RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Milan Hnilicka made 35 saves for his first victory of the season and Ilya Kovalchuk scored a pair of breakaway goals Friday night to give the Atlanta Thrashers a 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The victory came one day after Atlanta Coach Curt Fraser was fired and General Manager Don Waddell took over behind the bench.
The Thrashers fired Fraser -- the only coach in the franchise's 3 1/2-year history -- following an 8-20-1-4 start. Atlanta owns the worst record in the NHL and has allowed a league-high 127 goals.
Hnilicka, who turned aside all 18 shots in the third period, entered with an 0-6-2 mark. He was relegated to the minors after the Thrashers signed Byron Dafoe but made at least 30 saves for the fifth time in nine games this season.
Kovalchuk scored his 19th and 20th goals and assisted on power-play tallies by Dany Heatley and Patrik Stefan. Brad Tapper had the other goal for Atlanta, which beat the Hurricanes for the first time in 18 meetings (1-11-3-3).
Atlanta also snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 11 contests (2-6
3).
Jeff O'Neill scored a power-play goal and Jan Hlavac collected two assists for Carolina, which had a three-game unbeaten streak stopped.
