Marty Reasoner helped the Atlanta Thrashers lay down a 5-2 beating at the expense of the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. Rod Brind’Amour and Ray Whitney scored goals to help out the Carolina effort, but it was still no match for the red hot Thrashers; a team that has now won four consecutive games.

“Our team, we feel if we keep playing hard and don’t get too crazy taking chances, we know we will get our own chances,” Marty Reasoner said after the game. “We’ve been able to come back from some deficits the last few games and we are believing in ourselves.”

Marty Reasoner was the first star of this game, and deservedly so. He scored two goals against Cam Ward and the Hurricanes, one in the 2nd period and one in the third. Also contributing to the winning effort were Ron Hainsey, Jason Williams, and Ilya Kovalchuk, whose goals all came in the 2nd period.

“It’s a confidence builder for us,” Williams said after the victory. “I find when you get on a winning streak you want to stay on it as long as possible because anything can happen, especially early in the season. You can go through some adversity right there at the beginning. We were struggling and guys weren’t happy, but it’s definitely a lot better when you’re winning. We want to make sure we take care of the things we’re doing and keep going.”

Despite the loss, the Hurricanes are off to an excellent start in the 2008-2009 NHL season. Their record sits at 8-5-2, currently worthy of first place in the Southeast division. It should be a concern for Carolina fans, however, that goalie Cam Ward allowed five goals having had to face just 22 shot attempts. After the game, Rod Brind’Amour had trouble explaining his team’s performance.

“It’s tough,” Brind’Amour said. “In today’s game, you can’t have little things go against you because everyone is so evenly matched. We didn’t have a lot of jump. We just didn’t play well enough.”

Johann Hedberg, who received the start as goalie with regular starter Kari Lehtonen out with an illness, was instrumental in his team’s victory on Sunday. Hedberg managed to save 35 of 37 attempted shots.

“It went to a run-and-gun style for a while and fortunately we came out on top,” said Hedberg, who received his second consecutive start in front of the net. “That hasn’t been the case so far this year. It helped getting the lead at 4-2. We played a solid team game after that. We deserved to get a good win.”