Antti Miettinen scored two third-period goals to help the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night. Marian Gaborik and Andrew Brunette also scored for Minnesota. Ilya Kovalchuk, whose 255 career goals lead the NHL since his rookie season of 2001-02, scored his first goal of the season for Atlanta, which also got a goal from Bryan Little. The Thrashers were outscored 3-1 in the third period. Miettinen put the Wild up by two with 10:19 remaining when he lifted the puck over the right shoulder of goaltender Kari Lehtonen on a breakaway. Atlanta cut the lead to 3-2 on Little's team-leading third goal with 4:40 to play, but Miettinen and Brunette worked a give-and-go to end the scoring with 2:40 remaining. Gaborik, coming off a career season that included 42 goals, 41 assists and 83 points, continued to dominate Atlanta, scoring his eighth point (five goals) in six games against the Thrashers. He stole the puck from behind Mathieu Schneider in the slot for an unassisted goal 2:44 into the third. Brunette, who finished with two assists, made it 1-0 on the power play 15:31 into the first period. Skating through the right circle, Brunette took Mikko Koivu's pass from across the crease and tapped the puck past Lehtonen. |