A hat trick for Marian Hossa, a career-high 46 saves for Kari Lehtonen and a 5-1 win over the best team in the NHL. Not too shabby.

Last night's game in Detroit was a classic and one for the history books as it was the first time in franchise history that the Thrashers won in Detroit. It was also Don Waddell's first win in his hometown. Let's just ignore the fact that Atlanta gave up 47 shots and would have let the Wings back in the game had it not been for Kari Lehtonen. It's nice to see him outright steal a win though, isn't it?

Here are the bullet points from our PR staff:

• The Thrashers won their second straight game, defeating the NHL’s top team, the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 in Detroit tonight … The win puts Atlanta over .500 with a record of 23-22-2 … The Thrashers win coupled with Carolina’s 5-4 loss to Toronto brings Atlanta into a tie for first place in the Southeast Division with the Hurricanes … The Thrashers hold the tie-break in the division standings because of their 23 wins compared to Carolina’s 22.
   
• All-Star Marian Hossa recorded a natural hat-trick, his first three-goal game since Jan. 16, 2007 vs. the LA Kings, increasing his goal total to 19 this season … Hossa ranks second on the Thrashers with 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists).
   
• Defenseman Tobias Enstrom, who was named to the NHL’s YoungStars team today, record two assists tonight for his third multiple-point contest of the season … Enstrom ranks second on the Thrashers with 25 assists and leads the NHL with 20 power play helpers.
   
• The Thrashers power play was in high gear tonight, converting on three-of-four chances … Atlanta has scored on five-of-seven power play opportunities over its last two contests and is 36-of-189 (19.0%) with the man-advantage this season.
   
• Mark Recchi tallied two assists and Ilya Kovalchuk recorded one helper in the win tonight … Kovalchuk extended his points-scoring streak to 10 games, posting16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in that span … Recchi has recorded 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 18 games with the Thrashers this season.
   
• Rookie Kevin Doell posted the first point (assist) of his career on Eric Perrin’s second period goal … Doell has recorded one assist and is averaging 9:22 TOI in his first six career NHL games.
   
• Goaltender Kari Lehtonen was spectacular for the Thrashers, turning away a career-high 46 shots for his second-straight victory … Lehtonen improved his record to 9-10-1 with two shutouts, a 2.91 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage in 22 appearances this season.
   
• The Thrashers return home on Thursday, Jan. 17 when the Montreal Canadiens make their second and final trip to Atlanta this season (7 p.m., SportSouth, 680 The Fan) … Atlanta will host Edmonton on Sunday, Jan. 20 (2 p.m., 680 The Fan) before traveling to New York for two games against the Rangers before the All-Star break.

Most importantly, the win moved the Thrashers into a tie for first place in the Southeast Division and catapulted them to third in the Eastern Conference by virtue of having the tie-breaker over Carolina. Who would have thought the Thrashers would climb back from that 0-6 start to be in a position to defend their Southeast Division title? Now the trick is to keep the pedal to the metal and keep cranking out wins. Carolina is battling injuries and a nasty flu bug, Florida can't seem to score more than twice in a game and Tampa Bay is in utter turmoil. The only other team in the Southeast that's playing well right now is the Capitals. They've only lost twice in regulation in their last 10 games and they're not going away without a fight. Unfortunately for them they'll be without the services of Michael Nylander for the rest of the season. He's their second leading scorer and a strong veteran presence on a young team. He'll be missed.

So if the Thrashers can put together a nice little run here against Montreal, Buffalo, Edmonton and the Rangers (twice) they could put some distance between them and the rest of the struggling Southeast. Montreal will be tough but we know we can beat Buffalo and they're struggling mightily with a 1-4-5 record over their last 10 games. Edmonton is playing well right now but they lost last night and play in Washington tomorrow and in Raleigh Friday before coming here for an afternoon game on Sunday. I like how that sounds. Then there's the back-to-back games at MSG. The Rangers have one win in their last seven games and you know Ilya Kovalchuk is going to be playing with something to prove in the arena where his playoff dreams were demolished last year. Of all the Thrashers who remain from the debacle at Madison Square Garden last year I expect the most from Ilya. Others might try to put that mess behind them and move on, but Kovy will feed off of it. If he can do that and play smart at the same time he'll be unstoppable.

I like our schedule heading into the All-Star Game and if the Thrashers can take at least three of the five games and pick up a point in one of the others I think they'll have a nice hold on the Southeast at the break.

Here are a couple of other tidbits from around the web. I'll have the daily links in a while.

• Marian Hossa was named the league's first star of the night.
• James Mirtle has a nice post up about Mark Recchi and another highlighting the top 10 forwards, defensemen and goalies of the last month. Think any Thrashers made his lists?
• Maal has some good things to say over at Fire Wagon Hockey. I take no responsibility for the colorful language.
• Kevin Allen from the USAToday, who is extremely reliable and well connected, has an interesting article on Marian Hossa.