BOSTON (AP) – Hannu Toivonen made 36 saves, and the Boston Bruins earned their first Northeast Division victory of the season by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Boston, which had been 0-5-1 in its division, won for just the second time in seven games.

Eric Lindros cut the deficit to 2-1 with 2:37 left when he scored his eighth goal, jamming the puck past Toivonen.

Toivonen – making his third NHL start – snapped the Bruins’ six-game streak of allowing at least three goals.

Jiri Slegr’s power-play goal gave Boston a 1-0 lead with 5:09 remaining in the first period. He fired a slap shot from the blue line that deflected off a Toronto player’s skate and past goalie Mikael Tellqvist.

The goal snapped the Bruins’ 0-for-11 drought on the power play against the Maple Leafs and marked only the fourth time in 12 games that Boston scored first.

Toivonen sparkled in the second period when he made 20 saves while turning back several point blank opportunities. Sergei Samsonov scored the eventual winning goal 1:12 into the third period when he took a feed from Joe Thornton behind the Toronto net and slid the puck past Tellqvist. It was Samsonov’s fifth goal in five games.

Defensemen Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle combined for eight shots in the second period for Toronto, which lost for the second time in seven games.

Bruins G Andrew Raycroft will be out for a week because of a strained hamstring.

Jordan Sigalet was recalled from Providence of the AHL to replace him. … Toronto was 1-for-5 with the man advantage and began the night with the top power play in the NHL.

AP-ES-10-27-05 2150EDT

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