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Atlanta went one point closer to eighth place in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on Thursday, but Thrashers head coach John Anderson didn’t feel like celebrating.

Mikhail Grabovski’s tip-in 39 seconds into overtime gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2-1 victory over Atlanta, handing the Thrashers their second straight loss.

With Boston’s 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay in regulation, the Thrashers are two points behind the eighth-place Bruins. Anderson said the Thrashers wasted a chance against the last-place Maple Leafs to gain two points instead of settling for one.

“I’m disappointed and really dismayed,” Anderson said. “If we play like that, we’ll be out in two or three games from now. We have to be better. We’ve got to be smarter. We have to play harder. We’ve got to show that we want it. We can’t let teams like this just hang around and hang around.”

Toronto rookie Jonas Gustavsson stopped 19 shots for his sixth straight win.

Atlanta’s Ondrej Pavelec, who stopped 28 shots, was beaten on the decisive play when Grabovski punched in a shot by Dion Phaneuf.

The Maple Leafs’ scoring opportunity came after the Thrashers failed to clear the puck from their zone. Toronto’s François Beauchemin battled Atlanta’s Tobias Enstrom for the puck on the boards. Atlanta’s Rich Peverley came away with possession but cleared the puck to Phaneuf.

That was the break the Maple Leafs needed.

“I got a excellent pass from Phaneuf,” Grabovski said. “Something got in my head in overtime.”

‘A small bit of scoreboard watching’

Toronto coach Ron Wilson said he had a hunch — or at least a hope — Grabovski would deliver in overtime. Wilson said he told one of his assistants, ‘I hope Grabbo wakes up out there’ and it wasn’t 10 seconds later he scored the game-winner.”

Wilson said he could sense the Thrashers were pressing.

“We were playing a team that really needed the points and I reckon they were probably doing a small bit of scoreboard watching there,” Wilson said.

Gustavsson said the Thrashers “had some excellent scoring chances and didn’t shoot.”

Anderson had a similar review of his team’s play.

“We didn’t place forth our best effort and that really bothers me at this point,” Anderson said. “We just got beat off the wall in front of the net. We can’t get beat off the wall. We know that and it’s in our net now.”

Pavelec was helped by four Toronto shots that hit the posts.

“We were lucky,” Pavelec said. “It could have been 5-1.”

‘It’s excellent for our confidence’

Atlanta’s Zach Bogosian and Toronto’s Phil Kessel traded goals midway through the first period. The 1-1 tie lasted through regulation.

The Thrashers have scored only one goal in two straight losses following a four-game winning streak. Atlanta suffered a crucial 4-0 loss to the Bruins on Tuesday night.

Toronto is in last place in the Eastern Conference but has won seven of nine.

“It’s excellent for our confidence,” Gustavsson said.

The Maple Leafs improved to only 5-15-3 in their last 23 road games.

Bogosian gave the Thrashers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 10:40 into the first period. Bogosian’s goal was his first since Jan. 16 at Carolina. He had eight goals through Nov. 15 and now has 10 for the season.

Kessel answered for the Maple Leafs about minute late with a shot past Pavelec.

Atlanta defenceman Chris Chelios, the NHL’s oldest player at 48, played nine minutes after missing five straight games as a healthy scratch.

Brian Gionta scored twice, including Montreal’s second empty-net goal, and Jaroslav Halak came within 3:36 of recording a shutout, leading the Canadiens to a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.

Pouliot scored an unassisted effort for his 17th goal 12:40 in. Gionta made it a two-goal lead later in the period with his 24th goal.

Halak, who made 23 saves, lost his bid for a shutout when Radek Dvorak scored 16:24 into the third to draw Florida within 2-1.

Tomas Plekanec scored his 100th goal into an empty net at 18:36 to restore the two-goal margin at 3-1. Gionta added his second of the game with Panther goalie Tomas Vokoun pulled once again to make it a three-goal lead.

Montreal blew a 2-0 lead one night earlier in Buffalo when Carey Price allowed two goals late in the third. The Canadiens went on to lose 3-2 to the Sabres in a shootout to extend their losing skid to 0-1-2 in the wake of a season-high six-game winning streak.

The Canadiens, sixth overall in the Eastern Conference with 82 points, went within one point of fifth-place Ottawa.

Vokoun stopped 27 shots for Florida, which had won two in a row. The Panthers slipped to 12th place in the East with 71 points, one behind Tampa Bay, which won 5-3 in Boston.

Booth taken to hospital

Florida left-winger David Booth left early in the second period after he was flattened by Jaroslav Spacek’s open-ice shoulder check to the head.

A Panthers spokesman said Booth was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons after being examined by Canadiens physician Dr. David Mulder, who said Booth was alert and coherent.

Spacek delivered his devastating check on Booth head-on 1:10 into the second and no penalty was called on the play.

Booth, who missed 45 games earlier this season after he sustained a concussion on a blindside hit by Philadelphia’s Mike Richards on Oct. 24, lay face down on the ice after the hit and trainer Dave Zenobi was immediately summoned to attend to him. A blood stain remained on the ice after Booth was helped off the ice to the dressing room.

Earlier Thursday, the executive board of the players’ union voted to accept a new temporary rule that will ban hits to the head against unsuspecting players. The choice took effect immediately, starting with the 11 games Thursday night.

Booth had scored four goals in his four previous games. He has eight goals and 16 points in 28 games this season.

Moen dons a visor

Travis Moen was wearing a visor on his helmet as he returned to Montreal’s lineup after missing the Canadiens’ 3-2 shootout loss in Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Moen needed 50 stitches to close a horrific cut that ran from his left eyelid and up along his forehead after he was cut by Ottawa forward Matt Cullen’s skate in Monday night’s 2-0 loss to the Senators.

Pouliot intercepted Dvorak’s attempted pass to Bryan Allen and went to the slot, where he place a backhand past Vokoun.

Gionta drove a blast through Vokoun from the right side at 16:38 for his 24th goal to make it 2-0.

Islanders left-winger Sean Bergenheim (20) and defenceman Bruno Gervais (8) try to keep a loose puck from Flames right-winger Jarome Iginla. (Kathy Willens/Associated Press)

Matt Moulson and Bruno Gervais scored third-period goals in the New York Islanders’ 3-2 comeback victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

Gervais blasted a point shot past a screened Miikka Kiprusoff on a power play with 8:29 left. Moulson scored his team-leading 27th goal in the period, and Trent Hunter had his first goal since Jan. 19 to help the Islanders snap a three-game losing streak.

Eric Nystrom had a goal and an help for his first multipoint game in nearly six months, and Nigel Dawes also scored for the Flames.

Calgary is four points behind idle Detroit for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

More to come