ATLANTA (Ticker) -- While he is enjoying success against many teams this season, Ilya Kovalchuk continues to wear out the Boston Bruins.
Kovalchuk scored a power-play goal with 78 seconds left in overtime to snap the Bruins' five-game unbeaten streak and give the Atlanta Thrashers a 5-4 victory.
Already with a league-leading 13 goals, Kovalchuk began the season with seven tallies in eight career meetings with the Bruins. He matched that total against Southeast Division rivals Washington and Tampa Bay earlier this season but put Boston back atop his favorite opponent list in this one.
Just 18 seconds after being pulled down by Bruins defenseman Nick Boynton and drawing a penalty, Kovalchuk one-timed a pass from Frantisek Kaberle at the left faceoff circle past goaltender Felix Potvin and into the top right corner of the net.
"A 4-on-3 is going to give you good chances and it feels good to score a goal like this," Kovalchuk said.
The goal produced a second consecutive win for Atlanta, which had dropped four of its previous six games.
"That was a big game, especially against a team like Boston, the top team in the East," said Atlanta captain Shawn McEachern, who was stopped on a breakaway in overtime.
After the game, Boynton was upset with the way Kovalchuk drew the costly penalty.
"I hope to play a long time in this league and I hope I never have to play with him because that's unbelievable, a dive like that," Boynton said. "Like he can't beat me up the ice. I'm a defenseman, for crying out loud."
Along with Kovalchuk, Ronald Petrovicky, Jeff Cowan and Vyacheslav Kozlov each had a goal and an assist for the Thrashers, who rallied from three deficits to force overtime.
Defenseman Jeff Jillson scored a goal and set up another for the Bruins, who have notched at least one point in 10 straight games.
"Tonight we had an opportunity to get two points, but it wasn't one of our better efforts," Boston coach Mike Sullivan said.
Winners of four in a row, the Bruins jumped to a 2-0 lead on Jillson's goal 1:42 into the game and Martin Lapointe's power-play tally at the 7 1/2-minute mark. But Petrovicky and Cowan scored 2:35 apart late in the first to draw Atlanta even.
"It's tough to swallow," Jillson said of squandering the two-goal lead. "We've been trying to work on coming out of the gate and getting the first goal, getting the lead and putting pressure on them. And we did that and kind of let it slip."
Glen Murray, who missed two glorious chances midway through the third period, gave Boston a 3-2 lead on the power play early in the second, but Atlanta answered on Kozlov's sixth of the season at 12:04.
After Brian Rolston restored Boston's lead with a power-play tally, extending his goal-scoring streak to three games, Serge Aubin struck with the man advantage 3:14 into the third to forge a 4-4 tie.
Boynton, Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov each had two assists for the Bruins, who are 8-for-16 on the power play in the last four games.
