The Thrashers built a two-goal lead in the first period, but the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a 2-2 tie Friday night as Nikita Alexeev scored with 13:44 left in regulation.
Atlanta wanted to make up for an embarrassing loss to Washington in its previous game. The Capitals scored five first-period goals and went on to a 5-1 victory.
``We came out firing,'' Atlanta's Marc Savard said. ``We were working hard, but we had a setback in the second period. We talk about it every day. We have to play 60 minutes, sometimes 65.''
Slava Kozlov got the Thrashers rolling, scoring a goal and assisting on another. But they couldn't hold off the Lightning, who earned a point even though their winless streak stretched to five games.
``In the first period, we were kind of asleep,'' Alexeev said. ``We got a wake-up call.''
With 4:21 left in the second period, Vaclav Prospal scored on a power play to make it 2-1. Savard was in the box after being called for a trip near center ice.
``It was a bad penalty, stuff I cannot do,'' Savard said. ``It was away from the play, it meant nothing and it hurt us tonight.''
Patrik Stefan had a chance to clear at the blue line, but Brad Richards kept it in and found Prospal all alone in front of the net, having slipped behind defensemen Richard Smehlik and Frantisek Kaberle. Prospal deked Pasi Nurminen to the ice and beat him with a backhander.
The Lightning tied it up in the third with the teams skating four-on-four. Sprawled on the ice, Vincent Lecavalier swept a pass to Alexeev, who burst past Smehlik and dribbled a soft shot between Nurminen's legs.
Nurminen said he was conscious of a shot through the five-hole, but maintained that the puck deflected off someone before going in.
``It was a weird bounce,'' the goalie said. ``You've got to ready for anything, but sometimes bad bounces go in. There's not much you can do about it.''
In contrast with Wednesday's game, Atlanta dominated the opening period and went to the intermission with a 15-4 lead in shots.
Two of the shots went in. All-Star game MVP Dany Heatley banged a rebound past John Grahame, who made the initial save on Kozlov's shot but couldn't control the puck off his chest at 9:46.
Kozlov got a goal of his own at 17:43 of the first, scoring from behind the Tampa Bay net. Trying to throw the puck in front, the puck appeared to catch Grahame's stick and deflected in to make it 2-0.
``It was embarrassing there for a little bit,'' Richards said. ``We were just doing everything out of character.''
NOTES: Atlanta D Uwe Krupp played for the first time since opening night, logging 13 minutes, 44 seconds. The 37-year-old Krupp had missed 54 games while recovering from back surgery. It was only his 32nd regular-season game in five injury plagued seasons. ``I feel fine,'' Krupp said, but the Thrashers haven't decided if he'll play a back-to-back against Detroit on Saturday. D Kirill Safronov was called up from the minors to bolster the backline. ... Alexeev, a first-round pick in the 2000 entry draft, scored his second goal of the season and sixth of his career. ... Tampa Bay LW Andre Roy served the first game of a three-game suspension for shoving an official Tuesday during a game against the New York Islanders. ... The Lightning closed the shot gap over the final 45 minutes, finishing with a 35-30 deficit. ... Heatley scored his 50th career goal.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/2/183207