(Tuesday, January 8th)

Final Score: Philadelphia 4, Atlanta 1

Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Scott Hartnell had a goal and two assists as the Philadelphia Flyers continued their domination of the Atlanta Thrashers with a 4-1 win at Philips Arena.

Jeff Carter scored a pair of goals while Steve Downie scored his second goal in as many games for the Flyers, who have won two straight and five of their last six games.

"After that first period we were down," said Hartnell. "We knew we had to get something going. In the dressing room we had a good feeling that we were going to give ourselves a good chance to win the game. Passes were going and our guys were shooting the puck and they were finding holes and going in."

Antero Niittymaki made 27 saves in the win for Philadelphia, which has won eight straight against Atlanta and is 11-0-1 against the Thrashers since a 4-1 loss on December 21, 2003.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal while Johan Hedberg gave up four goals on 29 shots for the Thrashers, who have dropped five of their last eight games.

"We didn't show up," said Atlanta's Bobby Holik. "That's the bottom line. We play good in one game and don't play good in the next one. It's the attitude, it's the approach. It has nothing to do with the schedule or the streak we're on. It's the frame of mind. We know the reason but we first have to solve it internally."

Trailing 1-0 heading into the second period, the Flyers took control of the game in the middle stanza with four goals.

They struck just 32 seconds into the frame as Hartnell fed a pass from the deep right boards to the slot where Downie wristed the puck between the pads of Hedberg.

The score remained tied for the next 13 minutes, but Carter scored a pair of goals in 13 seconds for a 3-1 lead.

The first goal came at the 13:42 mark as, on the rush, Hartnell sent a backhand pass from the right circle to the slot for Carter, who went from the backhand to the forehand and wristed the puck into the right corner of the net for a power-play tally.

Moments later, Carter skated into the Atlanta zone and from the slot sent a hard wrister that beat Hedberg over the right shoulder.

Philadelphia then made it a 4-1 game with a short-handed goal. Jim Dowd caused a turnover at the Philadelphia blueline and skated down the ice on a 2-on-1 break. From the right circle, Dowd sent the puck over to the left side where Hartnell tapped the puck into the open net with just 0.6 seconds left on the second-period clock.

Atlanta had a chance to get back in the game early in the third period when R.J. Umberger was called for interference, but Niittymaki came up with several nice saves during the power play to keep it a three-goal game.

The Thrashers had another power play opportunity later in the frame, but were unable to capitalize on the chance and Philadelphia skated out of the rink with the win.

The Thrashers got the only goal of the first period off the stick of a familiar name. A bit over nine minutes into the frame, Kovalchuk took a feed from Todd White in the slot, slid over to the right circle and snapped a wrister over the glove of Niittymaki for his 35th goal of the season.

Philadelphia had its chances in the opening frame, including breakaways from Jeff Carter and Mike Richards during an Atlanta power play, but all 11 shots were turned aside by Hedberg.

Game Notes

Hartnell's goal was the 100th of his career...The Flyers wrap up their six- game road trip in New York against the Rangers on Thursday...Atlanta hosts Florida on Thursday...Philadelphia went 1-for-2 on the power play while Atlanta finished 0-for-4...Niittymaki is 7-0 in seven games against Atlanta in his career.

01/08 22:09:32 ET