Boston, MA (Best E Casino) - Rookie Blake Wheeler recorded a hat trick to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in a battle of Original Six rivals at TD Banknorth Garden.

Dennis Wideman tallied a goal and an assist while Zdeno Chara also scored for Boston, which has won five of its last six games. Marco Sturm and David Krejci both added two assists in the victory.

"I'm pretty fortunate to play with two pretty good players (Sturm and Krejci) over there and they make it pretty easy for me," said Wheeler. "With all that success, you've got to give it to your linemates because they're the ones putting the puck on your stick."

Boston goaltender Tim Thomas made 34 saves.

Mikhail Grabovski and Alex Steen scored for the Maple Leafs, who are winless in their last three games (0-2-1). Vesa Toskala allowed four goals on 34 shots in the losing effort.

A pair of power-play goals by Boston in the first period gave the hosts an early 2-0 lead.

First, Wideman's third goal -- a blast from the left point -- opened the scoring at the 5:56 mark only one second before a minor penalty to Alexei Ponikarovsky was set to expire.

Soon after, Nik Antropov was sent to the penalty box for hooking and again it was Wideman who keyed the action. Following a faceoff inside the left circle, the puck was drawn back to Wideman at the near point and he fired a wrist shot toward the net that Wheeler deflected home from atop the crease at 7:46.

"We need to figure this out as far as our (slow) starts," said Toronto's Dominic Moore. "We are not good enough that we can be giving teams leads. It's a matter of focus and discipline."

The only goal of the middle session was scored by Wheeler at 5:18. Nearly every player on the ice came together in an unusual scrum for the puck in the slot. The disc was stuck under the blade of a skate but was finally poked free before Krejci corralled it near the high left half-wall. Krejci then passed to Sturm at the base of the left circle, and Sturm quickly fed across the low slot for an easy goal by Wheeler past an out-of-position Toskala.

At the 2:13 mark of the third, Steen drew the Leafs within 3-1. He stole the puck from a defender following a save by Thomas, skated around the net and stuffed it into the goal.

Chara's first goal of the season with 2:45 to go in regulation again made it a three-goal cushion, but Grabovski surprised the Boston defense corps under a minute later when he found open ice and won the race for a deflected dump-in for a partial breakaway goal at 18:06.

Wheeler's empty-netter inside the final minute capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Antropov left the game with a foot injury and teammate John Mitchell exited the contest with a shoulder injury. Neither player returned...Toronto fell to 3-3-1 on the road this season...The Bruins were 2-for-3 on the power play while the Leafs were scoreless on their four chances with the extra skater...This marked Chara's 700th career game...Prior to the game, Wheeler changed his jersey number from 42 to 26.