Thrashers sweep Flyers for weekend, season

ONCE UPON a time, as in last year, the Flyers used to own the Atlanta Thrashers.

They were another struggling expansion franchise in the South that couldn't make the playoffs, much less sell tickets on a consistent basis.

The Flyers were an astounding 15-0-1 against the Thrashers in the last four seasons. Atlanta had only beaten the Flyers once in the Wachovia Center.

It would be pure ignorance to think that the Flyers didn't know that - before being swept, four games to none, in the season series, thanks to last night's mind-boggling, 3-1 home loss. This one was too predictable.

"I don't know if we thought just because it was the Atlanta Thrashers that it was going to be easy games," captain Mike Richards said of the Thrashers' weekend, home-and-home sweep. "But they came and worked us hard."

Last night, the Flyers threw a season-high 85 total pucks at or around Atlanta's net - 45 shots on goal, 22 attempts blocked and 18 missed nets - and couldn't do better than Richards' third-period tally that cut the Thrashers' lead to 2-1 with 8:04 left.

What makes Atlanta's weekend sweep more alarming is the fact that the Thrashers are one of the teams nipping at their heels in the Eastern Conference. Never mind that Atlanta no longer has scoring sensation Ilya Kovalchuk.

After their third loss in five games, the Flyers are tied for fifth in the East with Ottawa and Montreal at 79 points. They are at the Senators tomorrow night.

Atlanta, meanwhile, moved within one point of the eighth and final playoff spot and is now just four points behind the Flyers - a far cry from the eight-point cushion the Flyers held on Saturday morning.

The Flyers were beaten from the drop of the puck against a team that had defeated them 24 hours earlier in Georgia. It took the Thrashers pressure just 2:04 to produce a goal when Ron Hainsey's shot from the point beat Brian Boucher.

"Starts are important," defenseman Chris Pronger said. "They set the tone for the entire game. You can't get down like that. Our start wasn't good enough. The first 5 minutes, they get a quick couple of goals, and you're chasing from behind again.

"When you're down 2-0, you allow them to sit back and allow them to pick and choose when they want to play offense."

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was at a loss for words regarding his team's start.

"We knew that we would have to play tighter defensively," Laviolette said. "They're a desperate hockey team and they played that way."

Laviolette was forced to call a timeout midway through the first period when Todd White scored on a soft goal, a shot through Boucher's five hole from the top of the circle on a two-on-one rush.

"We've found a way to lose,'' Pronger said. "Everyone is a week away from slipping in or slipping out of the playoffs. Our week, thus far, has not been very good.

"They're a team that has nothing to lose. We've got to let this one soak in and realize what we just let go."

It looked like the Flyers - who outchanced Atlanta, 25-11, through the first two periods - may have been on their way to another two-goal, third-period comeback when Richards' one-timer finally beat Ondrej Pavelec.

This time, there would be no late-game heroics. Rich Peverley made sure of that with a wrister that fooled Boucher on his near side, clearing out the Wachovia Center with 3:07 left.

Peverley's shot put the stamp on who owns whom this season.

"They're a team we knew was going to be desperate," Boucher said. "They're fighting for their playoff lives and they're right back in it now. It's going to be a dogfight the rest of the way."

By continuing this tailspin, with just 10 games to play, it could be the ugliest dogfight this franchise has ever seen.

The Flyers are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games . . . Simon Gagne and Darroll Powe combined for 13 of the Flyers' 45 shots on goal . . . Braydon Coburn, Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell each finished as a minus-2 . . . Atlanta defenseman Ron Hainsey factored into all three Thrasher goals with a goal and two assists . . . Mike Richards had a game-high six hits . . . The Flyers won nearly 60 percent of the game's 59 faceoffs . . . Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play . . . Former Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki, now with Tampa Bay, was 14-0-0 against Atlanta. He has three more wins against the Thrashers this season.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.