European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 44 stars and stripes sunday april 8 2007 Thrashers Clinch division Crown Atlanta rips Carolina enters playoffs As Southeast the associated press Raleigh a play off spot now a division title the Atlanta Thrashers have never had a week like this Hya Kovalchuk was among four Thrashers to score and Johan Hedberg was solid in net in fridays 41 win Over the Carolina hurricanes that helped give at Lanta its first division Crown Pascal Dupuis Marian Hossa and Eric Belanger also scored goals for the Thrashers who clinched the Southeast division with Tampa Bays 72 Home loss to Florida later Friday earlier this week Atlanta which entered the league in the 19992000 season earned its first trip to the postseason thais Why were All Here Kovalchuk said the regular sea son is Good but i personally have never played in the playoffs i was waiting for that and finally were there coach Bob Hartley had told his team to treat the Carolina game like a game 7 his team responded by jumping to a 20 Lead mid Way through the first period and playing a solid Allaround game from Start to finish told them we were in that kind of situation and i think All of our Guys deserve lots of credit Hartley said we played a solid first period we got the Lead and then we built on it we played Sim ple we played a very effective game it was clearly an upgrade Over wednesday nights frustrating 32 loss to Washington which was at the Bottom of the division now Atlanta has won three of four heading into the regular season finale against Tampa Bay on Satur Day we just want to keep rolling playing a Good game and making sure we keep everyone healthy Hartley said Kovalchuk and Dupuis got the Thrashers ahead Early and hed Berg was solid in making 32 saves and helping to Mil two Long 5on3s for Carolina we wanted to win the division and put ourselves in position to have Home advantage in the first round Hedberg said we had a Good Chance in Washington to Al most put it away but we fumbled that one away tonight we had a lot of determination we wanted to come out with a better Effort it All came at the expense of a team that wont get the Chance to defend its Stanley cup title the hurricanes have lost five of six games and were eliminated from the playoff race earlier this week making them just the third de fending Champ to miss the Post season Anson Carter scored his first goal with Carolina but the Hurri canes went lfor7 on the Power play to continue their season Long struggles with the Man advantage the Thrashers pushed their Lead to 30 on Tossas third Peri of score then iced it with a score from was traded from Carolina to Nashville and was immediately dealt to Atlanta in february excuses Are for losers Ive Al ways Felt like that Winger Justin Williams said you make your own Breaks in the game this year it has been More difficult than past ones it happens and we have to work through it and next year will be different Gerry Atlanta Eric Belanger left and Vyacheslav Kozlov celebrate be Langers goal against Carolina during fridays game in Raleigh no Tampa la oui Jokinen had a goal and an assist and Ville Peltonen set up three goals for Florida the panthers chased lightning goalie Johan Holmqvist with four goals in their first 12 shots Nathan Horton Noah Welch David Booth and Jay Bouw Meester scored in the first period while panthers goalie de Belfour faced Only three shots at the other end Janis sprukts and Jokinen extended the Lead to 60 through two periods and Kamil Kreps made it 70 Early in the third Jason Ward spoiled the shutout with to go and Nick tar Nasky scored 45 seconds later panthers 7 lightning 2 at stars 2 ducks 1 at dal Las Vladislav Nagy converted in the fourth round of the shootout and Dallas kept Anaheim from clinching its first Pacific division title the ducks loss gave Detroit the top seed in the West however with the Point for the overtime loss the firs place ducks eliminated the stars from title Conten Tion in the Pacific division Anaheim improved to 108 Points two better than Sec on place san Jose and three ahead of Dallas All three teams have one game remaining Teemu Velanne gave the ducks a 10 Lead late in the second period with his 46th goal Dallas tied it with 61 seconds left in Regula Tion on Brenden morrows 15th goal sabres franchise bounces Back from lowest Point sabres from Back Page returning with their Core intact this season the sabres picked up where they left off by winning their first 10 games to match an nil record and became Only the fourth team in league history to win 20 of its first 25 there a confident group led by coca gains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere and Fea Ture a balanced offensive attack that has produced a league leading four 30goalscorers then theres Miller who has won 38 games to match a franchise record what s remarkable is How the sabres have bounced Back after enduring their Low Point in january 2003 that s when the the owner less