The Maple Leafs may not be a playoff team this year but for one night anyway, they wouldn't have wanted to switch places with Boston.

Nik Antropov had two goals to lead seven Toronto scorers as the visiting Leafs pounded the suddenly reeling Bruins 8-2 on Thursday night.

The Leafs' Nik Antropov, second from left, celebrates with teammates Alexander Steen (10), Mats Sundin (13) and Bryan McCabe after scoring in the second period on Thursday.
(Mary Schwalm/Associated Press)

Brian McCabe notched a goal and three assists, while Mats Sundin and Jason Blake each had a goal and two helpers for Toronto (30-29-10), which scored four times on the power play.

Sundin played his 1,300th career game, becoming the NHL's 46th player to reach that mark, and scored his team-leading 30th goal. He has 553 in his career.

The Leafs have won seven of their last 10 games, bu still trail Philadelphia by six points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after the Flyers beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Thursday.

"I think it's something all of us believed in clearly," Alex Steen, who had three assists, said of Toronto's post-season hopes. "We've certainly kept the faith and believed we can make the playoffs. The last five weeks or so we've played pretty solid hockey."

Darcy Tucker had a goal and an assist, Alex Ponikarovsky and Matt Stajan had a goal apiece, and Vesa Toskala made 27 saves for the Leafs, who host New Jersey on Saturday (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).

Thomas struggles again

Peter Schaefer and Phil Kessel scored for the Bruins — the former opening the scoring in the first period, the latter closing it late in the third.

Since a six-game winning streak, Boston (35-25-7) has been outscored 19-3 in dropping its last three. That includes Monday's 10-2 drubbing in Washington and Tuesday's 1-0 overtime loss against Florida.

"I don't think it's time to panic," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "It's certainly time to make the adjustments and address. I don't know if it's we're totally out of sync or the pressure. We've just got to take a step back."

Tim Thomas had another tough night in net. Roughed up for seven goals — and pulled twice — Monday against the Capitals, Thomas surrendered five goals on 23 shots Thursday before being replaced by Alex Auld, who played Tuesday. The backup didn't fare well against the Leafs, allowing three goals on 17 shots.

Thursday's pounding dropped Boston to seventh place in the East. The Bruins are two points behind the New York Rangers, who beat the Islanders 4-1, and just one point ahead of Philadelphia.

"We're just a little fragile right now," Thomas said. "We haven't really been that all year."

Leafs pull away in 2nd

First-period goals by Schaefer and Blake — the latter on a power-play — had the game tied at 1-1 before the Leafs broke it open in the second.

Ponikarovsky got things started just 1:17 in, streaking down the left wing and firing in a wicked snap shot from the face-off dot.

McCabe struck on a power play 3:31 later when his pass attempt from the point hit the leg of Bruins winger Chuck Kobasew and zipped past Thomas.

Just 3:17 after that, Stajan powered out from behind the goal line to slide the puck under the Bruins starter. Antropov capped the second-period scoring on the power play 3:45 later, completing a slick three-way passing play with McCabe and Sundin to make the score 5-1 and end Thomas's night.

Toronto refused to take its foot off the pedal against Auld in the third. Tucker, Antropov — on the power play — and Sundin made it seven unanswered goals for the Leafs before Kessel finally stopped the bleeding by scoring with 36 seconds remaining.

With files from the Associated Press