OTTAWA - Colby Armstrong was an unlikely hero Tuesday night, scoring two goals in the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Armstrong scored twice in a 30-second span to help end Atlanta's three-game losing streak. Vyacheslav Kozlov and Todd White also scored for the Thrashers, while Ondrej Pavelec stopped 28 shots.

It was Armstrong's first multi-goal game of the season. The gritty forward, who hadn't scored since Nov. 30, has six goals on the year.

As the third-worst team in the league, the Thrashers (10-16-4) are rarely considered a threat, but it didn't take a lot to beat the offensively-deprived Senators on Tuesday.

Ottawa has scored just four times in its last four games.

Chris Kelly scored the lone Ottawa goal with 1:18 remaining in regulation.

The Senators (11-13-5) have been battling to find a way out of the Northeast Division basement, but they may be stuck there for a while if their effort against the lowly Thrashers is any indication.

The Thrashers opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power-play goal by Kozlov, as he deflected a shot by Ron Hainsey.

Neither team created much offence in the opening period. The Senators created a few chances in the second only to be stymied by Pavelec, who was starting his 10th game of the season.

The crowd of 18,746 was pulled out of its state of boredom after Chris Neil levelled Atlanta's Bryan Little with just under two minutes in the second period. On the ensuing play, Jarkko Ruutu and Jim Slater exchanged punches making it the most exciting 30 seconds of the game.

The Thrashers took advantage of a power play early in the third as Armstrong scored his first goal of the game on a wraparound as Martin Gerber, who faced 25 shots, was unable to stretch far enough across. Atlanta was 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

Thirty seconds later Armstrong put the game out of reach as he scored his second after being left all alone at the side of the net as Gerber seemed to lose sight of the puck.

Notes: The Senators were without D Anton Volchenkov (lower body, day-to-day), RW Dean McAmmond (flu, indefinite) D Christoph Schubert was a healthy scratchThe Thrashers were without D Mathieu Schneider (shoulder, day-to-day), D Zach Bogosian (fibula, indefinite), C Erik Christensen (shoulder, day-to-day), G Kari Lehtonen (back, indefinite).