Thrashers 5, Senators 4 (SO)
Captain Andrew Ladd scored in the fourth round of the shootout and Chris Mason denied all comers in the extra session as the Atlanta Thrashers skated to a 5-4 home triumph over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Ben Maxwell and Blake Wheeler collected a goal and an assist apiece and Bryan Little and defenseman Mark Stuart also tallied for Atlanta (32-31-12), which posted just its 10th win in 32 contests. The Thrashers are still holding on to their slim postseason chances. They are nine points behind the eighth-place Buffalo Sabres (38-28-9).
Ladd wired a shot past the stick side of Craig Anderson for the only tally in the shootout.
Mason finished with 24 saves to record just his second career victory over the Senators. The netminder denied All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Marek Svatos and Ryan Shannon in the shootout.
After the teams traded first-period tallies, Little gave Atlanta the lead midway through the second period with his third goal in five games. Little now has 17 goals on the season, which is not too shabby considering he failed to score in a 17-game stretch.
Maxwell doubled the advantage just 19 seconds later for his first career NHL goal. The 22-year-old British Columbia native also collected his first career assist when he set up Stuart at 2:08 of the third period.
Svatos tallied twice, rookie Erik Condra collected his second goal in as many contests and Nick Foligno also tallied for Ottawa (29-37-10), which fell for just the second time in six games.
Anderson turned aside 43 shots to drop to 5-1-2 in his career against the Thrashers.