Thrashers-Lightning Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
ATL	34-40-8	19-19-3	15-21-5	15-15-2	29-35-8
TAM	31-42-9	20-18-3	11-24-6	12-17-3	27-36-9
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
207	Goals	221
266	Goals Against	266
52	Power Play Goals	57
75	Power Play Goals Allowed	56
13	Shorthanded Goals	7
10	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	7
1077	Penalty Minutes	1038
13	Average Penalty Minutes	13

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Kari Lehtonen	48	17	131	2.90	4	1429	.916
	Johan Hedberg	36	14	111	3.46	1	915	.892
	Ondrej Pavelec	7	3	18	3.11	0	172	.905
	Johan Holmqvist	45	20	124	3.01	2	1005	.890
	Karri Ramo	22	7	64	3.03	0	568	.899
	Mike Smith	13	3	36	2.79	1	302	.893
	Marc Denis	10	1	28	4.05	0	171	.859

Team Stat Leaders
G	Ilya Kovalchuk 52	Vincent Lecavalier 40
A	Ilya Kovalchuk 35	Martin St. Louis 58
PTS	Ilya Kovalchuk 87	Vincent Lecavalier 92
PIM	Eric Boulton 127	Shane O'Brien 154
SOG	Ilya Kovalchuk 283	Vincent Lecavalier 318

With the playoffs long since eliminated as a possibility, the Atlanta Thrashers have been in free fall for more than a month.

A loss on Monday would bring them to rock bottom.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to leapfrog the Thrashers and emerge from last place in the Eastern Conference when they host Atlanta in the first of two meetings between the teams in the season's final week.

The Thrashers (32-39-8) have only won three times in their last 19 games, going 3-12-4 since Feb. 16 while seeing their lead over the last-place Lightning (31-38-9) cut to just one point.

Atlanta has allowed just under four goals per game over that span, and Johan Hedberg permitted all of Carolina's goals in a 7-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Friday. The Thrashers, who had killed all 11 opponent power plays in the previous two games, allowed five man-advantage goals.

"It was one of those games that got out of hand," Thrashers coach Don Waddell said.

No matter who has been in net recently, Atlanta has struggled on defense, as opponents have scored at least three goals in nine of the last 10 games. Since Feb. 16, starting goalie Kari Lehtonen is 2-8-3 with a 3.71 GAA.

Defense has been the area where the Lightning have seen the biggest improvement this season. That's been evident over the past three games, as Tampa Bay has gone 2-0-1 and allowed just six goals.

Karri Ramo stopped a career-high 38 shots in Saturday's 2-1 win over the Hurricanes, and forward Jeff Halpern scored the game-winner 5:43 into the third period.

"I think this team has shown a lot of character," said Halpern, who came to the Lightning in the trade that sent Brad Richards to Dallas last month. "We're not playing for the same thing the playoff teams are playing for, but it's a tribute to the guys who have been here who have pride in the organization."

Tampa Bay has played one fewer game than Atlanta, meaning a win over the Thrashers would give the Lightning the inside track to avoid finishing the season in last place. Each of these teams qualified for the playoffs in 2006-07.

The Thrashers have won four straight against the Lightning after dropping the first two meetings of the season, but two of the last three have gone to overtime. Atlanta -- which had lost five straight at the St. Pete Times Forum until a 6-4 win on Nov. 3 -- won 2-1 in overtime at home in the most recent meeting on Feb. 9.

The teams' leading scorers -- Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk and Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier -- each have no goals and one assist in their last four games. But Kovalchuk has six goals and three assists and Lecavalier has four goals and six assists in six games in the series this season.

The teams close the season against each other in Atlanta on Saturday.