NHL: Tampa Bay 4, Atlanta 3

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Steve Downie had a goal and an assist and Mike Smith made 24 saves in Tampa Bay's 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers Saturday.

Ryan Malone scored the deciding goal early in the third period for the Lightning, who won for the third time in their last four games.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Nik Antropov each had a goal and an assist for Atlanta. Marty Reasoner also scored and Ondrej Pavelec made 30 saves in goal.

Malone scored at 6:45 of the third period to put Tampa Bay ahead 4-2 and give Smith enough of a cushion to withstand Kovalchuk's goal at 16:50.

Kovalchuk assisted Antropov on the game's first goal at 11:48 of the first period.

The Lightning tied the game less than 2 minutes later on Downie's goal and went ahead 2-1 at 4:44 of the second on Mike Lindin's first career goal.

After Atlanta tied the game 2-2 on Reasoner's goal, Alex Tanguay chipped in a goal that made it 3-2 at 5:04 of the third.