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Wednesday, Oct. 25 9:00pm ET
Audette has seven-game points streak | |||||
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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The seventh try was lucky for the Atlanta Thrashers, who finally got their first win of the season. Damian Rhodes made 27 saves as the Thrashers beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 Wednesday night. "The key for us was the first period," Rhodes said after the Thrashers earned their first victory since April 2 last season, when they edged the New York Islanders 5-4. "If we have a solid first period we're usually in the game the whole way." The victory for the Thrashers (1-3-3) left Florida (0-3-2-2) as the only winless team in the league. "If you don't go out and give your best 100 percent effort, any team can beat any other team," Oilers defenseman Janne Niinimaa, said. "We've seen it happen so many times. It happened to us last year. We have to learn." Rhodes has been the goalie of record in all of Atlanta's games, playing all but 45 minutes ahead of Milan Hnilicka. Rhodes was solid all night. He denied Chad Kilger on a breakaway in the second period and gloved Ryan Smyth's wrist shot from the slot with five minutes left in the third. Per Svartvadet, Donald Audette and Jarrod Skalde, with an empty-netter, scored for the Thrashers. Doug Weight scored the lone goal for the Oilers. "We don't need to lose to a team this far below us," Weight said. "They played hard, but it's a game we had to have. I'm sure we'll remember it all year. "We got off to a great start. We had six or seven good shifts in a row. They didn't get the puck into our zone. Then they scored and our bench deflated a little bit." Svartvadet gave the Thrashers a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the first. He found his own rebound on a shot that handcuffed Edmonton goalie Joaquin Gage and his second attempt trickled over the goal line. Audette made it 2-0 with a power-play goal in the second period. Ray Ferraro, screening Gage, knocked down Steve Staios' point shot and got the puck on net. Audette pounced on the rebound and lifted a shot high into an open side. Audette, who has seven goals and seven assists, has been in on 14 of Atlanta's 20 goals this season and has recorded points in all seven games. "Today was really nice -- getting the second goal and winning the game," Audette said. "That's what I'm trying to do all the time, get the key goals." Weight made it 2-1 just 1:05 into the third. He took a pass from Georges Laraque behind the net, skated out in front and banked the puck past Rhodes off a Thrashers defenseman. "It was a lucky goal. It really wasn't even a shot on net," Rhodes said. "But I let it go right away and focused on the next save." Skalde scored into an empty net in the last minute of play. Game notesFerraro played in his 1,108th NHL game, moving into 74th on the career list ahead of Butch Goring. He's three games away from tying Lanny McDonald, Brent Sutter and Dave Taylor for 71st overall. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Atlanta Clubhouse Edmonton Clubhouse RECAPS Buffalo 4 Carolina 1
Atlanta 3
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