TORONTO — Curtis Joseph made 29 saves to earn his first win of the season and the 450th victory of his NHL career and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied to beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night.
Pavel Kubina scored the winner on a power play 33 seconds into overtime to help the Leafs end a three-game losing streak.
Nikolai Kulemin, Lee Stempniak and Jason Blake also scored for Toronto.
The 41-year-old Joseph earned his first victory since April 5 when he beat Vancouver while with Calgary. He made 29 saves.
Colby Armstrong tied the game 3-3 for Atlanta on a power play at 13:17 of the third, but Kubina won it by sending a slap shot past Johan Hedberg. Hedberg finished with 43 saves.
Bryan Little, with his seventh goal in four games, and Jim Slater also scored for the Thrashers, who have lost three in a row.
Joseph is scheduled to start again when the Maple Leafs host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
He was making his first start since a 6-3 loss at home to the Thrashers on Nov. 25.
The Maple Leafs fell behind 2-0 early, but Joseph settled down to allow his teammates to rally.
The Thrashers finished the first period up 2-1.
Little opened the scoring on a power play, completing a nifty passing play by sending Todd White’s centering pass from behind the goal past Joseph at 4:41.
Just over two minutes later, Slater made it 2-0 when he took a brilliant touch pass from Joey Crabb at the blue line, walked in on Joseph and had his rebound trickle just past the goal line.
Kulemin cut into the lead at 8:29 when he converted a nice behind-the-back centering pass from Mikhail Grabovski as he cut behind then goal.
Notes: Leafs winger Jeremy Williams suffered a shoulder injury falling awkwardly into the boards early in the first period and didn’t return. He came in with five goals and two assists since his recall Dec. 7. ... Stajan (right eye) and tough guy Andre Deveaux were scratched for the Maple Leafs. ... Zach Bogosian (broken left leg), the third overall pick last summer, fellow defenseman Scott Lehman (upper body) and center Jason Williams sat out for the Thrashers. ... Kulemin ended an eight-game goalless streak.