PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Simon Gagne wasn't the first choice to shoot a penalty shot for the Philadelphia Flyers. He was the right one, though.

Gagne scored on a penalty shot with 1:01 left, leading the

Flyers to a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday.

Gagne was awarded a penalty shot after Thrashers defenseman Andy

Sutton shot a loose stick on the ice toward him while he was

skating near the boards with the puck. He broke in on goaltender

Pasi Nurminen, faked to his left and lifted a backhander in for his

17th goal.

Alexei Zhamnov, playing his first game with the Flyers, skated

around the puck, waiting for the officials to finish reviewing the

play so he could take the shot. But Gagne had to take it because

the loose stick came at him.

"I didn't have too much time to think about it because I wasn't

supposed to take the shot," Gagne said. "I just tried to make

sure the puck was flat, that it didn't roll on my stick and I

waited for him to give me an opening."

Nurminen thought Gagne would try a forehand shot.

"The last game he went to a breakaway and went to the blocker

side and I kind of had him there," Nurminen said. "I thought he

was going to that side again. He shot it so high I couldn't reach

it."

The Flyers, who entered tied with Toronto for first place in the

Eastern Conference, snapped a three-game losing streak.

Serge Aubin, Sutton, Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk scored for

Atlanta, which had won three of four after a 10-game winless

streak. The Thrashers went 3-4 on a seven-game road trip that tied

for the longest in team history.

"The referee made the right call," Sutton said of the penalty

shot. "It's just unfortunate it cost us the game. I just felt the

stick shouldn't have sat there for so long. I just shot it ahead

and it happened to hit the puck."

Joni Pitkanen scored two power-play goals around one by Michal

Handzus in a span of 2:42 in the first period, but Philadelphia

couldn't hold leads of 3-0 and 4-3. Marcus Ragnarsson also scored

for the Flyers.

Sean Burke made 32 saves for his third win since coming to

Philadelphia. Burke, who has allowed 18 goals in the last four

games, was booed at the start of the game and several times

throughout.

Burke has started six straight games since replacing rookie

Antero Niittymaki, who allowed just three goals in his only three

games -- all wins. Starter Robert Esche is due to return soon from a

knee injury.

"I'm not going to let it affect me or distract me," Burke said

of the booing.

Kovalchuk tied it at 4 just 3:15 into the third. He got the

rebound of his own shot and wristed it past Burke for his 33rd

goal.

Ragnarsson gave the Flyers a 4-3 lead in the second period when

he took Branko Radivojevic's pass from behind the net and one-timed

it over Nurminen's glove for his fourth goal.

The Flyers took advantage of a five-minute major on Ronald

Petrovicky midway through the first period by scoring three times.

Petrovicky received a game misconduct for charging Philadelphia's

Mattias Timander into the boards. It was the third time in team

history the Flyers scored three goals on the same five-minute power

play.

But the Thrashers scored three goals in a span of 5:59 in the

second period to tie it.

Game notes

Kovalchuk drew a gross misconduct penalty after the game for cursing at the officials, but Atlanta GM Don Waddell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sunday that neither Kovalchuk nor Petrovicky would be suspended for the major penalties. ... Burke recorded his 301st win, tying him with former New

York Rangers goalie Mike Richter for 19th place on the NHL's

all-time list. ... All-Star centers Jeremy Roenick (jaw,

concussion) and Keith Primeau (concussion), forwards Todd Fedoruk

(knee) and Donald Brashear (knee) and defensemen Eric Desjardins

(arm) and Dennis Seidenberg (arm) remained out for Philadelphia.

... Marc Savard had three assists and Kovalchuk had two. ... The

Flyers went 4-for-5 with the man-advantage. They have the league's

best power play at home, 33-for-121 (27.2 percent).