The Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a pair of four-game losing streaks on Thursday night.
Nik Antropov notched assists on two goals, including the winner by captain Mats Sundin, as the visiting Maple Leafs skated to a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers before a crowd of 14,031 at Philips Arena.
Toronto had lost its last four games, and its previous four meetings with Atlanta.
"It has been a while," Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice said. "We have tried to keep our spirits up.
"We came out ready to play. We had to win this game to get a good feeling and, hopefully, we can build on this one."
Andy Wozniewski, Alex Steen and Matt Stajan registered the other goals as the Maple Leafs (9-11-6) won for the second time in nine outings.
We don't let the pressure bother us [on the road]," Steen said. "We want to be a playoff team and want to play good hockey."
"We had scoring chances from all four lines," noted Sundin, captain of the Maple Leafs.
"All around, I felt we had a good effort from our club. There is no doubt we need to put a few wins together."
Vesa Toskala finished with 18 stops, notably a terrific blocker save on a slapshot from the slot by Pascal Dupuis late in the third period.
Hal Gill contributed two assists as Toronto peppered Thrashers goaltender Johan Hedberg with 25 shots.
"We saw some things we haven't, such as scoring off the rush," Maurice said. "We played pretty darn well tonight."
Ilya Kovalchuk and Tobias Enstrom had the goals for the Thrashers (11-13-0), who have suffered three straight losses — two by shutout.
"We don't just expect Kovalchuk to score," Thrashers captain Bobby Holik said. "We expect all of us to score."
"Overall, our defensive zone coverage is much more solid," Maurice noted. "We did a pretty good job of keeping Atlanta to the outside."
Odd opening goal
Toronto opened the scoring on a strange goal credited to Wozniewski, whose point shot banked off the end glass, back over the crossbar and off Hedberg's left shoulder blade and into the net.
Antropov was parked behind the net and swatted at the puck, but video review confirmed that his stick missed it, guaranteeing Wozniewski his second goal of the season 14:10 into the contest.
Steen made it 2-0 with four seconds left in the first period, cradling Kyle Wellwood's drop pass and rifling home his fourth.
Sundin increased Toronto's lead to 3-0 at 15:18 of the second period, taking a drop pass from Antropov, skating by a defender and scoring his 13th on a backhand shot.
But Kovalchuk replied 62 seconds later, using defenceman Ian White as a screen to pot his team-high 20th on a low wrist shot.
The Maple Leafs went ahead 4-1 when Boyd Devereaux burst into the offensive zone and dropped the puck for Stajan, who blasted a one-timer to high to Hedberg's glove side for his fifth at 6:04 of the third period.
The Thrashers cut the deficit to 4-2 on Enstrom's third, a power-play goal off a setup from Marian Hossa with 7:29 remaining.
Enstrom has 14 points this season, 10 of them with the man advantage.
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Nik Antropov notched assists on two goals, including the winner by captain Mats Sundin, as the visiting Maple Leafs skated to a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers before a crowd of 14,031 at Philips Arena.
Toronto had lost its last four games, and its previous four meetings with Atlanta.
"It has been a while," Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice said. "We have tried to keep our spirits up.
"We came out ready to play. We had to win this game to get a good feeling and, hopefully, we can build on this one."
Andy Wozniewski, Alex Steen and Matt Stajan registered the other goals as the Maple Leafs (9-11-6) won for the second time in nine outings.
We don't let the pressure bother us [on the road]," Steen said. "We want to be a playoff team and want to play good hockey."
"We had scoring chances from all four lines," noted Sundin, captain of the Maple Leafs.
"All around, I felt we had a good effort from our club. There is no doubt we need to put a few wins together."
Vesa Toskala finished with 18 stops, notably a terrific blocker save on a slapshot from the slot by Pascal Dupuis late in the third period.
Hal Gill contributed two assists as Toronto peppered Thrashers goaltender Johan Hedberg with 25 shots.
"We saw some things we haven't, such as scoring off the rush," Maurice said. "We played pretty darn well tonight."
Ilya Kovalchuk and Tobias Enstrom had the goals for the Thrashers (11-13-0), who have suffered three straight losses — two by shutout.
"We don't just expect Kovalchuk to score," Thrashers captain Bobby Holik said. "We expect all of us to score."
"Overall, our defensive zone coverage is much more solid," Maurice noted. "We did a pretty good job of keeping Atlanta to the outside."
Odd opening goal
Toronto opened the scoring on a strange goal credited to Wozniewski, whose point shot banked off the end glass, back over the crossbar and off Hedberg's left shoulder blade and into the net.
Antropov was parked behind the net and swatted at the puck, but video review confirmed that his stick missed it, guaranteeing Wozniewski his second goal of the season 14:10 into the contest.
Steen made it 2-0 with four seconds left in the first period, cradling Kyle Wellwood's drop pass and rifling home his fourth.
Sundin increased Toronto's lead to 3-0 at 15:18 of the second period, taking a drop pass from Antropov, skating by a defender and scoring his 13th on a backhand shot.
But Kovalchuk replied 62 seconds later, using defenceman Ian White as a screen to pot his team-high 20th on a low wrist shot.
The Maple Leafs went ahead 4-1 when Boyd Devereaux burst into the offensive zone and dropped the puck for Stajan, who blasted a one-timer to high to Hedberg's glove side for his fifth at 6:04 of the third period.
The Thrashers cut the deficit to 4-2 on Enstrom's third, a power-play goal off a setup from Marian Hossa with 7:29 remaining.
Enstrom has 14 points this season, 10 of them with the man advantage.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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