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Thrashers fall to Vancouver
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ATLANTA — Atlanta’s Eric Perrin delivered an unintentional assist on Alex Burrows’ game-winning goal for Vancouver, and Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen was left with a painful mark on his chest as evidence.

Burrows’ goal midway through the third period completed a rare third-period rally for Vancouver and the Canucks ended a frustrating four-game road trip by beating Atlanta 2-1 on Thursday night.

Burrows’ goal 11:14 into the third period came after contact between teammate Ryan Kesler and Perrin in front of the net. Perrin’s stick hit Lehtonen below his right collarbone, knocking the goalie off his feet. Lehtonen was sitting on his backside in front of the net and was unable to defend Burrows’ shot.

After the game, Lehtonen showed a 6-inch red streak on his upper chest.

"Perrin’s stick hit me right here," Lehtonen said, pointing to the mark. "That’s why I went on my butt. I couldn’t get up fast enough.

"I was complaining a lot because I thought it was their player’s stick, but I was wrong. Sometimes things like that happen."

Daniel Sedin scored on a power play for Vancouver early in the third period after a second-period goal by Pascal Dupuis gave the Thrashers a 1-0 lead.

The Canucks had been 1-19-1 this season when trailing after two periods.

Vancouver ended a streak of four straight losses by one goal, including three on its road trip to Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas.

"We really wanted to find a way to win tonight," Burrows said. "After that second period we got together and played a really strong third period."

Roberto Luongo stopped 27 shots for Vancouver.

The Thrashers dropped their second straight game at home.

"It’s bad to lose two in a row, especially when we’re in both games," Lehtonen said. "It’s the time of year when we really have to get the points, and it’s terrible that we didn’t."

Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk was shut out on six shots.

"Our number one priority was to shut him down and try to get under his skin," Burrows said. "... I think just going at him is part of my game."

Said Luongo of Kovalchuk: "Obviously, he is a big part of their team. We put a lot of focus on him. We didn’t want to give him much room."

Dupuis scored 7:58 into the second period after Luongo stopped Tobias Enstrom’s shot from the left circle. The deflection off Luongo’s pads set up the follow shot by Dupuis for the 1-0 lead.

Sedin’s tip-in goal 6:32 into the third period tied the game at 1-1. Sedin deflected a long shot by Mattias Ohlund from beyond the left circle.

Ohlund returned to the team after leaving the road trip to attend to a family matter in Vancouver.

"Mattias had to go home for a family medical reason, and for him to take the red-eye last night to come here and play says so much about that individual and how much he cares about his teammates," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "I think that was a huge lift for us."

Vancouver’s Jeff Cowan and Atlanta’s Eric Boulton drew 5-minute penalties for fighting 6:18 into the game, setting the pace for a physical period.

Kovalchuk was involved in a brief skirmish midway through the period and then lost his helmet when he was knocked into the boards by Byron Ritchie with about 4 minutes left in the period.

Todd White was one of a group of Atlanta players who responded to the hit on Kovalchuk. Ritchie earned 2-minute minors for interference and roughing and White drew a 2-minute penalty for roughing.

There was more physical play in the first 20 minutes. Garnet Exelby was sent sprawling with a hard check from Matt Cooke, and Exelby immediately answered with two crowd-pleasing checks against different players before drawing a 2-minute minor for interference.

Atlanta’s Chris Thorburn and Vancouver’s Nathan McIver earned another set of 5-minute fighting penalties for their brawl 9:45 into the third period.

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.