ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Ilya Kovalchuk is proving that Dany Heatley is not the only young star on the Atlanta Thrashers.
Kovalchuk recorded his second hat trick of the season as the Thrashers overcame an early two-goal deficit and posted a 4-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators.
After Heatley enjoyed a breakout season in 2002-03, when he captured Most Valuable Player honors with four goals in the All-Star Game and finished ninth in the league in scoring with 89 points, many forgot the Thrashers also had Kovalchuk on the roster.
But with Heatley sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury following the fatal car accident that killed teammate Dan Snyder, the 20-year-old Kovalchuk has elevated his game.
With four goals in his previous two games, including a hat trick in Atlanta's 7-2 win over Chicago on Saturday, Kovalchuk began the Thrashers' comeback with a power-play goal midway through the second period. Just 22 seconds after J.P. Vigier knotted the game, the first overall pick in 2001 gave Atlanta its first lead with his second tally of the game.
Kovalchuk, who scored 38 goals last season after netting 29 in his rookie campaign, capped the scoring and notched his third career hat trick with an empty-netter. The Russian leads the NHL with nine goals.
"I've been getting good position on the point and getting lots of shots," Kovalchuk said. "I like it."
"If I gave him any more ice time, I would have to put him in the net," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "Ilya is a force of nature."
Pasi Nurminen made 28 saves for the Thrashers, who extended their home unbeaten streak to a franchise-record four games (3-0-1). The victory cemented Atlanta's best month of October in its five-year existence (4-0-2-1 for 11 points).
"I think we trust ourselves and trust each other," Nurminen said. "We know if we work hard enough, we get the points."
"Everybody is doing very good, but the job Pasi is doing is unbelievable," Kovalchuk said. "Seven games now he's been doing a great job for us. We just feel good about ourselves and we're going to keep moving and keep working."
Rookies Dan Hamhuis and Jordin Tootoo tallied for the Predators, who fell to 3-3-1 all-time vs. Atlanta.
Just 4:55 into the game, Hamhuis - the 12th overall pick in 2001 - gave Nashville the lead with his second goal of the season. Tootoo, the first player of Inuit descent to play in the NHL, made it 2-0 just 33 seconds later, putting a slap shot from the left faceoff circle past Nurminen for his first career tally.
"It's definitely a relief," Tootoo said. "When you work hard, better things are going to happen. (Marek) Zidlicky had his head on a swivel and saw me wide open. I kind of bobbled on the puck a bit, but I got the shot off and it went in."
With two Predators in the penalty box at the halfway point of the second, Kovalchuk fired a slapper from above the left circle that got by Tomas Vokoun and put Atlanta on the scoreboard.
"I love to score here at Philips Arena," Kovalchuk said. "The fans go crazy, everybody is hectic. I like it."
Vigier picked up a loose puck in the right corner and skated around the net before stuffing it around the left goalpost at 13:04 to knot the contest.
"I was trying to look to see if there ewas anybody in front of the net and I lost him," Vokoun said. "He wrapped it around quickly and he beat me. It was a bad goal. It's tough when it's 2-1 to give up a goal like that."
Moments later, Randy Robitaille created a turnover in the neutral zone and carried over the blue line before dishing to Kovalchuk, who beat Vokoun to the stick side for a 3-2 Thrashers lead.
"I don't think they beat us," Vokoun said. "We beat ourselves today with undisciplined play and stupid mistakes. We should have won that game."
With Vokoun pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute of the third, defenseman Jason York kept a shot by Serge Aubin from going into the net. But Kovalchuk pounced on the rebound and buried it to complete the hat trick.
