OK, so maybe this isn't exactly the way the Penguins would have drawn it up.

Giving up 11 of the game's first 12 shots surely wasn't part of their plan, and neither was having Sidney Crosby make his most deft feed of the night to a player on the other team.

But when a team has lost five in a row, as the Penguins had before their 5-2 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers last night at Mellon Arena, it's easy to gloss over some of the less pleasant details of the game that ends that free-fall.

"It's nice when you get that winning feeling back," center Jordan Staal said.

Besides, for all the things the Penguins might have done better, there was much they did well.

Goalie Brent Johnson, for example, withstood an early barrage by the Thrashers, giving his team a chance to get its equilibrium. He chipped in an assist on the Penguins' final goal, too.

Staal, arguably the Penguins' best player of late, got two goals and set up one other.

Kris Letang scored for the first time since Nov. 3.

The power play, 1 for 13 in the previous five games, generated the winning goal.

What is more, the Penguins turned in what coach Dan Bylsma described as "probably our best game in [defensive-] zone coverage in a while."

It was good enough to be a significant factor in the victory that raised the Penguins' record to 27-16-1. Atlanta, meanwhile, dropped to 18-18-6 and is 0-6-3 in its past nine.

The Penguins presumably were hoping for a strong start but didn't come close to getting one. Atlanta ran off the first eight shots of the game and had a 14-3 edge at the midpoint of the opening period.

"They just came out firing," Johnson said. "Every shot they had, they put to the net, and they had guys going to the net for rebounds. But after the first 10 minutes or so, guys got back on track."

Indeed, after the Penguins survived their sluggish beginning, Letang gave them a 1-0 lead 39 seconds into the second period. He got the puck at the right point and, after Thrashers forward Maxim Afinogenov peeled away from him, cruised down the slot unimpeded before snapping a wrist shot past goalie Ondrej Pavelec. The goal was Letang's second of the season and first in his past 20 games.

Atlanta countered quickly, however, as Jim Slater chased down a long lead pass from ex-Penguin Chris Thorburn, got behind the defense and beat Johnson on the Thrashers' 20th shot.

Staal got that one back for the Penguins at 8:12, capping nifty teamwork with linemate Tyler Kennedy by scoring on Pavelec from between the crease and the right circle. Staal carried the puck into the Atlanta end, but had it knocked away by Thrashers defenseman Pavel Kubina. Kennedy collected the puck, took it down the right side and behind the goal line before tossing it in front to Staal.

"[Kennedy] has been supporting the puck a lot better for both of [his linemates]," Staal said. "He had a rough couple of weeks, but, as of late, he's played unbelievable."

Ruslan Fedotenko got what proved to be the winning goal on a power play at 14:41, but Slater, who had one goal in 20 games until last night, struck again at 16:14, when he converted a beautiful setup.

The trouble is, that setup came from Crosby, who got the puck in the left-wing corner and threw it toward defenseman Jay McKee near the net, only to have it go all the way to Slater, who was alone in front.

"It was a mishap," Crosby said. "It went right by [McKee] and went on [Slater's] stick."

Luca Caputi, recalled from the Penguins' minor league team in Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day, provided some breathing room when he scored at 8:32 of the third, but putting the puck into a wide-open net the way he did was the easy part.

"I just found it on my stick," Caputi said. "Easiest goal you could possibly score."

The heavy lifting had been handled by Evgeni Malkin, who knocked the puck loose in his own end, then got by Kubina in the neutral zone and defenseman Tobias Enstrom in the Atlanta end before getting off a shot that Pavelec stopped. Malkin stayed with the play and, lying on his stomach, backhanded the puck toward the left circle, where Caputi grabbed it and tossed it into the net.

"A huge goal," Bylsma said. "A huge effort. Hopefully, something [Malkin] can build on."

Which is pretty much what Malkin's teammates hope for about this victory, too.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.