NHL: Boston 8, Toronto 5

BOSTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The first hat trick in David Krejci's NHL career Thursday highlighted an offensive show and helped bring Boston its 12th straight home win -- 8-5 over Toronto.

Phil Kessel scored twice and had an assist, running his points streak to 16 games.

Boston won for the eighth time in nine games overall and improved to 22-5-4 -- the best record in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins' 12-game home winning streak is their longest in 33 seasons.

The last Boston loss on home ice came Oct. 23 against Toronto.

Marco Strum opened the scoring for Boston just 36 seconds into the game and Krejci produced a power-play goal less than 4 minutes later.

Krejci then contributed one of three goals Boston scored in the first 4:21 of the second period, boosting the Bruins' lead to 5-1. He completed his hat trick by delivering the final goal of the game with 4:16 to play in the third.

Both sides made goaltending changes. Boston's Tim Thomas was lifted after giving up five goals on 23 shots through two periods. Manny Fernandez was perfect in the third, making 13 saves.

Vesa Toskala and Curtis Joseph both gave up four goals for the Maple Leafs, who had won their previous three games.