ATLANTA -- The numbers say the Penguins have the second-worst road power play in the NHL.

Of course, there are times when statistics don't paint a complete -- or completely accurate -- picture.

Trouble is, this isn't one of them. The Penguins have been as awful with the extra man when they're away from Mellon Arena as their 4-for-37 total suggests.

Nonetheless, their 3-2 victory against Atlanta at Philips Arena last night wouldn't have been possible without Petr Sykora's man-advantage goal with 2:40 left in regulation.

"They certainly picked the right time to score a big goal," coach Michel Therrien said.

Sykora got the deciding goal when he deflected a Sidney Crosby shot past Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec to break a 2-2 tie.

Marty Reasoner of the Thrashers nearly had done that about 50 seconds earlier when, shortly after former Penguin Chris Thorburn was called for interfering with Crosby, he got a short-handed breakaway against Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin.

Therrien joked later that "I didn't want to look," but Sabourin certainly did. He rejected Reasoner's shot and, in the process, made it possible for Sykora to become a hero.

"I was like, 'Oh no, here we go again' [when Reasoner got his breakaway]," Sykora said. "I can't say enough about [Sabourin], how he played tonight."

The stop on Reasoner might have been Sabourin's biggest, but he had a few others of note. Particularly the one he made on Ilya Kovalchuk, one of the game's premier goal-scorers, during a near-breakaway early in the final period.

Sabourin finished with 21 saves, while Pavelec made 28 and played a major role in giving the Thrashers a chance to earn a point or two.

"Their goalie kept them in the game," Therrien said. "I thought our chances were there, but we couldn't finish. Their goalie was fantastic."

The victory was the Penguins' seventh in their past eight games and hoisted them to within three points of the first-place New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division. The Penguins (12-4-3) have three games in hand.

Slava Kozlov gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead on a power play at 4:41 of the opening period, throwing a shot past Sabourin from between the left circle and the crease.

Miroslav Satan got that one back for the Penguins at 10:57, as he took a cross-ice feed from Pascal Dupuis and beat Pavelec from the right edge of the crease.

Dupuis set up that goal on his first shift back on the No. 1 line. He had been working on the fourth line, while Max Talbot had been playing alongside Crosby and Satan of late.

Talbot apparently lost his place on the top line after being guilty of a turnover early in the game, although Therrien employed a variety of forward combinations over the course of the game.

The Penguins had a five-on-three power play for 78 seconds as the middle of the second period approached but were unable to generate the go-ahead goal.

"We had some good chances on that," Crosby said. "[Sykora] is all alone in the slot, and his stick breaks. [Satan] had a couple of chances at the side of the net. [Evgeni Malkin] hit a post. ... It just didn't go in, but we did the right things. And, if you do the right things, you're going to get goals."

Coincidentally enough, Crosby got one -- albeit at even-strength -- to put the Penguins in front, 2-1, a few minutes later.

He got a pass from Tyler Kennedy, who was behind the goal line and threw a shot past by Pavelec while falling onto his back at 12:24 for his seventh of the season.

That advantage melted away quickly as Sabourin gave up a soft goal to Jim Slater 84 seconds later.

Slater carried the puck from behind the goal line and into the right circle then, as he was dropping to his knees, swept a shot that went between Sabourin's legs, caromed off the inside of his pads and skidded across the goal line at 13:48.

"I was not happy with that one," Sabourin said. "I just had to forget about it."

He obviously did, as evidenced by the game-saving stops he made on Kovalchuk and Reasoner in the third. Just like his teammates would forget a bit later that they aren't supposed to be able to score when they get a power play on the road.