Thrashers snap 3-game skid against Toronto

Toronto — John Anderson could hardly have ordered up a better display for his hometown debut as an NHL coach.

Anderson’s Thrashers played their most complete game of the season and scored one of their most lopsided victories, 6-3 over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

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Atlanta Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg makes a save on Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mikkhail Grabovski

Atlanta Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg makes a save on Toronto Maple Leafs' Mikkhail Grabovski

All four lines scored, and so did a defenseman. Johan Hedberg made one of the team’s most outstanding saves of the season. An offense that had averaged only 19 shots on net in its past two games had 23 by the end of the second period. And Ilya Kovalchuk not only broke a scoring slump but fought for the first time this season.

That’s why the Thrashers snapped a three-game losing streak and why Anderson was smiling when he emerged from the locker room to meet the media.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I got the job, the first game and certainly the first game back in Toronto,” Anderson said. “I’m really proud of how we played tonight.

“I think it was our best game, [Ilya] Kovalchuk obviously his best game, the most enthusiasm I’ve seen him have all year. He’s got a bit of a bloody nose for it, but I think he’d trade that for a win any day. Kovy, he’s the face of the Thrashers, and when you see your big star go in there and fight and score and hit and do whatever he has to do to win, I think that lifts our whole team.”

How good a night was it for the Thrashers? The kind of night where Todd White tried to pass from the side of the net to Mathieu Schneider at the point and ended up banking the puck into the net off a Toronto defenseman.

That was White’s second goal. Colby Armstrong, Kovalchuk, Schneider and Chris Thorburn scored, too. Thorburn looked like Tiger Woods the way he pumped his fist in celebration of his first goal this season.

“It was pretty exciting, to say the least,” Thorburn said. “I haven’t done it often, and not lately, that’s for sure. I was just so happy.”

The Maple Leafs weren’t. They got the worst of a chippy game that featured 19 penalties, including four for fighting and four for roughing. Leafs coach Ron Wilson accused Colby Armstrong of a cheap shot on Jason Blake.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen this guy do that before where he launches his shoulder right at a guy’s head,” Wilson said.

Armstrong said it was a clean play, and replays showed he didn’t leave his feet to deliver the hit, despite Maple Leafs claims to the contrary.

All 18 Thrashers skaters were on the ice for at least one goal.

Hedberg robbed Mikhail Grabovski on a two-on-one to preserve a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

“It feels good to make a save like that and see my teammates play a really strong game in front of me,” Hedberg said. “We did a lot of things today we’ve got to continue to do, finishing our checks, being intense in every part of the game, being smart around the lines and don’t give up turnovers. We can take this as a big confidence builder.”

It was the first of six games in nine days. The second in that stretch comes tonight in Washington.