TORONTO (AP) – Marco Sturm and rookie David Krejci each had a goal and an assist and the Boston Bruins hurt Toronto’s playoff chances with a 6-2 victory over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

Jeremy Reich, Phil Kessel, Shawn Thornton and Glen Murray also scored for the Bruins, who maintained their hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and improved to 86 points.

Boston is six points ahead of the Leafs with five games left to play for Toronto. The best the Leafs can get to is 90 points.

Coach Paul Maurice pulled goalie Vesa Toskala with 3:18 to play in the third period and his team down three goals.

Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake scored for the Leafs, who head to Boston on Thursday.

The Leafs had gone 12-4-1 in their past 17 games entering Tuesday.

Both clubs were without their leading scorers. Bruins playmaker Marc Savard was out with a back injury after being cross-checked by Montreal’s Steve Begin on Saturday night. Leafs captain Mats Sundin missed his fifth straight game with a groin injury. The Leafs had gone 3-1 without their star center.

Matt Lashoff opened the scoring with a point shot that deflected off Murray and went past Toskala just 3:57 into the game.

Krejci made it 2-0 only 1:12 into the second period, backhanding a rebound past Toskala off a Sturm shot. Krejci then returned the favor at 8:20, spotting Sturm at the side of the net with a perfect cross-ice pass on a power play. That gave the Bruins a 3-0 lead.

Pavel Kubina bounced a pass off Blake and past goalie Tim Thomas with 4:30 left in the second period to make it 3-1.

Thornton then made it 4-1 early in the third period.

Ponikarovsky slid home a shot from the slot with 5:16 left to make it 4-2. Kessel restored the three-goal lead on a one-timer with 3:44 remaining. Reich scored into an empty net to complete the scoring at 19:43.

Notes: Forward Boyd Devereaux made his return to the Leafs lineup after missing 15 games with a knee injury. The Leafs reassigned forward Alex Foster to the AHL Marlies … The Bruins were also missing defensemen Andrew Ference (leg), Andrew Alberts (concussion) and Bobby Allen (back). Star center Patrice Bergeron has been out since October a concussion. … The Leafs were also missing second-leading scorer Nik Antropov (knee) as well as forward John Pohl (ankle) and defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo (hamstring).

AP-ES-03-25-08 2236EDT