Blues tumble on Hossa's overtime goal

~ McKee's turnover led to the game-winner in Atlanta's 3-2 win.

ST. LOUIS -- Marian Hossa kept his eye on the bouncing puck, all the way to the winning goal.

Hossa scored on a break-in at 19 seconds of overtime, capitalizing on a defensive mistake, in the Atlanta Thrashers' 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.

"I saw their defenseman had trouble handling it," Hossa said. "It was just a lucky takeaway from him, and I just had to shoot it."

Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 29th goal for the Thrashers, who have won four in a row in a six-day span.

"It would have been easy for us to roll over," Thrashers coach Don Waddell said. "We could have been very satisfied with the weekend, but you could see the energy."

Hossa swept in alone on goalie Manny Legace after Jay McKee fumbled the puck in the air and then lost control after Eric Perrin flipped it into the St. Louis zone. McKee said he was trying to swat the puck out of the slot to fellow defenseman Barret Jackman.

"That's not a puck you want to control with a guy like Hossa bearing down on you," McKee said. "Just when the puck hit the ice, it was a tough bounce and it's unfortunate in a game that we battled for ends that way."

The Thrashers beat Montreal by the same score in a shootout Saturday, and their winning streak comes after losing their previous four games. They won in St. Louis for the first time in franchise history.

Kovalchuk has 25 goals and 16 assists in the last 28 games for the Thrashers, who climbed above .500 at 18-17-1. Mark Recchi tied it in the third period with his fourth goal in seven games since being claimed off re-entry waivers Dec. 8.

Keith Tkachuk had a goal and an assist for the Blues, giving him six points in three games. Tkachuk has a goal in each of the last three games, giving him a career total of 482, after being limited to eight assists in the previous 15 games.

Jackman added his first goal of the season and only the 12th of his career. St. Louis won 4-1 on Saturday in Boston, and coach Andy Murray thought the team looked flat.

"I'm not making excuses. I just didn't think we had energy," Murray said. "But I knew this one would be tough."