"It's not that the Penguins had no other guys in the lineup Saturday who could fight, even though two prime suspects, Eric Godard and Mike Rupp, were healthy scratches.

It just worked out that the old man of the bunch, 39-year-old winger Bill Guerin, stepped up. He took on Atlanta's Jim Slater, 11 years younger, late in the first period of a scoreless game and won the fight decisively. The bout included an uppercut that dropped Slater to the ice and ended it.

That did not spark the Penguins to the first goal of the afternoon -- Atlanta notched one 1:04 later, with 48 seconds left in the period -- but do not tell the Penguins that Guerin's move backfired in what became a 4-3 overtime win.

"It did spark us to continue to keep going with the battle level for our team, establishing our game," coach Dan Bylsma said. "[The Thrashers] are fighting for their [playoff] lives. They played well. But there was a push back from our team to take territory and keep pushing with the puck and [play] physically. That was what that fight was about.""