|
 |
| |||
 | |||
|
| | |
MAPLE LEAFS 2, BRUINS 1
[ Game summary ]
That's because after outskating, outshooting, and outclassing the Toronto Maple Leafs for most of regulation, the Bruins had to swallow a bitter pill when Mats Sundin's overtime goal lifted the visitors to a 2-1 victory.
What made the taste worse was the Bruins had held a 1-0 lead since the first minute of the second period on Jason Allison's power-play goal, only to see their slim lead evaporate at the 17:15 mark of the third.
That's when Igor Korolev snapped a partially screened shot between the legs of rookie goalie Andrew Raycroft from the left circle, pulling Toronto even in a game it had tried hard to give away most of the evening.
Korolev's goal, however, seemed to deflate the Bruins, who outshot Toronto, 28-17, in regulation, but didn't land a single shot on Curtis Joseph in the extra period. Rejuvenated Toronto got off three shots in overtime and while Raycroft made a good save with his left arm to turn away a Tomas Kaberle drive, he was left hung out to dry when Sundin swung the net, eluded defenseman Peter Popovic, and shoveled the puck between Raycroft's pads at 3:36.
''We gave a good, solid effort, but there are a lot of aspects we have to continue to work at to provide more offense,'' said Bruins coach Mike Keenan, whose club was 1 for 6 on the power play - all during the first two periods.
''With the checking and the style of play that we saw tonight, for example, there's not that many chances, but we did outchance them and we played very solid - but we didn't come away with the win,'' said Keenan, who refused to fault his rookie goalie. ''We had a chance to put them away on the power play when we had the one-goal lead and they did a pretty good job killing penalties.''
The Bruins, fresh off a 4-1 victory over Washington in Keenan's debut Thursday, were facing a Toronto club coming off a 2-1 loss in Buffalo Friday.
Last night marked the seventh time in 10 games Toronto has scored two goals or fewer, but this time it didn't cost them.
In contrast to the blustery, cold wind whipping off the Charles River, the heat was turned up early in the first period when Ken Belanger squared off with Leafs tough guy Tie Domi. The Bruins ended the period as they began it - with purpose and some good scoring chances - but came away only with a 9-5 shot advantage.
The second period was 19 seconds old when Toronto captain Sundin - who would later get his revenge - was sent off for slashing and the Bruins capitalized quickly. Darren Van Impe fired from 30 feet and when Joseph couldn't control the rebound, Allison went upstairs with just 45 seconds elapsed.
Raycroft, who grew up in Ontario watching Maple Leafs games on television, was having an easier time than the veteran Joseph, who was fighting the puck and having difficulty with rebounds.
His teammates, meanwhile, weren't doing him any favors, preferring to trip and hold the Bruins, rather than skate with them.
Toronto defenseman Petr Svoboda was called for interference at 4:52 and with 25 seconds left on that infraction, Gary Roberts was sent to the box for elbowing Allison.
But the Bruins squandered the two-man advantage, putting just one shot on goal.
''We had good control [on the power play] but I think we should shoot more,'' said Keenan. ''We have to establish more of a point shot. I don't know if we have anyone who can particularly score from the blue line, but we also need to establish a shot with some screens and tips to create more and better opportunities to score.''
So what's next on the coach's agenda, aside from his team's road games against the Rangers (tonight) and Islanders (Tuesday)?
''I think we're still in the habit, at times, of skating backwards rather than forwards,'' said Keenan. ''You're not going to change those styles or those habits in a game or two. If you put certain players in certain situations, you'll find out whether they can get the job done.''
His team got it done for lengthy stretches last night, but was beaten, said Keenan, ''when their best player beat [Raycroft] on a wraparound. Curtis had a lot more work tonight than our guy, that's for sure.''
|
nstead of turning back their clocks last night, the Bruins probably wished they could have turned the FleetCenter clock ahead about 2 minutes and 45 seconds at the end of the third period.