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  Friday, Dec. 17 7:30pm ET
Dafoe gets 100th win; Thrashers lose 6th straight
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Boston Bruins needed a win, and Anson Carter helped make it happen early.

Denny Lambert
Atlanta's Denny Lambert, left, trades punches with Boston's Rob DiMaio.

Carter had two goals and an assist as the Bruins held off the punchless Atlanta Thrashers for a 3-1 victory Friday night.

Boston, coming off a 4-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, had won only once in its previous eight games (1-4-3).

The Thrashers, losing their season-high sixth game in a row, have scored just three goals in their last five games, getting blanked in two and scoring one goal in the three others.

Down 2-0 only 12:42 into the game on goals by Carter and Hal Gill, Atlanta managed a goal by Ray Ferraro -- his sixth -- to get within a goal at the 14:11 mark of the opening period.

"We had hoped to put the game away early, but their goalie (Norm Maracle) kept them in the game," Carter said. "This was a good win for us, one we needed for our confidence."

It remained 2-1 and belonged to the goaltenders until Carter made it happen late, too. He scored his second goal and team-high 12th of the season on a power play with 59 seconds left in the game.

Boston goaltender Byron Dafoe, who knocked away 26 of Atlanta's 27 shots, earned his 100th NHL win.

Maracle kept the Thrashers in the game with several spectacular saves as the Bruins peppered him with 30 shots before a capacity crowd of 18,545 at Philips Arena, the seventh sellout for the expansion club.

"We had a lot of Grade A shots. If it weren't for their goalie, it could have been 4-1 or 5-1 easily," Carter said.

It was no consolation for Maracle, however, who blamed himself for Boston's first two early goals.

"Right now our team needs a goaltender to stop those goals because we're having a little trouble putting the puck in the net," he said.

"I just have to make a couple of big saves early and tonight they scored two goals right away," Maracle said. "It doesn't help our confidence when we are down 2-0 in the first period."

Gill scored his second goal of the season 5:49 into the game, scoring on a 35-foot slap shot off a pass from Carter and Dave Andreychuk.

It was 2-0 less than seven minutes later when Carter beat Maracle off a pass from Gill.

"They're an expansion team and they work hard," Bruins coach Pat Burns said. "If you don't put them away when you have the chance, you're going to have a hockey game, and that's what happened to us tonight."

The win evened Boston's road record at 6-6-4. Atlanta fell to 5-10-1 at home.

The Bruins also beat the Thrashers 4-2 in their first meeting in Boston on Nov. 6.
 


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RECAPS
Florida 4
Buffalo 2

Boston 3
Atlanta 1

Detroit 5
Colorado 2

Washington 3
NY Rangers 2

Dallas 2
Edmonton 2

Anaheim 2
Chicago 0

AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Hal Gill scores the first goal of the game.
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