After dismal results, they vote Senators out

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 11/10/2000

Their season on the verge of being relegated to a few lines on the obituary page (see Death by Towns: Boston), the Bruins last night awoke from their nearly monthlong coma and pinned a 2-1 loss on the Senators, one of the NHL's best squads this season and perhaps the team least likely to offer the nothing-but-hard-time Bruins a new lease on life.

After rallying back from a 1-0 deficit with a Joe Thornton goal late in the second period, the Bruins won at home for the fourth time this season (4-1-1-1) when all-but-forgotten forward Ken Belanger hammered in a feed from Thornton with only 2:30 remaining.

His career kick-started by coach-of-the-hour Mike Keenan, Belanger scored for the first time this season, ripping off a hard shot from the left circle and snapping a string of five straight losses for the Bruins. In a season of little cheer on Causeway Street, it gave the thin crowd of 13,522 (20 percent under capacity) a reason to remember what it was like around here before the Fleet became the Flat.

''I was lucky he hit my shin pad,'' said Thornton, describing the events leading up to the winning goal, when Ottawa netminder Patrick Lalime bumped into Jumbo Joe behind the net. ''I wanted to get it on him ... and Kenny was out there in the slot, and buried it.''

Belanger is no marksman. On a scale ranging from thug to power forward, he has spent most of his time in Boston pegged toward the thug side - at least when he wasn't stapled to the end of the bench. When he was healthy enough to play (i.e., concussion-free), he saw little playing time, ex-coach Pat Burns showing little confidence in his ability. Under Keenan, his playing time has gone up, along with his confidence, and this morning he has a GW next to his name instead of a DNP.

''It's been great since he's been here,'' said Belanger, referring to Keenan, who, by the way, almost carried the media into the workout room where for years Bruins players have hidden after games. ''He's given me the opportunity to play. I mean, it's hard to play when you're only getting four minutes of ice time.''

It would not be a surprise to see Keenan try to spot Belanger on the power play, perhaps park him regularly at the top of the crease on the man-advantage. He doesn't have the touch of a true scorer, but his size and his presence (think Tim Kerr) could be enough to get him 10 power-play goals a year. OK, it's modest, but this is a team that has to get to modest before it gets to crawl, never mind run.

The Senators looked as if they might use their one goal by rookie (of the year?) Martin Havlat to ride to their 10th win. The Bruins came out their usual selves, lacking confidence, seeming to be pondering how they would lose yet again.

''Back on our heels in the first period,'' said Keenan. ''We were playing not to lose, rather than to win. That's a byproduct of lack of confidence.''

And lack of confidence is a byproduct of getting knocked around like rent-a-pinatas, the way the Bruins did last weekend in their 8-3 loss to Atlanta and their 7-1 pounding in Toronto. But Keenan prodded them after the first 20 minutes, reminded them to skate and shoot, and it began to turn around when they killed a critical 5-on-3 shorthanded situation that lasted 1:28 early in the second period. Later, Thornton drove in his eighth of the year (sixth on the power play), with help from Don Sweeney and Mikko Eloranta.

''Joe has to play with an edge,'' said Keenan, who figures Thornton could play himself into Mark Messier's class (talk about big skates to fill) if he applied more grit to his game. ''He has the size, strength, skills and talent, but he'll have to play with an edge. He's going to have to use that ability.''

Around all that, rookie netminder Andrew Raycroft turned in his best peformance yet, stopping 32 shots, the first time in three games the Bruins saw their starting netminder also be their finishing netminder.

One game does not a turnaround make, and the perky Predators are here tomorrow night. The Nashvillians are no longer easy knockoffs. But now, perhaps, the Bruins can remove themselves from that list, too.

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 11/10/2000.
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