BOSTON – Ed Belfour posted his eighth shutout of the season and the Toronto Maple Leafs cut Boston’s lead in the Northeast Division to one point with a 3-0 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night.

Toronto got goals from Joe Nieuwendyk and Ron Francis in the first nine minutes of the second period and an empty-net goal from Nik Antropov with 1:43 left in the game.

Belfour made 33 saves, the same amount he had in his last game, a 7-2 loss Tuesday night to Tampa Bay. The Bruins suffered their 10th shutout of the season. Eight have come at home, breaking the team record of six set in 1951-52.

Toronto has 96 points with four-regular season games left in the tight Eastern Conference race. Boston, with 97, has five games remaining.

Nieuwendyk scored his fifth goal in nine games and 19th of the season from just outside the crease on a rebound after goalie Andrew Raycroft stopped a shot by Antropov.

Francis scored his first goal since being acquired by Toronto on March 9 from Carolina. He connected at 8:40 on a soft shot from 15 feet in front of the net that just got by defenseman Sergei Gonchar and Raycroft. It was Francis’ 11th goal of the season and his 137th point in 130 games against the Bruins.

The Bruins lost for just the second time in 10 games (7-2-1) and had beaten Tampa Bay and Ottawa, two strong Eastern Conference teams, in their previous two games, both at home.

The Maple Leafs came back from a 2-1 loss to Boston nine days earlier and are 4-2 in their last six games.

Notes: Nine of Boston’s 18 losses have been shutouts. … The teams split the season series 3-3, with Belfour getting two shutouts. … Antropov has goals in three consecutive games. … Boston is 24-7-5-3 since Jan. 1, gaining 56 of a possible 78 points.

AP-ES-03-25-04 2142EST