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Complete domination Senators outscore Thrashers 19-6 in season seriesPosted: Friday March 21, 2003 10:40 PMUpdated: Saturday March 22, 2003 3:59 AM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Todd White, a native of Kanata, Ontario, never thought he'd hear anyone boo during O Canada. "It surprised me," he said. "It's something you don't like to see." White scored two goals and Karel Rachunek added a goal and two assists as the Ottawa Senators took advantage of the NHL's worst defense in a 5-1 rout of Atlanta on Friday night. The booing, which came from approximately 20 people scattered across Philips Arena, stopped after singer Jennifer Ross sang the first few lines of O Canada. The crowd cheered when she finished. Ohio native Bryan Smolinski, who was traded to Ottawa from Los Angeles on March 11, defended the right of people to support the United States. Fans in Atlanta were responding to those in Montreal who booed The Star Spangled Banner before the Canadiens' game Thursday night against the New York Islanders.
"I don't think it's a big issue," Smolinski said. "It's a free speech thing, and there comes a time when people have to make a stand." After Dan Snyder cut the lead to 3-1 only 20 seconds into the third period, White was wide open as he skated through the bottom of the right circle. He met Rachunek's pass from the top of the left circle in stride and tapped the puck past the stick of goaltender Pasi Nurminen. Goalie Ray Emery made 14 saves to win his first career start. Ottawa outshot the Thrashers 40-15. Atlanta entered with 256 goals allowed, 17 more than Columbus, which has the second-worst defense. Following the second period, the Thrashers released a statement apologizing for "a small number of fans that behaved disrespectfully during the Canadian anthem." "I'm a Canadian, so that kind of upset me," Emery said. "It's the country I'm from. It showed disrespect." Atlanta's Dany Heatley, who grew up in Calgary, was more embarrassed by the way his team played. After Emery used his pads to block a first-period shot, Heatley, the Thrashers' second-leading scorer, couldn't manage another. "They dominated us the whole game," Heatley said. "Right off the bat, they took it to us. Obviously, we weren't ready to play them. We really didn't have anything going offensively. They pretty much had their way with us in our end." Mike Fisher extended his scoring streak to three games and gave Ottawa its first three-goal lead midway in the second period. Marian Hossa, who scored four goals in an 8-1 victory over Atlanta on Jan. 2, stopped at the top of the right circle to feed Fisher in the slot. Hossa increased his points streak to seven games for the Senators, who have an NHL-best 47 victories. Ottawa won its second straight and is 7-2 since losing 2-1 to Tampa Bay on March 1. White's first goal made it 1-0 and came on the power play as he redirected Martin Havlat's shot from the bottom of the left circle. Rachunek scored on the power play 14:28 into the second, taking a pass at the top of the slot from Smolinski and shooting over Nurminen's left arm and past the right post. Nurminen dropped to 16-18-4. Atlanta had won three of four before losing 6-5 in overtime Wednesday to Dallas. The Thrashers erased a 3-0 deficit against the Stars by going 2-for-6 on the power play, but they were 0-for-4 Friday and fell to 2-for-29 in their last eight games. Notes: Vaclav Varada scored the game's final goal. ... Wade Redden had three assists. ... White ended a 19-game stretch without a power-play goal. He scored two in a 5-3 road win Feb. 5 over the New York Rangers. ... Daniel Alfredsson was credited with a team-high 50th assist on White's first goal. ... Smolinski has a point in four of five games as a Senator. |
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