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(Sports Network) - The Atlanta Thrashers missed out on a golden opportunity to gain ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race in their most recent trip to the ice. The postseason hopefuls may have another chance to boost their prospects tonight, however, when the cellar-dwelling Toronto Maple Leafs visit Philips Arena for a late-season showdown.

Atlanta entered Tuesday's critical home game with Boston trailing the Bruins by only one point for the East's playoff seed, but couldn't overtake their main competition in a disappointing 4-0 loss.

Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask turned aside all 27 Atlanta attempts to record his fourth shutout of the season, with the biggest stop coming on a penalty shot by Colby Armstrong in the second period that preserved a 2-0 lead. Johan Hedberg wasn't as sharp for the Thrashers, saving just 29-of-33 shots as his team had its four-game winning streak halted.

"We looked very nervous with the puck. We looked young out there," Atlanta head coach John Anderson remarked.

The youthful Thrashers have just nine games remaining -- one less than Boston -- to make up its three-point deficit in the standings. The Bruins host slumping Tampa Bay this evening.

Atlanta seems to have a favorable upcoming schedule, though. After taking on the Maple Leafs, who sit last in the East with 64 points, the Thrashers will have a home-and-home set with non-contending Carolina before facing Toronto again in a road matchup on Monday.

These teams have split two previous meetings this season, with the Thrashers coming through with a 4-3 decision at Philips Arena on January 19 behind two goals from the since-traded Ilya Kovalchuk.

Toronto has prevailed in three of its last five trips to Atlanta, however, and has been playing well as of late to boot. The Leafs are 6-2-0 over their last eight outings and had won three straight contests before a 4-1 home setback to Florida on Tuesday.

The Maple Leafs had a 46-28 shot advantage on the night but had trouble getting the puck by the Panthers' Scott Clemmensen, with Fredrik Sjostrom's unassisted tally with 2:20 left to play spoiling the shutout bid.

"That's been the pattern...where we're outplaying them and outchancing them and don't get rewarded and they score a goal on a mistake, we kind of lose what we should be doing in terms of generating offense," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "We had a lot of shots, but guys weren't going to the front of the net and stopping and paying a price."

Toronto sports one of the league's worst road records at 10-20-7, but has won two of its last four tests as the visitor.