With the score knotted at 2-2, the Penguins and Thrashers headed to a shootout. As usual, Erik Christensen was penciled in as his team’s lead-off shooter. This time, however, Christensen wore an Atlanta Thrashers sweater and was about to face his teammate of just five days earlier, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Earlier in the Sunday afternoon contest, the Mellon Arena crowd had offered polite applause when Colby Armstrong, traded along with Christensen, set up the second Atlanta goal. With the game now potentially on Christensen’s stick, however, they booed heartily.

“To be honest, I really hoped it wouldn’t have gone that way,” said the 24-year-old Christensen, his head down and voice soft as he sat in the visitor’s dressing room. “I knew I’d get booed, so that was kind of tough. I hoped we would have been on top before that so I wouldn’t have to go through it.”

Christensen skated in against Fleury and unleashed a hard, head-on wrist shot, a distinct change from the usual dekes that have made him one of the league’s premier shootout specialists. The shot rang off the right post and was quickly gloved by Fleury.

Fleury stopped all three shootout attempts he faced, and the Penguins prevailed, 3-2, on a goal by Kris Letang. Fleury also made 31 saves in regulation and overtime, earning the win and the game’s second star in his first start since being shelved with a high ankle sprain on December 6. The different look in the shootout, said Christensen, was an attempt to change things up on the netminder who regularly faced him for 20 to 30 practice shots per day over three seasons.

“There’s not much I can do; he certainly knows me,” Christensen said. “That didn’t scare me as I was going down, though. I had to pick a corner and shoot; I just nicked the crossbar. I’m sure I’ll see him after the game and he’ll rub it in my face.”

Also reconnecting with old friends after the game was Armstrong, talking and laughing outside the Atlanta locker room with his close friend, former road roommate and Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby. The family of Mark Recchi, also a Thrasher since being claimed off waivers in December, stood nearby.

“They stayed at my house [in Atlanta] the first night and hung out,” said Recchi, noting that while Christensen had been traded once before in junior hockey, the experience was entirely new for Armstrong. “Obviously your first time is always very tough. So you’re just trying to help them through it and tell them what to expect from the coaching staff, what to expect with their teammates, and expectations of the group there.”

Armstrong and Christensen had spent their entire pro careers in the Penguins organization prior to being swapped to Atlanta at the February 26 trading deadline, as part of Pittsburgh’s acquisition of impending unrestricted free agent Marian Hossa. Although they left a talent-laden Penguins team that currently resides atop the Eastern Conference and joined a Thrashers club that is struggling for a playoff spot, Recchi sees a silver lining for his former and now current teammates.

“This is a great opportunity for them; they’re going to be a big part of this team,” Recchi said. “Crusher [Christensen] is going to get the opportunity to be a number two center-man for a long time, and Army’s going to get a lot of opportunity to keep growing as a player. It’s always tough leaving a team that’s in first place, but looking at their standpoint personally, I think it’s going to be a great move for them.”

Christensen got an immediate appreciation for the expanded role he’ll be expected to take on with the Thrashers. He went from logging third-line minutes in Pittsburgh to 19:25 of ice time with Atlanta, as well as a place on the Thrashers’ top power play unit.

“The first night I think I played around 18 minutes, and that’s when I figured out this is going to be my opportunity to have the role I hoped I would have,” said Christensen. “It’s very exciting.”

Armstrong was completely caught off guard by the trade, the news of which interrupted his pre-game nap in Long Island as he prepared to play for the Penguins that night. For the 25-year-old winger, highly popular with his Pittsburgh teammates and fans, returning just a few days later as a visitor was a surreal experience.

“It’s a pretty weird feeling for sure, and it’s crazy that it happened so quick, right off the bat,” said Armstrong. “First road trip, bang, up here. Right from the start coming over here and coming to the rink, it’s pretty crazy to come down to this room.”

The always genial Armstrong joked about the improved accommodations in the cramped Mellon Arena visitors’ dressing room. “They fixed it up over here, it’s pretty nice,” he said. “They used to send me down here in [training] camp when they used to cut me down to Wilkes-Barre, and I used to have this little bench seat in here and a couple of hooks.”

Armstrong’s demeanor turned slightly more serious, however, when he recalled his first shift of the game. The Thrashers started a line of Armstrong, Christensen and Recchi, and the trio was scorched for a goal just 50 seconds in, when the referee lost sight of a loose puck that Ryan Malone found in the crease and put home.

“Started off a little shaky, but I felt a little better as the game went on,” Armstrong said, before getting in a good-natured dig at his former teammate. “I thought there should’ve been a whistle there, I don’t know what the ref was doing, but Bugsy [Malone] cheaps one in again. That’s what he does, the big lug, he just stands there and knocks in the garbage. It’s too bad, I obviously wish we could’ve had a better start, but we battled hard.”

Armstrong also poked fun at an incident during which he was shoved into the Penguins’ net, which fell on top of Fleury while Armstrong landed in the crease. “Brooksie [defenseman Brooks Orpik] bench-pressed me up on the net there, the big ox, and I just kind of yelled heads-up to Flower [Fleury]; I didn’t want to crush his head off,” said Armstrong, still sporting a bloody gash on his nose that he received a week prior. “Anybody else, you get up and you see Army there with a cut on his face, not too many guys want to test me probably. I’m a pretty intimidating guy.”

At the end of the day, both Christensen and Armstrong were happy to emerge from the game with a hard-fought point for their new team, and relieved to put the first meeting with their old team in the past.

“It was weird, warming up on the other side of the ice, being on the other bench,” said Christensen. “You can kind of predict what they’re going to do, because I was part of that team for three years, and you kind of know what everyone’s tendencies are.”

“I’m just glad it’s over with; I feel very drained right now,” Christensen said. “To get a point coming in this building, with the situation with me and Army and guys like Recchs, it was good.”