NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers had only one line working Friday night.

But, boy, was it working.

Right winger Mats Zuccarello had a hat trick while center Derick Brassard and left winger Rick Nash assisted on all three goals as the Rangers held off the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 3-1 victory at Madison Square Garden.

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault reunited the trio, which spent much of last season and part of the early season together. In search of a spark, Vigneault instead found lightning in the form of three goals, six assists and seven shots on net as the Rangers (7-2-2) improved to 4-0-2 in their past six games.

"They had their best game of the year," Vigneault said. "Not only offensively did they make some real solid plays that led to grade-A opportunities that they were able to finish but I thought they were solid at both ends of the rink. They were our best players tonight. There's no doubt."

"If you put really talented players together, good things are going to happen," said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 24 shots on a relatively easy night. "They've been playing together for a lot of games now and just the talent they have, the way they see the game, all three of them, when they're on, they're really fun to watch."

Zuccarello's final two goals -- his sixth and seventh of the season -- came after a critical call early in the third period that went against the Maple Leafs.

Former Ranger Matt Hunwick appeared to score 12 seconds into third period to pull the Maple Leafs (1-6-2) into a 1-1 tie. But after huddling, officials waved the goal off, citing goaltender interference against right winger Joffrey Lupul.

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock challenged the call, but the same officials that made the call on the ice allowed the call to stand.

"Obviously, not happy with it," Hunwick said. "That was one of the plays we wanted to do and that was to get pucks to the net with a guy right in the crease I didn't really think there was much contact there but obviously the referees thought differently and it didn't go our way."

Babcock, not surprisingly, agreed with his player.

"To me, he's a guy who plays deep anyway so to me, you could be in the blue paint playing against them and not disrupt him because he's not out of the paint away," he said. "We could've used that goal."

The first two periods yielded little excitement; the sold-out crowd was probably most thrilled with highlights shown on the scoreboard of home runs by David Wright and Curtis Granderson with the New York Mets playing Game 3 of the World Series a borough a way in Queens.

Zuccarello scored midway through the first period on a tic-tac-toe passing play involving Brassard and Nash, but little else of note happened before Hunwick's goal was waved off.

About five minutes later, Zuccarello finished a 2-on-1 rush by depositing the puck behind goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who made 23 saves, after another nice feed from Brassard.

Lupul scored with 1:51 remaining and Bernier on the bench for an extra attacker, but Zuccarello salted the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

"It seems like we open up room for each other," Nash said. "You know when we're feeling it and we're having chemistry, it seems like we're making plays."

"Obviously on the all the goals I scored, it's just (Nash) and (Brassard)," Zuccarello said. "I'm just a lucky guy to put into an open net. Even I can't miss an open net."

NOTES: Maple Leafs C Tyler Bozak returned to the lineup after a four-game absence due to a lower-body injury. ... Maple Leafs D Jake Gardiner also returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Bozak and Gardiner replaced RW Brad Boyes and D Scott Harrington, respectively. ... Rangers LW Viktor Stalberg (head) missed his third straight game. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault believes he could be available Tuesday. ... Rangers D Dylan McIlrath was a healthy scratch for the 10th time in 11 games this season.