European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 21 2007 stars and stripes Page 31 Johnson uses late pass to win in Atlanta reigning Champ catches Stewart with 3 laps to go by Mike Harris the associated press Hampton a two wins in the first four races dont guarantee Success Over the course of a season but Jimmie Johnson is already looking Way Down the Road were thinking championship already Johnson said sunday after winning for the second week in a Row that really the Mode anymore you have to think about Points and being in the top 12 All the time the reigning Lascar Sextel cup Cham Pion passed Tony Stewart three laps from the end at Atlanta motor Speedway and went on to take his 25th career Victory and move a Little closer to the Points Lead Johnson led 132 of the first 238 laps then the Only laps he led the rest of the Way in the 325lap event on Atlanta 15mile Oval were the last three As he and the Crew on his no 48 Chevrolet worked through some tire problems and made some key handling adjustments the 25th Victory of his cup career moved Johnson within 28 Points of current series Leader Mark Martin who plans on skipping next weeks race at Bristol and the race the following week at Martins Ville that would leave Johnson just 20 Points behind Hendrick motor sports teammate Glenn Jimmie Johnson 48 passes Tony Stewert 201 during the final laps of sundays Kabatt tools 500 at Atlanta motor Speedway in Hampton a Johnson held on to win Jeff Gordon and 17 behind Jeff Burton going into Bristol the fifth of the 26 races that will determine the 12 Drivers in the Chase for the championship after you win a championship i think it changes you a Little bit and that what you really focus on and what you want to do again and again said Johnson who won his first title in his fifth season in cup Rac ing after finishing in the top five each Previ Ous year since we came into 07 the team meet Ings and discussions everything is about trying to win another championship he added right now things Are going Good and were doing the right things but its Way too Early to get too excited Johnson who overcame a penalty in the pits at Las vegas to beat Gordon the Previ Ous week had to Chase Down and pass two time cup Champion Stewart late in sundays kobalt tools 500 Stewart appeared on the Way to his first Victory of the year after coming off pit Lane ahead of Matt Kenseth and third place Johnson after the final stops by the leaders during a caution period on Lap 311 after the Green Flag waved with 11 laps to go Johnson took just three laps to get past Kenseth then took off after Stewart in the Duel of Chevrolet Johnson caught Stewart on Lap 322 and then got his nose out ahead just past the Fin ish line As the two drove through turn two Stewart scraped the Wall All but ending his chances of Victory Johnson easily led Lap 323 and continued to pull away from Stewart going on to win by about half the front Straightaway he credited Crew chief Chad Knaus for Mak ing some key adjustments on the last pit Stop at the end when it came time to race for Check ered Chad made some great adjustments to help me on the Short run Johnson said that s the one thing i was lacking compared to the 20 at the beginning of the run he had a Little More grip and could drive a Little harder at the end i cant say that Ive driven a race car that hard before it really was challenging internally in my own head to drive that hard to Chase Tony Down and get by him that was just a great great race Stewart who overcame a Long pit Stop in the Early going when one of his crewmen dropped a lug nut led 121 laps and was Happy with second place but he want particularly Happy with Johnson i wish he had at least Given us room to race for it Stewart said but we gained some Points today and that what