PITTSBURGH Thrashers break out of slump, stop Penguins

Marc Savard had a goal and four assists for Atlanta.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Marc Savard had a goal and four assists and Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov each had two goals as the Atlanta Thrashers broke out of their offensive slump in a 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night.
Savard established a career high for points in a game. Kovalchuk added three assists while breaking out of an eight-game goal drought and tying Columbus' Rick Nash for the NHL goal-scoring lead with 20. Kovalchuk's five points also matched his career high.
Kozlov also had two assists as the Thrashers won for the first time since beating Pittsburgh 6-3 Dec. 12.
Different story
The NHL's second-highest scoring team had been shut out in a team record three consecutive games, but Ronald Petrovicky scored eight seconds after the opening faceoff and Atlanta added three more goals in the opening 30 minutes.
Savard, who assisted on the first three goals, scored his 15th of the season at 1:25 of the third. He has figured in on 10 of Atlanta's 16 goals against Pittsburgh this season.
Kovalchuk sent a wrist shot from the edge of the circle past goaltender Sebastien Caron at 10:31 of the second for a 4-1 lead.
After goals by Milan Kraft and Martin Strbak 3:11 apart cut the margin to 4-3, Kovalchuk whipped a wrist shot past Caron from the right circle with 1:22 left in the second.
Pittsburgh also got goals from Rico Fata and Ryan Malone.
Petrovicky's eighth goal came off a pass from Kozlov on a two-on-one break and was the Thrashers' first goal in 182:32. It was the earliest goal from the start of the game in Atlanta history, and the quickest by a Pittsburgh opponent.
Notes
Atlanta F Serge Aubin fell awkwardly into the right wing boards late in the second period and left with concussion-like symptoms. Thrashers' D Tomas Kloucek also left in the first period with a bruised right shoulder. ... Saturday's game began a 10-game stretch in which Atlanta plays seven times on the road. ... Savard has points in 18 of his 25 games this season. ... The promotional game featured a talking bobblehead doll of longtime Penguins' announcer Mike Lange, and the Penguins drew 13,683, their third-largest crowd this season.