Not the best ice conditions for the game today, with pucks bouncing and players stumbling, but the lack of solid passing isn’t entirely the ice’s fault. Neither is the lack of effectiveness on the penalty kill.
Zac Dalpe drove the net and accepted a perfect pass from Patrick Dwyer for the Canes’ second goal of the game. The pass forced Pavelec to turn from Dwyer to Dalpe, who was on his opposite side, and he couldn’t turn fast enough.
About two minutes later, with Bryan Little in the box for a questionable holding penalty, Jeff Skinner scored a perfect powerplay goal. He was at the playoff dot to Pavelec’s left and took a perfect pass from Joe Corvo. Corvo recovered the blocked shot, passed it to Skinner, and Skinner had a completely wide-open net to fire the puck into.
Atlanta got one of those goals back after a Carolina goal was waived off and a penalty was assessed on Eric Cole for interference. On the ensuing powerplay, Andrew Ladd slid the puck to Niclas Bergfors, who wristed the puck past Peters’ glove side. This was Bergfors’ ninth goal of the season, and he is on a bit of a point streak, with two goals and two assists in the past four games.
The Thrashers ended the period on a penalty kill, with Enstrom going off for a holding penalty. Hopefully this will be an effective penalty kill and the Thrashers can carry some momentum to close out the game in the third.