A former Maple Leaf was the difference on Tuesday night.

Nik Antropov scored his first goal against his former team and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 29 stopped shots as the Atlanta Thrashers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 at the Air Canada Centre.

Antropov tipped a point shot from Ron Hainsey that got between the arm and body of Jonas Gustavsson, just 4:44 into the third period.

The Thrashers remain two points out of the final playoff spot with 80 points. Boston, Montreal and Philadelphia all have 82 points but each has played one less game than Atlanta.

Antropov played nine seasons with Toronto and hadn’t recorded a point against his former club in three games this year.

Maxim Afinigenov and Evgeny Artiyukhin also scored for the Thrashers. Pavelec stopped 14 shots in the third period.

Stalberg scored both goals for the Leafs, who were officially eliminated from the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. Gustavsson stopped 22 shots and lost for the first time in seven starts. The last Toronto goalie to win seven straight was Ed Belfour from Nov.22-Dec.6 in 2003.

Afinigenov opened the scoring at 6:18 of the second period when he beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot from the high slot, following a Francois Beauchemin turnover in his own zone.

Artiyukhin gave Atlanta a 2-0 lead just 46 seconds later when he took a pass from Marty Reasoner and redirected the puck high into the net.

Afinigenov had a chance to widen the Atlanta lead late in the second but Gustavsson stopped him on a breakaway. Toronto took the rebound the other way and converted on a two-on-one break at 17:43, when Stalberg took a pass from Tyler Bozak and banked a shot of Pavelec’s skate.

Stalberg tied the game at 3:47 of the third period when he beat Pavelec with a wrist shot from the high slot.

Antropov gave the Thrashers a 3-2 lead on a nifty tip from the low slot.

The Leafs had plenty of chances, including a power play with two minutes remaining but Pavelec closed the door.