Thrashers stop Penguins 4-3 in shootout

Slava Kozlov and Marian Hossa scored in a shootout for the second straight game to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

Sidney Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer, forced overtime with 15.3 seconds remaining with a tap-in from the near right side. In the shootout, Atlanta goaltender Kari Lehtonen first stopped Erik Christensen before holding off Crosby's attempt to beat him on the stick side.

Crosby's extended his scoring streak to 10 games with his 17th goal. The second-year star, a former No. 1 overall draft pick, has seven goals and 15 assists during the streak.

Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists for Atlanta, which has won two straight after ending a five-game losing skid with a shootout victory at New Jersey on Tuesday.

Kovalchuk's 19th goal, his ninth on the power play, came at the 6:32 mark of the second period to give the Thrashers a 2-0 lead.

Kozlov's 12th goal, which gave the Thrashers a 3-1 lead 18:03 into the second period, came 1:27 after rookie Jordan Staal scored his NHL-leading fifth shorthanded goal.

Pittsburgh, which took an overtime victory in Atlanta on Dec. 9, dropped to 19-7-0 against the Thrashers, 10-4 at Philips Arena.

Staal's unassisted goal came after he stole Braydon Coburn's pass from Atlanta's right circle. He easily beat Lehtonen, who had no chance to move to his right and stop the puck.

Lehtonen stopped 36 shots to improve to 15-7-6. Jocelyn Thibault had 29 saves and fell to 1-5-1 for the Penguins.

Each goalie faced two skaters in the shootout.

Niko Kapanen's fourth goal opened the scoring at the 1:36 mark of the first.