ATLANTA – Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 36th goal and the Atlanta Thrashers beat the Florida Panthers 6-4 Saturday night to snap a seven-game losing streak.

The Thrashers’ losing streak was their worst since opening the 2002-03 season with nine straight losses.

Peter Bondra had two goals, and Marc Savard a goal and two assists for Atlanta’s first win since Jan. 18 at Dallas.

Patrik Stefan’s ninth goal with 6:53 remaining gave the Thrashers a 5-3 lead before Bondra made it 6-3 on the power play.

The score was tied at 3 when Kovalchuk, from about eight feet out, beat Roberto Luongo high on the goaltender’s stick side at the 16:01 mark of the second.

Scott Mellanby, who made it 1-1 midway through the first with his seventh goal, appeared to tip in Kovalchuk’s go-ahead shot, but the Atlanta captain skated over to the officials’ box and apparently told the crew that his stick never touched the puck.

Bondra’s 14th goal, his first since Nov. 26, gave the Thrashers a 3-2 lead early in the second. He was alone at the bottom of the slot when Rico Fata skated down the left side to beat defenseman Lukas Krajicek. Luongo mistakenly moved out of the crease to allow the empty-netter.

Savard set a career high with his 24th goal, which forced a 2-2 tie late in the first and helped Atlanta regain some confidence after converting just six of its previous 65 attempts on the power play.

The Panthers dropped to 6-19-4 on the road after leading 1-0 on Nathan Horton’s goal, his 21st, at the 3:55 mark of the first. Nearly seven minutes later, Rob Globke’s first career goal put Florida ahead 2-1.

Jon Sim’s ninth goal answered Bondra’s first score and tied it at 3 midway through the second. Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen, who finished with 28 saves, couldn’t find the puck after Chris Gratton’s slap shot bounced off his chest pad.

Luongo dropped to 2-6-1 against Atlanta after stopping 21 of 27 shots.

Notes: Chris Gratton, whose two-goal performance allowed Florida to beat the Thrashers 5-2 on Friday night, scored his 10th goal to end the scoring with 3:51 remaining. … Atlanta began the night ranked seventh in the power play despite going just 1-for-11 on Friday. … Savard had 23 goals for Calgary in 2000-01. … Stefan limped into tunnel and didn’t return not long after he scored.

AP-ES-02-04-06 2209EST