Playing the sloppy Toronto Maple Leafs was exactly what the lowly Atlanta Thrashers needed.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the decisive goal as the Thrashers earned a 5-4 shootout victory over the Maple Leafs before a crowd of 19,210 at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.

Vesa Toskala denies Brad Sterling in Tuesday's 5-4 Maple Leafs setback.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

"Kovalchuk has had big nights in Toronto," Thrashers general manager and head coach Don Waddell said. "He loves to play here.

"He is taking charge of this hockey club. It was evident from the very first shift he was out there that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with."

Kovalchuk, who had one goal and two assists in regulation, beat Maple Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala high to the glove side to clinch the win.

Earlier in the shootout, Vyacheslav Kozlov roofed a wrist shot over a sprawled Toskala to offset Nik Antropov's goal on Johan Hedberg.

Hedberg foiled Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin with an aggressive pokecheck and Jason Blake with an extended right pad, while Toskala shut the five-hole on Marian Hossa.

"That is the team you don't want to get in a shootout with," Maple Leafs head coach Paul Maurice said.

Atlanta lost its six first games under head coach Bob Hartley, who was fired last Wednesday, and is 2-1 since Waddell grabbed the coaching reins on an interim basis.

"It is a great confidence-builder for us because we have been a little bit fragile," Waddell said.
 
Eric Perrin equalled Kovalchuck with a goal and two assists in regulation for the Thrashers (2-7-0), who improved to 1-4-0 on the road.  

Todd White provided a goal and an assist and rookie Tobias Enstrom rounded out Atlanta's scoring.

"A big, big win for us and a good battle," White said. "Winning two out of three will help get our confidence back and, if we get our confidence back, we will create more chances out there."

"It is nice to get a win and help ourselves get over the hump," Thrashers defenceman Ken Klee said. "We really needed this.

"It wasn't pretty by any means. But we will take this and try to build on it."

Toronto trailed 4-3 and looked to be headed to defeat when Sundin passed the puck from behind the net to Alexei Ponikarovsky, who slid it under Hedberg's left skate for the tying goal with 10 seconds remaining.

Sundin posted one goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs (3-4-3), who have lost four of their last five games. 

"He is fantastic, you have just got to marvel at him," Maurice said of Sundin, now tied with Henrik Zetterberg for the league lead in points with 17.

Hal Gill and Antropov scored the other goals, with Blake contributing three assists.

"We're playing great [only] in spurts," Blake said. "I don't know why that is, I don't know how we fix it."

"It is all about the wins right now and we didn't win," Maple Leafs forward Alex Steen said. "One point isn't good enough for us."

Lucky 13

Sundin, who wears No. 13, opened the scoring 13 seconds into the contest on a wraparound.

It was Sundin's sixth goal of the season.

Enstrom was trailing on the rush when he took a drop pass from Kovalchuk and notched his first NHL goal to tie it 1-1 at 4:23 of the first period. 

Kovalchuk put Atlanta ahead 2-1, curling out of the corner and firing in his fifth goal of the season with 33 seconds left in the period.

Gill tied it 2-2 with his first on a slapshot 72 seconds into the second period, but Perrin replied with a power-play goal at the 14:22 mark.

The Maple Leafs responded as Antropov finished a nifty passing play involving Sundin and Blake, flipping in a rebound for his team-high seventh at 16:19.

It remained tied at 3-3 until Perrin set up White for the go-ahead goal on 2-on-1 break with 6:58 remaining.

With files from the Canadian Press