep in the Florida zone. Little grabbed the loose puck behind the net and centered a pass to Recchi, who one-timed it in from the front of the crease.

The teams were tied at 1 going into the third period before Horton missed a great opportunity to give Florida the lead.

After taking a cross-ice pass from Olli Jokinen on a power play, Horton missed a wide-open net when his wrist shot grazed off the near post.

Atlanta's Eric Perrin had a breakaway later in the third period, but his backhand from a sharp angle went wide across the net.

Horton didn't miss when he had a breakaway at 9:46 of the second period. His backhand off a deke beat Lehtonen to tie the game.

Holik gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead with 7.2 seconds left in the first period when he put in the rebound off Ilya Kovalchuk's turnaround slap shot.
Florida dominated that period, taking advantage of four power plays to fire off 13 consecutive shots at one point.

Notes: Atlanta C Erik Christensen missed his fourth consecutive game because of a knee injury. ... Florida leads the season series 4-3, with the last meeting scheduled for Tuesday in Atlanta. The Thrashers have won the season series the past three years. ... This was Atlanta's first game since last Friday.