Atlanta Thrashers vs Carolina Hurricanes
Regular season · Friday, December 27, 2002 · RBC Center
Game summary
The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5–3 on Friday, December 27, 2002 at RBC Center. The Hurricanes outshot the Thrashers 38–28.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice. Josef Vasicek, Aaron Ward, Dany Heatley, Jeff O'Neill, Patrik Stefan and Brad Tapper also scored.
Milan Hnilicka made 35 saves on 38 shots for the win; Kevin Weekes stopped 23 of 28.
Scoring
1st period
Josef Vasicek (2)Jan Hlavac (10), Jaroslav Svoboda (8)0–101:49 CAR
Aaron Ward (2)Jan Hlavac (11)0–208:10 CAR
Ilya Kovalchuk (19)Marc Savard (9), Daniel Tjarnqvist (7)1–213:04 ATL
Dany Heatley (9)Yannick Tremblay (6), Ilya Kovalchuk (9)2–214:11 ATL · 
Jeff O'Neill (12)Ron Francis (14), Rod Brind'Amour (17)2–316:01 CAR ·
2nd period
Patrik Stefan (9)Shawn McEachern (12), Ilya Kovalchuk (10)3–300:41 ATL ·
3rd period
Brad Tapper (3)Andy Sutton (7)4–303:03 ATL- Ilya Kovalchuk (20)Frantisek Kaberle (9), Patrik Stefan (11)5–318:53 ATL
Team stats
ATLCAR
2838
42%58%
2/31/3
66
36
00
00
00
Penalties
- 9:34 into the first period
Jeff Odgers · roughing2 min - 13:36 into the first period
Jeff O'Neill · interference2 min - 15:36 into the first periodAndy Sutton · interference2 min
- 19:37 into the first periodBates Battaglia · hooking obstruction2 min
- 15:31 into the second periodAaron Ward · roughing2 min
- 20:00 into the second periodMarc Savard · roughing2 min
Season series
Atlanta Thrashers
| 17Ilya KovalchukL | 2 | 2 | 4 | +2 | 2 | 17:34 |
| 27Patrik StefanC | 1 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 3 | 17:33 |
| 9Marc SavardC | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 4 | 17:59 |
| 15Dany HeatleyL | 1 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 1 | 18:52 |
| 18Brad TapperR | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 15:09 |
| 19Shawn McEachernL | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 7 | 17:32 |
| 8Frantisek KaberleD | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 1 | 24:03 |
| 25Andy SuttonD | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 1 | 21:05 |
| 36Daniel TjarnqvistD | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 24:16 |
| 38Yannick TremblayD | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 | 14:56 |
| 11Jean-Pierre VigierR | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 2 | 15:39 |
| 12Tony HrkacC | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | 15:02 |
| 13Vyacheslav KozlovL | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 17:42 |
| 20Jeff OdgersR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 08:05 |
| 26Pascal RheaumeC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 09:28 |
| 39Per SvartvadetC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 09:03 |
| 4Chris TamerD | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 | 11:20 |
| 43Mike WeaverD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20:52 |
| Goalie | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31Pasi NurminenG | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 33Milan HnilickaG | W | 38 | 3 | .921 |
Carolina Hurricanes
| 20Jan HlavacL | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 3 | 17:08 |
| 10Ron FrancisC | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 1 | 18:34 |
| 17Rod Brind'AmourC | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 1 | 19:34 |
| 62Jaroslav SvobodaL | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 5 | 16:17 |
| 63Josef VasicekC | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 18:10 |
| 92Jeff O'NeillC | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 5 | 18:55 |
| 4Aaron WardD | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | 16:19 |
| 13Bates BattagliaL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15:55 |
| 14Kevyn AdamsC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 08:18 |
| 24Sami KapanenR | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 3 | 19:07 |
| 26Erik ColeL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16:10 |
| 27Craig AdamsR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 06:08 |
| 36Jesse BoulericeR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 05:28 |
| 2Glen WesleyD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20:29 |
| 7Niclas WallinD | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 1 | 20:04 |
| 21David TanabeD | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 3 | 19:45 |
| 22Sean HillD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 24:06 |
| 71Tomas MalecD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16:47 |
| Goalie | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Arturs IrbeG | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 80Kevin WeekesG | L | 28 | 5 | .821 |