From The AJC …
TORONTO — Had enough yet? Well, there is more left to the ride. The roller-coaster journey that has become the Thrashers’ season continued Tuesday with a 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Center. It wasn’t easy. Nik Antropov scored less than a minute after the Thrashers blew a two-goal lead to give his team a much-needed victory. The win keeps the Thrashers’ playoff hopes alive with five games remaining in the regular season. The Thrashers (34-31-12, 80 points) remained ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Bruins for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Bruins won in overtime against the Devils on Tuesday.
Antropov, who played his first nine seasons with the Maple Leafs, scored the game-winner at the 4:44 mark of the third period. His team-leading 24th goal of the season and being named the third star of the game brought a chorus of boos from the crowd.
“It’s OK. They can do whatever they want,” Antropov said. “We got two points, and that’s all the matters.”
What about the fact that his game-winner officially eliminated the last-place Maple Leafs from the playoffs?
“That’s good to hear,” he said.
The Thrashers held on down the stretch as goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made several huge saves to preserve the one-goal lead. The Thrashers played the last two minutes down a man after a tripping penalty to Jim Slater and down two men when the Maple Leafs pulled goaltender Johan Gustavsson.
“We played great defensively,” said Pavelec, who stopped 27 shots. “The penalty kill played great. We blocked a couple shots. They had a couple scoring chances, but the guys in front of me did a great job and I always saw the shots. It’s a big win for us.”
The Thrashers opened the two-goal lead by scoring twice, 26 seconds apart, in the second period on goals by Maxim Afinogenov and Evgeny Artyukhin.
Afinogenov scored his 23rd of the season, tying his career high, 6:18 into the period with a great individual effort. After taking control of the puck in the Maple Leafs’ zone, Afinogenov skated in front of the net with a couple of fakes. He ripped a shot into the back of the net.
“I tried to move into the middle more, and the goalie bit on it and went to the ground, and I got almost an empty-netter,” Afinogenov said.
Less than a half minute later, Artyukhin was on the receiving end of a give-and-go with Marty Reasoner. He buried a shot past Gustavsson for his eighth goal of the season and fourth in 14 games with the Thrashers.
The lead didn’t last.
Viktor Stalberg scored with 2:17 left in the second period to pull the Maple Leafs to 2-1, capping a 2-on-1 break. Stalberg scored again 3:47 into the third period to even the score at 2-2.
The tie didn’t last.
Antropov put the Thrashers up again with a goal 57 seconds later.
“They brought it to us pretty good there, but we had a couple good sequences in a row there. We got a good breakout, and it was a nice shot from the point by Ronny [Hainsey], and I happened to get in front of it. It sounds simple.”
Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson didn’t see it that way.
“We handed them the game,” Wilson said. “They did some nice things, but we handed them the game essentially.”
How important was this game to the Thrashers? Afinogenov spent an extended period of time talking to Pavelec by the goal just before the start of the game.
“I just told him to play the same way he’s been playing and be confident,” Afinogenov said. “He made some huge saves for us. He was a big part of the win tonight. It was a huge game for us, especially after we lost [Monday]. We needed to come back and win this game. That’s what we did."
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