this team needed Johnson apologized saying he wished he had Given Stewart More room Tony had a Good run on the inside com ing off the Corner and when i heard he was coming it was just too late for me to adjust the Winner said i certainly squeezed him into the Wall and didst leave him a lot of room but it want intentional Kenseth wound up third followed by Jeff Burton and heralded Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya who barely held off Clint Bowyer to record his first top 10 and by far his Best finish in five cup starts in getting the handle of it said Mon Toya who also won a Busch series race on a Road course in Mexico City several weeks ago finished eighth in saturdays Busch race Here and got As High As third sunday before slipping a bit at the end Iii ii no met  Eastern conference a Buffalo new Jersey Atlanta Pittsburgh Ottawa Tampa Bay Carolina by rangers w l of pts of a 46 19 7 99 271 214 43 21 8 94 191 179 39 25 10 88 227 225 41 21 10 92 250 223 42 23 8 92 252 201 39 30 4 82 226 229 36 29 8 80 215 217 35 28 9 79 208 195 by islanders Toronto Montreal Boston Florida Washington Philadelphia 34 27 10 34 28 10 3631 6 3432 5 30 29 13 26 34 13 20 41 11 78 214 208 78 222 235 78 214 231 73 202 251 73 213 230 65 218 257 51 190 267 Western conference Nashville Anaheim Vancouver Detroit san Jose Dallas Minnesota Calgary w l of pts of a 47 20 6 100 249 192 43 18 12 98 236 190 43 23 6 92 195 179 45 18 9 99 228 181 44 25 4 92 222 177 43 24 5 91 194 175 42 24 7 91 209 179 37 25 10 84 231 200 Colorado St Louis Edmonton los Angeles Chicago Columbus Phoenix 3729 6 30 29 12 3035 7 25 34 14 2735 9 2837 7 2840 4 80 238 224 72 188 217 67 180 215 64 210 252 63 179 225 63 177 224 60 194 251 two Points for a win one Point for Over time loss or shootout loss division Leader excl inched playoff spot sundays games Washington 7 Tampa Bay 1 Atlanta 4 Buffalo 3 of Pittsburgh 4 Ottawa 3 so los Angeles 5 Anaheim 3 Colorado 4 san Jose 3 of Dallas 5 Phoenix 4 of mondays games Pittsburgh at by rangers Vancouver at Edmonton tuesdays games Boston at Montreal Chicago at Columbus Florida at Philadelphia new Jersey at Toronto by islanders at Tampa Bay Ottawa at St Louis Phoenix at Minnesota Detroit at Calgary wednesdays games Washington at Buffalo Philadelphia at by rangers san Jose at Chicago Colorado at Edmonton Nashville at Vancouver Dallas at los Angeles sunday capitals 7 lightning 1 Kings 5 ducks 3 Tampa Bay 0 1 01 2 3 27 Washington first period1 Washington Fleischmann 3 2 Washington Fleischmann 4 Beech second period3 Washington Semin 35 Clark 4 Washington Semin 36 5 washing ton Semin 37 Beech 6 Tampa Bay Kuba 11 Janik third period7 Washington Giroux 2 8 Washington Gordon 5 Fleischmann shots on Goa Tampa Bay 9111131 Washington 156829 Power play opportunities Tampa Bay 0 of 3 Washington 1 of 2 goalies Tampa Bay Holmqvist 23142 13 shots11 Denis 1639 first Holmqvist second Washington Krolzig 21196 a14274 los Angeles Anaheim tint period1 15 03 los Angeles Cammalleri 30 Brown 2 Anaheim Moen 10 Pahlsson Ana Heim Penner 26 Perry los Angeles Cammalleri 31 second period5 Anaheim Velanne 44 Kurtz 6 los Angeles Blake 14 Brown 7 los Angeles Osullivan 4 Frolov third period8 los Angeles Clarke 2 to missed penalty shots Elanne Ana second shots on goal los Angeles 813829 Anaheim 681327 Power play Angeles 2 of 4 ananeimoof4 Goa Eslos Angeles Burke 2 shots2 Garon first Ana Heim Giguere 3398 a17r74 Thrashers 4 sabres 3 of Avalanche 4 Sharks 3 of Buffalo 11103 Atlanta 20114 first period1 Atlanta Kovalchuk 38 Zhitnik 2 Buffalo Stafford 9 Roy 3 Atlanta Belanger 16 san lose 12003 Colorado 11114 first period1 san Jose Thornton 20 Carle i Colorado a second period4 Buffalo Vanek 35 num Minen third period5 Atlanta Zhitnik 7 have lid 4 Buffalo Roy 15 Wallinder overtime Atlanta