Home, Baby! Isles Slam Thrashers Before Road Trip

November 8, 2009 8:10 a.m. EST

Uniondale, NY (AHN) - If the New York Islanders wanted to start their seven-game road trip off right, they did against the Atlanta Thrashers.

 Andy Sutton, Blake Bergenheim and Jack Hillen all scored in the first period to lift the Islanders to a 6-3 win over the Thrashers Saturday.

"We generated a lot of chances tonight," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said on the Islanders' Web site. "The best part is doing it at the end of a pretty tough stretch where we were playing every other night."

 The improving Isles (6-6-5) seized momentum in the first frame by outshooting Atlanta 21-11.

New York's Blake Comeau tagged Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec (39 saves) 22 seconds into the second period for a 4-1 lead.

Thrashers' Pavel Kubina made it 4-2 in the second.

Later Matt Moulson connected on a pass from John Tavares, who was working behind the net, to extend the lead to 5-2.

Christoph Schubert beat Islanders goalie Dwayne Roloson (31 saves) for Atlanta's third score in the last frame. Isles center Josh Bailey' notched a power-play goal minutes later.

Tavares said pressuring Atlanta early was the key to building and keeping the momentum.

"We [jumped] on them early and I think we were able to sustain it all game long," Tavares said, who had two assists.

The Thrashers have done well on the road this season with a 5-2-1 mark.

New York has not done well on the road with a 1-4-3 mark heading into aroad trip.

The next tip off is Nov. 11 against the Washington Capitals.