Kings  0    Jets  7

Los Angeles Kings (11-6-2) at Atlanta Thrashers (8-6-1), 7:30 p.m.

Sports Network | November 13, 2009

(Sports Network) - The Thrashers weren't sure if they were going to get Ilya Kovalchuk back by the end of their upcoming homestand. Not only will the Russian sniper be skating in front of his home crowd Friday night, but it only took him one game to find his scoring touch.

Kovalchuk and Atlanta begin a five-game homestand tonight versus the Los Angeles Kings and the NHL's leading scorer, Anze Kopitar, at Philips Arena.

Kovalchuk was expected to miss around four weeks after suffering a broken bone in his right foot on October 24. However, the 26-year-old returned in a little under three weeks, missing just six games before notching a goal and two assists in last night's 5-3 victory at the New York Rangers.

"We've [conditioning coach] been working pretty hard so conditioning wasn't a problem," said Kovalchuk after scoring his team-high 10th goal of the season. "I decided if I'm going to feel good tonight and I can play 100 percent (then) I'll go."

Atlanta went 3-3-0 without Kovalchuk, who was originally not expected to travel to New York, but won for the fourth time in six games on Thursday. Rich Peverley also logged a goal and an assist, giving him a team-best 20 points, and rookie Evander Kane had a goal and an assist.

Johan Hedberg turned in a strong 33-save performance. Ondrej Pavelec, though, should return to net tonight, as he hopes to improve on Atlanta's 2-4-0 mark as the host this year.

He'll need to slow down Kopitar, who is tops in the NHL with 30 points and tied for the league lead in goals with 14. He had two assists in Wednesday's 5-2 victory over Carolina that saw defenseman Randy Jones net the game-winning goal early in the third period in his Los Angeles debut.

Jones, who also had an assist, was playing in his first game since being acquired off waivers from the Flyers on October 29. Justin Williams, Wayne Simmonds and Ryan Smyth each had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who snapped a two-game skid and improved to 1-1-0 on a five-game road trip.

"Jonesy had a good game. He comes in, he settles in right away. He's been around the team now for a couple weeks so I think that really helps whenever you can be around your teammates in the locker room, on the ice practicing, and he has a good feel of what we do as a team," Los Angeles head coach Terry Murray said.

Erik Ersberg made 22 saves in only his second appearance of the season and first since October 14. He also picked up his first victory since December 13 of last season, but will give way to starter Jonathan Quick tonight.

Quick, who had made 12 straight starts before sitting out Wednesday's game, was ripped for three goals on seven shots in last year's 7-6 home shootout loss to the Thrashers, failing to make it out of the first period.

Kovalchuk had two goals and an assist in that wild contest, while Kopitar had a four-point game with two goals and a pair of assists.

That win was the Thrashers' second straight and third in four games versus the Kings, who have lost two in a row at Atlanta.