Tkachuk 26 Kozlov shots on Goa Buffalo 14119438 at Lanta 8912231 Power play opportunities Buffalo 0 of 5 Atlanta 3 of 5 goalie Buffalo Miller 33156 31 shots27 Atlanta Lehtonen 32218 a18602 penguins 4 senators 3 so Ottawa 111 03 Pittsburgh 12004 Pittsburgh won shootout 10 first period1 Pittsburgh Talbot 11 gon Char 2 Ottawa Vermette 18 Kelly second period3 Pittsburgh Crosby 32 Whitney 4 Ottawa Al Fredston 26 Corvo 5 Pitts Burgh Whitney 11 Crosby 6 Ottawa Redden 7 spec shootout Ottawa 0 Comrie no Mcammond no Vermette Pittsburgh 1 Chris Tensen no Ruitu g Crosby shots on Goa Ottawa 1498435 Pitts Burgh 665219 Power play opportunities Ottawa 1 of 6 Pittsburgh 2 of 8 goalie Ottawa Emery 29145 19 shots16 Pittsburgh Fleury 35148 a17132 Nason 16 Clark second period3 san Jose Michalek 20 Thornton 274 san Jose Guerin 33 Vlasic 5 Colorado Liles third penod6 Colorado Brunette 25 Klee overtime7 Colorado Hejduk 30 Sakic Budaji 19 shots on goal san Jose 9105024 Colo Rado 91713140 Power play opportunities san Jose 1 of 4 Colorado 2 of 5 goalies an Jose Nabokov 19163 40 shots36 Colorado Budaj 26155 a18007 stars 5 coyotes 4 of Phoenix 121 04 Dallas 20215 first period1 Phoenix Sjostrom 8 Dallas Morrow ii 3 Dallas Hagman 17 Lehtinen Jokin second period4 Phoenix Morris 5 s Phoenix to Arnquist 5 Boynton third period6 Dallas Ribeiro 12 Nagy Dallas Zubov n Nagy i 8 Phoenix Doan 6 Reinprecht overtime9 Dallas Ribeiro 13 Boucher 4f missed third shots on Goa Phoenix 748120 Dallas 7612328 Power play opportunities Phoenix 2 of 6 Dallas 2 of 9 goalie Phoenix Hellqvist 11113 28 shots23 Dallas Smith Turco 33194 second a18318 Shodoan Pho avs stay in playoff Chase with of win the associated press the Colorado Avalanche have some momentum As they close in on a Western conference playoff spot Milan Hejduk scored 19 seconds into overtime and the Ava Lanche overcame a two goal Defi Cit to beat the san Jose Sharks 43 on sunday night and improve to 801 in their last nine games i went Down and tried to fake the shot and he went Down and i shot it Over him said Hejduk who beat Evgeni Nabokov for his 45th career Gam winning goal its a huge two Points for us it was a big game for us a big win and we need to keep it going with three weeks left in the Reg ular season the avs pulled four Points behind eight place Cal Gary and have two games remain ing with the struggling flames losers of three straight and 141 in their last six games we Are now in a Good spot where we have control Over our own destiny said Colorado Cap Tain Joe Sakic who assisted on All four goals we got Calgary twice and that four Points we just have to keep building off of this and take it into Edmonton i thought we played pretty solid in the first two periods we were Down by a couple but we still Felt Good about ourselves san Jose was headed to a fran Chis record 45th win when it Roundup took a 31 Lead on goals by Joe Thornton Milan Michalek and Bill Guerin instead the Sharks lost for the first time in eight games Thrashers 4 sabres 3 Keith Tkachuk Power play goal with 38 seconds left in overtime helped Atlanta extend its Home winning Streak to seven penguins 4 senators 3 Jarkko Ruitu had the Only goal in the shootout and Host Pittsburgh tied Ottawa for fourth place in the Eastern conference playoff race capitals 7 lightning 1 Alex Ander Semin had a natural hat trick in the second period and Tomas Fleischmann added two goals and two assists to help Host Washington win consecutive games for the first time since Jan 69 Kings 5 ducks 3 at Anaheim Calif Mike Cammalleri had two goals and Rookie Patrick Osulli Van had a goal and two assists to Lead los Angeles stars 5 coyotes 4 Mike Ribeiro scored two goals including the game Winner with 40 seconds left in overtime to help Host Dallas improve to 51 in its last six games