TORONTO (AP) — After a near-perfect November, the Boston Bruins were in no mood to celebrate.

Boston polished off the franchise’s first month without a regulation loss in more than four decades with a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, but the defending Stanley Cup champions took it in stride and acted as though they had been there before.

That is a big reason why they should be considered among the favorites to win it all again.

“I think it was a pretty good month,” forward David Krejci said. “We were playing some great hockey and we were having so much fun off the ice. It was a pretty good experience.

“ But the season’s long, we’ve got about 60 games left. It’s going to be a battle. We’ve got to forget what happened and get ready for the future.”

The Bruins were last in the Eastern Conference when October ended and then went 12-0-1 in November to jump up to second. No NHL team went a calendar month without a regulation loss since San Jose did it in March 2008.

Boston hadn’t pulled it off since January 1969.

“It’s quite an accomplishment,” goalie Tim Thomas said. “It might be one of those things that only happens … well, for a lot of guys it won’t even happen once in their career, right? For anybody who has played for the Bruins their whole career, obviously no one’s done that since 1969.

“Unfortunately, the way the world works and the way this league works, November’s gone. It’s behind us. This is December.”

Milan Lucic scored two goals Wednesday and Krejci added a goal and two assists. Zdeno Chara, Benoit Pouliot and Brad Marchand also scored for Boston ( 15- 7- 1), which hasn’t lost in regulation since Oct. 29 at Montreal. Thomas made 34 saves and earned his ninth consecutive win.

Mikhail Grabovski, Joffrey Lupul and Matt Frattin scored for Toronto (14-9-2).

Pushed to the limit

The Maple Leafs pushed the Bruins to their limit in the first of a home- and- home series between teams near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. They will face off again in Boston on Saturday night.

The Bruins have won all three meetings with the Maple Leafs by a combined score of 19-5.

“ They’re a legit good team,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said of the Leafs. “I think the reason we’ve been successful is we’ve never lost respect for them and we come prepared to play them.”

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