HARRISON, N.J.At this rate, the Maple Leafs might not be the only MLSE sports property who knows about late season collapses.

Toronto FC dropped a 3-1 decision to the New York Red Bulls Saturday night at Red Bull Arena, continuing a late-season swoon in which it has lost three in a row. Coupled with Columbus 3-2 win over Philadelphia, Toronto is now six points out of the last Eastern Conference playoff spot held by the Crew.

Both Toronto (11-14-7) and Columbus have two games remaining this season. Toronto hosts Montreal Saturday afternoon, before ending the regular season at the New England Revolution on Oct. 25.

Columbus visits New York next Sunday, and ends the home portion of their season Oct. 26 against Philadelphia.

Should Toronto FC not qualify for the MLS playoffs, one of the determining factors it can look back on will be a 19-minute stretch in the first half in which New York (12-9-11) scored three times.

Bradley Wright-Phillips opened the scoring in the 26th minute by tapping Kosuke Kimuras centring feed past Joe Bendik. Wright-Phillips goal was his MLS-leading 25th of the season.

Nine minutes later, Ruben Bover Izquierdo increased the lead to 2-0 with his first MLS goal after Bendik punched a Thierry Henry shot into a maze of players in front of the net which landed in front of the midfielder.

The deficit grew to 3-0 when Dax McCarthy redirected Wright-Phillips diagonal feed in the 45th minute.

Bendik made two saves in the losing effort.

Torontos best chance in the first half was Nick Hagglunds header off a corner in the 22nd minute, but New York goalkeeper Luis Robles made a leaping grab to keep the game scoreless. Robles finished with two saves with his shutout bid spoiled by Jonathan Osorios goal in the 55th minute.

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Toronto FC playoff hopes fade fast after loss to Red Bulls