Mats Sundin scored his 13th goal, and Nik Antropov had two assists to help the Toronto Maple Leafs end a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored his NHL-leading 20th goal 16:20 into the second, breaking an offensive drought for Atlanta that lasted seven-plus periods and covered 166 minutes.
In losing their third straight, the Thrashers never really threatened Toronto, which scored four goals for the first time in 14 games.
Sundin, 26th in NHL history with 536 goals, put the Leafs up 2-0 with a backhander from the left circle that beat goalie Johan Hedberg to the stick side.
Antropov earned his 13th assist on Andy Wozniewski's bizarre goal that opened the scoring with 5:50 left in the first. Wozniewski might want to credit Hedberg, who inadvertently knocked in the puck with the back of his left glove.
Regardless, Wozniewski raised his arms in triumph after watching his shot sail over the net, ricochet off the rear boards and bounce off the goalie. Hedberg was in the crease and facing forward with the back of his skates at the goal line when the puck went into the net.
Alex Steen's fourth goal gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead with 4 seconds left in the first and ended a personal 11-game scoring drought. Matt Stajan hadn't scored in his last 10 games before his fifth goal put Toronto ahead 4-1 with 13:56 remaining.
Tobias Enstrom's third goal for Atlanta, coming on the power play with 7:29 left in the game, made it 4-2.
Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala improved to 7-8-3 after stopping 18 of 20 shots. Hedberg made 21 saves.
Toronto, which had lost seven of eight, will try on Saturday against Pittsburgh to win consecutive games for the first time since taking two straight from the Penguins and New York Rangers Oct. 25-27.
Atlanta had won four straight before consecutive shutout losses at New Jersey and Pittsburgh, but the Thrashers now have an 11-7 record since general manager Don Waddell took over as coach last month.
Notes:@ Sundin needs five goals to pass Teemu Selanne for 25th place on the NHL's career list. ... Atlanta has earned just eight points at Philips Arena this season. ... Despite the Thrashers' recent offensive problems, Kovalchuk has 12 points, including six goals, in his last seven games.
Labels: Atlanta Thrashers, Hockey, Maple Leafs
# posted by
Brian Vanderhoff @ 10:29 AM
