ATLANTA (AP) – Jaromir Jagr broke a tie late in the second period with his NHL-leading 21st goal and the New York Rangers went on to their fourth straight win, beating the Atlanta Thrashers 6-3 Thursday night.

After the Thrashers scored twice to overcome a 3-1 deficit, Jagr swooped in off the right wing and snapped a high shot from between the circles that eluded the blocker of Atlanta goalie Michael Garnett with 2:02 left in the second.

Blair Betts made it 5-3 with 11:51 remaining, slipping behind defenseman Niclas Havelid and deflecting a pass from Marcel Hossa past Garnett. Jed Ortmeyer added an open-net goal in the final minute to send the Thrashers to their third straight loss.

New York’s victory was marred by an injury to goalie Kevin Weekes, who went down awkwardly early in the third period and appeared to hurt his right leg. He remained on the ice for several minutes before heading to the locker room, holding up his leg the entire way.

The extent of the injury wasn’t immediately known. Henrik Lundqvist took over and blanked Atlanta over the final 17:58.

Marian Hossa, brother of Marcel, put the Thrashers ahead just 6:38 into the game with his 10th goal, but the lead didn’t stand up.

Jason Ward tied it before the period was over and the Rangers knocked out starting Atlanta goalie Steve Shields with two more goals early in the second, both off rebounds. Petr Prucha scored his fourth goal 59 seconds into the period, then Shields gave up a horrible goal to Michael Nylander.

Ward got a long shot on goal and Shields guided the rebound right in front of the net to Nylander, who knocked it into the open net at 2:11. Thrashers coach Bob Hartley had seen enough of Shields, replacing him with Garnett.

Atlanta tied the game on goals by Marc Savard and Slava Kozlov, the latter with 3:21 left in the period. But Jagr scored just over a minute later to put the Rangers ahead for good.

Jagr came into the night tied with Philadelphia’s Simon Gagne for the NHL’s goal-scoring lead.

Notes: The Thrashers assigned goalie Jani Hurme to Chicago of the American Hockey League, where he will play for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Hurme struggled with post-surgery complications after a back operation and failed a physical before training camp. He was acquired from Carolina on Oct. 3, 2003, but has yet to play for the Thrashers. … Marcel Hossa wears No. 81, the opposite of his older brother’s No. 18.

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