Lehtonen, who got his first shutout this season and eighth in his career, lost his first four decisions before being placed on injured reserve with a groin injury. He missed 16 games, dating to Oct. 18, before being recalled from AHL Chicago earlier Saturday.
Eric Boulton, Marian Hossa, and Vyacheslav Kozlov also scored for Atlanta, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Wade Dubielewicz made just his second start in net for the Islanders and stopped 26 shots. Dubielewicz, subbing for Rick DiPietro who had made 18 straight starts, gave up seven goals to Toronto on Oct. 11 in his only other starting assignment. Both outings came after the Islanders played the rival New York Rangers.
The Islanders' offense continued to struggle. New York hasn't scored more than two non-shootout goals in 12 games and are 5-6-1 in that span. The Islanders have scored at least three goals only eight times.
It only took Kovalchuk 34 seconds to score his league-leading 21st goal and give the Thrashers the lead. He moved down the left boards, around defenseman Radek Martinek, and sent a shot from the left circle past Dubielewicz.
Atlanta then scored twice in a 50-second span to go up 3-0.
Boulton got his first of the season on an uncovered rebound of Jim Slater's shot at 6:12. At 7:02, Hossa beat Dubielewicz on a break-in with a wrist shot high to the blocker side.
The Islanders didn't register their first shot on Lehtonen until over seven minutes had been played.
Kozlov capitalized on New York's poor clearing attempt when he ripped a shot past Dubielewicz with 13 seconds left in the period.
Halfway through the second, the Islanders were being outshot 6-1. Dubielewicz kept the deficit at four when he stopped Hossa on a breakaway with a right pad save at the midway point.
The Islanders came close to breaking Lehtonen's shutout bid with 9:30 left during a power play, but Marc-Andre Bergeron's shot from the right point hit the left post.
NOTES: Islanders C Shawn Bates, who made his season debut Wednesday after being out since January with abdominal injuries, sat out due to a sore hip. ... New York has three power-play goals in 43 chances. ... Thrashers general manager Don Waddell is 12-7 since taking over as coach for the fired Bob Hartley. ... Lehtonen won his two AHL starts, posting a 1.93 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. ... New York is 11-3 against the Eastern Conference's playoff teams from last season. The Thrashers are the only team the Islanders have yet to beat this season.
Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen makes a save
http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/12/204529