Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Scott Gomez scored just 18 seconds into overtime, lifting the New York Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.
Shortly after the extra session had begun, Gomez rushed up the center of the ice with Markus Naslund on the left. Despite three Atlanta defenders crowding the Thrashers end, Naslund sent a rolling shot at the net that goaltender Johan Hedberg didn't handle. The puck was loose in front of the crease and Gomez backhanded it in to end the game.
"It was just a lucky break," Gomez said. "The puck was right there."
Ryan Callahan and Colton Orr also scored for the Rangers, who snapped a two- game losing streak. Defenseman Wade Redden, who missed New York's game Sunday with a lower-body injury, returned to the ice and finished with three assists.
Stephen Valiquette made 27 saves in the win.
Ilya Kovalchuk and Joseph Crabb each scored for Atlanta, which has lost six of seven. Hedberg stopped 30 shots in the loss.
"Two games ago I told them I wanted them to play gritty, take no crap," Thrashers coach John Anderson said. "They responded to it."
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After a scoreless opening period, the Rangers cracked the scoreboard in the second frame. New York had kept the puck in the Atlanta end despite missing several shots, and Orr managed to get to a loose puck in the slot, sending it into the net at 2:37.
Almost 3 1/2 minutes later, as the Rangers made a line change, Crabb accepted a long pass and approached the goal unimpeded. After a quick fake, he tucked a shot in the right side of the net, his first NHL goal, to tie the contest.
The Rangers grabbed the lead shortly into the third period with a short-handed goal. Brandon Dubinsky fed a pass to the slot from the left side, and Hedberg poked it away from the crease. But the puck hit Callahan in the sweater and got past Hedberg as the players collided, sliding across the goal line at 1:20.
However, another quick Atlanta goal knotted the game. Just 1:29 after Callahan's tally, a blast from the right point hit Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival, sending him momentarily onto the ice. The puck deflected to the left side, and Rozsival couldn't get back in position before Kovalchuk scored to make it a 2-2 game.
"He's taken it up a notch, he's dangerous," Anderson said of Kovalchuk. "That's a positive sign for us; he wants it every time he goes out there."
Each goaltender made several saves down the stretch to preserve the score. Hedberg stacked his pads on a sliding stop with 51/2 minutes played, while Valiquette made a glove save on a Jason Williams blast through Redden's legs with 90 seconds on the clock.
