ATLANTA (AP) — Rich Peverley scored two of Atlanta's four third-period goals, and Ilya Kovalchuk had two goals and three assists in the Thrashers' 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

Carolina, which had won seven of nine, remained tied with Buffalo for the eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

The Thrashers, who have an NHL-low 24 points at home, won at Philips Arena for just the sixth time in 22 games.

Chris Seward's raw edit of the game with the Thrashers at the RBC Center on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009.

RALEIGH — The Carolina Hurricanes win their second straight game, scoring twice in the first period before holding on for a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at RBC Center Saturday.

Canes’ center Matt Cullen scored first, getting a short-handed goal on the assist from Chad LaRose. Until Thursday, the Hurricanes were the only team in the NHL without a short-handed goal. Cullen assisted LaRose for that goal, in a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

AP photo

ATLANTA -- Eric Staal and Bryan Little played a game-with-in-a-game, and Staal won.

Little got a hat trick first, but Staal's third-period hat trick gave his team the win, 5-4.

Staal scored his first goal on the power play seven minutes into
the third with the Canes trailing 3-2. His goal tied it, but not for long.

AP photo

ATLANTA — What now for the Carolina Hurricanes?

After a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday at Philips Arena, the Canes have dropped three in a row and four of their last five. While this loss wasn't nearly as ugly and lackluster as the last two -- to Atlanta and Washington -- it still was a loss.

"I think the guys played hard in spurts," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said. "I think the guys showed up."

Staff photo by Chris Seward

• First Look

RALEIGH  — The Atlanta Thrashers scored four second-period goals in rolling past the Hurricanes 5-2 Sunday for their fourth straight victory.

After a scoreless first period, the Thrashers grabbed a 4-2 lead after two periods in the Southeast Division game at the RBC Center. Marty Reasoner added a third-period goal, his second of the game, for Atlanta.

"We talked about energy and it wasn't where it needed to be," Canes coach Peter Laviolette said after his team's third game in four days.