ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Ryder scored twice, Patrice Bergeron had the only goal of the shootout and the Boston Bruins snapped Atlanta’s four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Thrashers on Thursday night.

Boston halted a three-game slide, which included two overtime defeats. The Thrashers at least picked up a point when Maxim Afinogenov scored with 41.4 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Tuukka Rask stopped all three Atlanta skaters in the shootout, turning aside shots by Rich Peverley, Slava Kozlov and Ilya Kovalchuk. Bergeron scored on Boston’s opening attempt, faking Ondrej Pavelec completely out of position and stuffing the puck into an open net.

The Bruins were less than a minute away from a regulation win, leading 3-2 when Atlanta pulled Pavelec for the extra skater.

Kovalchuk, who had already scored his 13th goal in 12 games, managed to keep the puck in the Boston zone, wheeled around and whipped a cross-ice pass to Afinogenov, the puck just missing the stick of flailing Bruins defender.

Afinogenov had time to settle the puck and rip a shot past Rask, just inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season. Afinogenov pumped his right fist and was knocked to ice by an exuberant Kovalchuk.

The Thrashers had the best chances in overtime but couldn’t beat Rask. Ditto for the shootout.

The Bruins jumped ahead 2-0 in the opening period. Marco Sturm deflected in a shot by Mark Recchi and Ryder added to the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining, beating Pavelec with a wrist shot from the left circle.

The Thrashers stormed back in the second. Nik Antropov redirected a shot from Tobias Enstrom past Rask for his first goal of the season. Before that, Antropov had 16 points in 17 games – all with assists.

Then there’s Kovalchuk, who’s all about goals. He tied the game at 2 with a perfectly placed shot into the upper left corner off a pass from Enstrom, who picked up his second assist.

Boston, which came in with the league’s worst power play, finally came through when Peverley off for hooking. Ryder scored his second goal of the night and sixth of the season, pushing the Bruins back to a 3-2 lead.

NOTES: Atlanta has lost seven straight to the Bruins. … Boston was bolstered by the return of Milan Lucic, who missed 14 games because of a broken finger. Boston was still missing another top-line forward, Marc Savard, who is close to returning from a broken foot. … Boston went with Rask in goal over Tim Thomas, who was 2-2 with a 3.45 goals-against average in five appearances at Philips Arena.

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