ATLANTA 7, KINGS 0 : Kings’ goalies can’t stop Atlanta

If Ilya Kovalchuk plays this well with a injured right foot, how much better will he be when he’s 100%?

Kovalchuk hardly seems to care. The Atlanta captain knows he and the Thrashers can only improve.

“Oh, definitely,” he said. “It’s still going to take me time to heal all the way.”

Kovalchuk and Maxim Afinogenov each had two goals and two assists to help the Thrashers beat the Kings, 7-0, on Friday night for their third straight victory.

Atlanta rookie Evander Kane also scored two goals and had an assist. His fifth goal of the season made it 1-0 in the second. His sixth was a short-handed goal that ended the scoring with 3:26 left.

Kovalchuk, who returned the night before in New York from a broken foot bone that sidelined him for three weeks..

“The most important thing is we got four points in the bank,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who scores.”

The Kings, who have lost three of four, outshot Atlanta 38-21. Afinogenov and Kane each had a goal and an assist during a 5:04 stretch of the second period that included Kings goalie Jonathan Quick getting chased and major penalties and game misconducts to Atlanta’s Chris Thorburn and Los Angeles’ Raitis Ivanans.

“When it got to 4-0, everybody was frustrated,” Coach Terry Murray said. “Nobody wants to let a game get out of control. Nobody wants to get physical, but the score of the game dictates a lot of that.”

Quick stopped 11 of 14 shots. Ersberg made four saves against seven shots.

“It stunk,” Ersberg said. “I can’t do anything about it now. You can’t worry about it too long. I think we are the better team.”