team declared bankruptcy before Gol Isano stepped in and rescued the franchise the sabres Are projected to enjoy a second straight profitable year even though the teams payroll ballooned to million about million Over last year i  use the word shocked said Daniel Dipofi the sabres chief operating officer i would say that if s really exceeded what our expectations of growth were Donoheu Payap Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller has matched a franchise record winning 38 games this year profits aside Golisano senses the deeper Impact the sabres have made on the Community theres no question that some parts of up state new York and Buffalo is included in that has had an inferiority Complex for a while Golisano said and to have this team emerge like it has has been very very Good for the psyche of the area even Drew Celestino is a believer Well for the most part a sabres fan Celestino launched a web site last summer to protest the sabres new logo a swoosh of a Buffalo head that detractors say resembles a flying slug Celestino prefers the teams original logo a running Buffalo above two crossed swords Hes not convinced the new logo has raised the sabres popularity if the logo were a Pink Bunny it woul Dve sold millions just like the current logo Celes Tino said i dont buy into the whole notion that people Are just so Tungho in love with the logo there in love with the team and i certainly understand that and that5s great Celestino Doest own anything with the new logo on it but remains a diehard fan and would grudgingly make one exception seeing the new logo on a Stanley cup Banner i could certainly live with it Celestino said i bleed Blue and Gold just because i dont like the logo Doest mean in not enjoy ing every single second of this season join the crowd nil scoreboard Eastern conference Yob Ufracio new Jersey Atlanta Ottawa Pittsburgh any rangers Tampa Bay Montreal w lot is 52 21 7 111 49 24 8 106 42 28 11 95 47 25 9 103 46 24 11 103 42 29 10 94 4433 4 92 4233 6 90 of a 303238 214198 243 243 282219 275 245 241 214 251258 240250 Toronto by islanders Carolina Florida Boston Washington Philadelphia 3931 11 3830 12 3934 8 35 31 15 3540 6 28 39 14 21 47 12 89252264 88 241 236 86 236 249 85 243 252 76 216 283 70 235 284 54 208 295 Western conference Detroit a Anaheim a Vancouver Nashville san Jose Dallas Minnesota Calgary w l of pts of a 49 19 13 111 247 197 47 20 14 108 254 205 4825 5023 5126 4925 47 26 7 103 217 195 8 108 268 210 4 106 255 195 7 105 223 195 8 102 230 190 43 27 10 96 253 217 Colorado St Louis Columbus Chicago Edmonton los Angeles Phoenix 4330 7 93264244 34 34 13 81 213 249 33 41 7 73 198 245 31 40 9 71 197 248 3143 7 69192246 264114 66224281 3045 5 65211280 two Points for a win one Point for Over time loss or shootout loss division Leader a clenched playoff spot clinched division ocl inched conference thursdays games Buffalo 4 Boston 2 new Jersey 3 Philadelphia 2 by rangers 3 Montreal 1 Columbus 2 Dallas 1 of Pittsburgh 3 Ottawa 2 by islanders 5 Toronto 2 Nashville 4 St Louis 1 Minnesota 3 Edmonton 0 Chicago 3 Detroit 2 so Colorado 3 Vancouver 1 Phoenix 3 los Angeles 2 san Jose 4 Calgary 3 fridays games Atlanta 4 Carolina 1 Florida 7tampa Bay 2 Dallas 2 Anaheim i so saturdays games Chicago at Detroit Buffalo at Washington by islanders at Philadelphia Vancouver at san Jose Phoenix at los Angeles Ottawa at Boston Florida at Carolina Anaheim at Columbus Tampa Bay at Atlanta Montreal at Toronto by rangers at Pittsburgh St Louis at Minnesota Nashville at Colorado Edmonton at Calgary sundays games Chicago at Dallas Buffalo at Philadelphia by islanders at new Jersey Vancouver at Phoenix Calgary at Colorado endow regular season Friday Thrashers 4 hurricanes 1 Atlanta 2 0 24 Carolina 00 11 first period Atlanta Kovalchuk 41 Tkachuk Atlanta Dupuis 14 Lars third period3 Atlanta Hossa 43 be 594 Carolina Carter 11 Stillman 235 5 Atlanta Belanger 17 Sut ton shots on goal Tianta 9ll82a Carolina 881733 Power play opportunities Atlanta 0 of 5 Carolina lot 7 goalie Atlanta Hedberg 942 33 shots32 Carolina Ward 30216 a17158 panthers 7 lightning 2 Florida 4217 Tampa Bay 00 22 first penod1 Florida Horton 31 Bouw Meester Florida Welch 2 Van Florida Booth Florida Bouwmeester 11 Peltonen Jokin second period5 Florida sprukts 1 Van 6 Florida Jokinen 38 Peltonen third period7 Florida Kreps 1 8 Tampa Bay Ward 8 Perrin 9 Tampa Bay Tarnasky 5 Pratt shots on Goa Florida 1413532 Tampa Bay 371222 Power play opportunities Florida 1 of 2 Tampa Bay 0 of 0 goalie Florida Belfour 271710 22 shots20 Tampa Bay Holmqvist 27152 Denis first a21002 stars 2 ducks 1 so Anaheim 010 01 Dallas 001 02 Dallas won shootout 10 second period Anaheim Velanne 46 Mcdonald third penod2 Dallas Morrow 15 0 Mcdonald no get Olaf no Velanne no Perry Dallas 1 Joki Nen no Zubov no Modano no Nagy shots on Goa Anaheim 675422 dal Las 6157230 Power play opportunities Anaheim 0 of 3 Dallas oof 5 goalie Anaheim Bry Galov 986 30 shots29 Dallas Turco 37205 a18584 t238