The skilled Toronto forward wilted in the moment.

With his team in the midst of a startling rally that had the Bruins giving ground and grasping for answers, the high-profile Maple Leaf lost control and washed it all away.

No, Phil Kessel, did not crash and burn. But Toronto center Jason Blake sure did.

Blake ended Thursday’s contest against the Bruins the same way he began it, with an errant high-stick.

With his team trailing 3-2 late in the third and looking to complete a three-goal rally, Blake clipped Zdeno Chara with his stick in the Bruins zone. Mark Recchi scored on the ensuing power play before adding an empty net goal 2:25 later to secure a 5-2 Boston victory. (Recap.)

Aside from a 15-minute stretch of the third period, the Bruins were well in control of Thursday’s contest, and once again they were able to contain Kessel. But the B’s were certainly taken aback when Toronto scored twice in the opening five minutes of the final period, and Kessel also played better than in a 7-2 loss Saturday in the ex-Bruin’s first game back in Boston.

While the Bruins ultimately outscored Toronto, 12-4, in the consecutive home wins over their Northeast division rival, the Leafs and Kessel will be improving.  Had Blake not taken his foolish offensive zone penalty, Toronto was positioned to take a major confidence-building step forward Thursday.

“I think we played real solid 40 minutes and then maybe didn’t expect them to come at us hard because they played three games in four nights,” said Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, who was sharp once again, making 32 saves and improving to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. “You think it’s 3-0 and they’re going to give up, but it’s never like that. You just got to play your game.”

Still, a win is a win and the Bruins are getting plenty of them. They have now gained standings points in nine of their last 10 games (8-1-1) and 14 of their last 16 (10-2-4). The B’s are also 11-5-5 in the Eastern Conference and 6-1-1 in the Northeast Division.

Thursday’s exclamation point win reinforced a few of the lessons from the first meeting between the two teams last Saturday:

THE BRUINS DEFENSE IS TOO STRONG FOR KESSEL

Putting aside the hype, explosive booing and questions of whether Kessel wanted to stay in Boston or was demanding enough money to buy Boston, the two-game set against the Leafs simply demonstrated that the 22-year-old was generally overmatched against his old team.

Kessel had entered the game with 10 goals in 18 games, so there is no question he is generally playing good hockey. He just can’t do so against the Bruins.

When the Bruins want to shut down an opponent, few teams in the league are as adept at doing so. Factor in the motivation of Chara and crew skating against a skilled former teammate and it’s not surprising that Kessel was ineffective.

“I think our guys have handled that well with the ‘Kesselmania’ and everything that is being thrown out there,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “It’s amazing. I thought we were playing hockey, not wrestling. I thought that we did a good job of not letting that stuff get to us. We just focused on the games. Having said that, we know that Phil [Kessel] is a pure goal scorer. If you give him room and space he is going to score some goals. Our guys know him well, reacted well and did a good job against him.”

Kessel did not register his first shot until five minutes were elapsed in the second period and he finished the night with just two shots, the same “production” he provided in Saturday’s loss.

Aside from Kessel, Toronto has few dangerous scoring threats. With Patrice Bergeron’s line in shutdown mode and Chara hitting the ice every time Kessel did, the Leafs were never able to generate sustained pressure.

“Some guys know him here and I think he played a lot against [Chara], so it was a tough night for him again,” said David Krejci, who blocked a shot and then made a slick backhand-to-forehand move to beat Toskala on a breakaway to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead in the second period. 

REST, NOT RUST, FOR WIDEMAN

A few days without practicing didn’t appear to affect defenseman Dennis Wideman, who led all Bruins skaters with 23 minutes and 24 seconds of ice time Thursday.

Wideman had suffered an upper body injury in Saturday’s contest against the Leafs and had been limited to skating with strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides after the Bruins’ normal practices this week. But Wideman was not only in the starting lineup Thursday, he also made an early impact, getting high-sticked by Blake just 16 seconds after the opening faceoff to set up a four-minute Bruins power play.

Wideman was able to get a small bit of revenge for the clip by Blake’s stick, as he dropped Blake with a jarring check along the neutral zone boards later in the first.

STUART HAD A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

Defenseman Mark Stuart came up an assist short of a “Gordie Howe” hat-trick Thursday, but even Mr. Hockey would probably allow Stuart some leeway and grant him a bit of recognition for a collecting a worthy triple-combination.

Stuart had a goal, a fight and a strong pre-game presentation Thursday as eight Army Rangers presented him with a Bruins flag that had been carried into battle.

“It was great. The whole story was very inspirational,” said Stuart, who had purchased $5,000 worth of tickets for military members for the Bruins Military appreciation night on Nov. 12. “They carried that flag around with them the whole time they were over there – I mean to be on the team that those guys cared so much about is pretty inspiring for us.”

The Bruins opened the scoring with Stuart blasting a point-shot past Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala eight minutes into the first. The goal was Stuart’s first point in 23 games.

“It felt really good. I mean, it has been way to long, so it was kind of a relief to get that,” Stuart said. “Even better though to get the win.”

Derek Morris also blasted a shot from the right point past Toskala as the Bruins built a 2-0 lead in the first period.