ATLANTA (AP) -- Once again, Atlanta took a three-goal lead into the final period against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This time, the Thrashers didn't blow it.

Kevin Dean scored the first short-handed goal in Thrashers history, Damian Rhodes turned away 25 shots and Atlanta defeated the Lightning 4-1 Wednesday night.

The victory came 2½ weeks after the Thrashers went to the third period in Tampa with a 4-1 lead, only to give up three goals and settle for a 4-4 tie.

"We're back to the drawing board again," coach Steve Ludzik said. "One step up, one step back."

Andrew Brunette, the Thrashers' top goal scorer, knocked in his seventh of the season to even the score at the 7-minute mark of the first, and the Thrashers went on to score two more goals before the period was over for a 3-1 lead.

"We knew Andrew had a great set of hands on him and right now he's been given a great opportunity," Gord Murphy said. "He's great with the puck and he's really gotten a lot of big goals for us."

Ray Ferraro put Atlanta ahead for good at 12:27 when he knocked in a rebound on a shot from the blue line while Vincent Lecavalier was serving a double-minor penalty for attempting to spear. It was the second goal of the season for Ferraro but would be the only conversion of 10 power-play chances by the Thrashers.

"We talked about trying to get the puck to the net and clearing out traffic in front of the net," Ferraro said. "Andrew Brunette made a good play and got it back to the point."

With just 5.4 seconds left in the period, the Thrashers took advantage when Murphy fired a shot that deflected off the stick of Tampa Bay defenseman Bill Houlder in front of the net and landed right on the stick of Atlanta's Per Svartvadet.

He knocked the shot past Tampa Bay goaltender Dan Cloutier for his second goal. Cloutier was replaced by Kevin Hodson at the end of the period, having surrendered the three goals on just eight shots.

Dean gave the Thrashers some breathing room at 19:17 of the second period by finishing off a short-handed two-on-one break with Nelson Emerson. Hodson made a kick save on Emerson's initial shot, but the rebound went right to Dean for the easy goal, his first.

"Five-on-five, we didn't have a problem," Ludzik said. "But that's not hockey. Hockey is a game of odd-man situations."

Lecavalier scored Tampa Bay's only goal at 5:38 of the opening period while Eric Bertrand and Patrik Stefan were serving penalties. Rhodes stopped a couple of shots before Lecavalier buried the third attempt for his fifth of the year.

Rhodes turned away the rest of Tampa Bay's 26 shots to improve his record to 3-4-2.

Stefan returned to the Atlanta lineup after sitting out the Ottawa game with a cut on his ear. The center had only one shot in nearly 17 minutes of ice time.