Ducks Enforce Their Will

This is all you need to know about the Atlanta Thrashers: Kevin Sawyer put three pucks in the net Sunday night, and one even counted.

Sawyer, the Ducks’ enforcer, had a rare moment in the offensive spotlight in a 5-1 Mighty Duck victory in front of an announced crowd of 10,932 at the Philips Center. He lost one goal on a quick whistle, then had one taken away in the third period after he batted in the puck with a blatantly high stick. But his second-period, come-from-behind-the-net wrist shot counted.

“In my mind, they all counted tonight,” Sawyer said. “I’ll take that hat trick.”

Sawyer was happy to point out that he did once score a hat trick while playing for Worcester of the American Hockey League. He was even happier to talk about the significance of the Duck victory.

“These kind of games you worry about,” Sawyer said. “You don’t want to take anyone lightly. Good teams don’t let that happen.”

And that may be all anyone needs to say about the Ducks.

They have been a good team during their last 10 games, with a 6-1-1-2 record. They are off to the best start in franchise history with 21 points in 19 games, which made Sunday’s game against the lowly Thrashers a key one.

Atlanta had won four of its last six, but has the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference. The Ducks have certainly stumbled over such teams in similar situations before.

“This was a dangerous game for us,” Patric Kjellberg said. “That’s nothing against Atlanta. But we had to have the confidence to come in here and get the job done.”

After a slow start, the Ducks used group therapy to get out of their funk, getting points from 11 players. Steve Rucchin and Paul Kariya each had two assists. Kjellberg, Stanislav Chistov, Niclas Havelid and Petr Sykora scored goals

“In this game, you can’t do it alone anymore,” said Sykora, who has seven points in the last eight games. “If you want to be successful, you have to do it as a group.”

That included Sawyer, who has 74 penalty minutes this season, but took a break from his normal duties.

He jammed the puck from under Thrasher goalie Milan Hnilicka just after the whistle blew in the first period. In the third period, he reached high to bat the puck into the net; the goal was waved off.

“Hey, if the puck is within reach of a stick, a goal scorer will get it,” Sawyer said. “I’m kidding. Actually, I was a little embarrassed by that. I wanted to go back to the bench and hide my head.”

The one that counted, though, was worth the bear-hug celebration that followed, which included Sawyer’s brief jig with Kariya.

Mike Brown, the Ducks’ other tough guy, brought the puck into the Thrasher zone and sent it behind the net. Sawyer took it, spun and came from behind the net. He waited, then fired a wrist shot off Hnilicka’s glove into the net.

“That was nice, not just jam a shot into the net,” said Sawyer, whose only other NHL goal was against the New York Rangers on Nov. 25 last season. “I got a chance to come out and set up a shot.”

The goal gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead and breathing room 6:58 into the second period.

“We definitely wanted to take two points out of this one,” Rucchin said. “This was a big step for us.”

It looked like a misstep at first.

The Thrashers had a 9-2 edge in shots on goal 8 minutes 11 seconds into the game. That included Vyacheslav Kozlov’s power-play goal after an unusual bounce off the boards behind the net at 4:56.

But Chistov got the Ducks even by knocking in a rebound 17 minutes into the first period.

Kjellberg put the Ducks ahead 27 seconds into the second period.

After Rucchin forced a turnover, Kjellberg was alone with the puck in front of the net. His wrist shot gave the Ducks a 2-1 lead.