BOSTON (AP) – When the Atlanta Thrashers traded for Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhitnik last month, they were in the midst of a free fall. Now they’re on the brink of clinching their first playoff berth, and have both players to thank.

Tkachuk scored the winner, Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 shots, and the Atlanta Thrashers moved closer to clinching their first playoff berth with a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

The Thrashers squandered a 2-0 lead, but Tkachuk bailed them out when he swatted a rebound past Boston goalie Joey MacDonald with 18.6 seconds remaining in the third.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Greg de Vries also scored, and Tkachuk added an assist for the Thrashers, who swept the four-game series with Boston.

The Thrashers won their second straight.

Marco Sturm and Petr Kalus scored, and MacDonald made 37 saves for Boston, which has lost seven of eight to drop out of playoff contention.

“You don’t want to have to give your jersey away,” Boston coach Dave Lewis said. “It’s an uncomfortable feeling. I did that as a player in New Jersey years and years ago, and it’s an awful feeling. We have to get better as a group and as a team.”

The Thrashers outshot Boston 16-7 in the first period and took a 1-0 lead 24 seconds in when Garnet Exelby deked MacDonald and fed Kovalchuk for an easy goal.

After de Vries extended Atlanta’s lead to 2-0 midway through second, Sturm cut the deficit to 2-1 with 1:30 left in the period when he deflected Zdeno Chara’s slap shot into the net.

Kalus tied it at 2 with 4:57 left in the third, but Atlanta kept the puck in Boston’s zone for the rest of the period before Tkachuk’s winner.

“(Tkachuk) is a great leader,” Sturm said. “He’s showed it in the past and he was a good pickup for them – he showed why today. He’s always good for big goals.”

Notes: Boston was charged with four first-period penalties, while Atlanta had none. … Kovalchuk has 199 career goals. … Tkachuk and Zhitnik made their Atlanta debut in Boston on Feb. 26. … Atlanta outshot Boston 40-27. … Boston has lost six in a row to Atlanta.