A lack of polish hurts Bruins in overtime loss

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 11/17/2000

hoever said the painful lessons are the ones you remember most vividly could have been talking about the Bruins.

Last night, with the game firmly in hand with a little more than three minutes left, the Bruins let one slip away to the desperate New Jersey Devils, 3-2, in overtime at the FleetCenter.

The Devils, who entered the game mired in a seven-game winless streak (0-6-1), scored a shorthanded goal with 1:54 left in the third period to tie the game, and won it with only two seconds left in OT on a tally by last season's rookie of the year, Scott Gomez.

There was plenty of frustration to go around.

''We had a very solid grasp on the game with probably three shifts to play, including a power-play opportunity,'' said Bruins coach Mike Keenan. ''A lesson learned by a team that should be concentrating on the fact we should either run the clock out, or take possession, or play with the lead. The mistake that we made is we had the mind-set that we should score another goal. As a result, people overextended their shifts and caused an opportunity they took advantage of and scored a shorthanded goal.''

Keenan said his team played the final couple of minutes as if the game were already over, and that made the difference.

''We had a sense of relief that they had a victory under their belts and only had to play it out,'' said Keenan. ''As a result, we lost the hockey game. It was really a lack of what the intent should be at that time in the game. Again, a team that felt a sense of relief when we took the 2-1 lead and we were on the power play, they felt they had it in the bag. You don't play the Stanley Cup champion and think the game is over when it's not. They're not going to fold, particularly a team as desperate as they were. They deserved the win, there's no question about it.''

It wasted a tremendous effort by goaltender Byron Dafoe (34 saves), who turned back innumerable odd-man rushes.

''I'm still trying to get my game back after not playing for a month,'' said Dafoe. ''It's coming, there's no question I'm feeling better and better. It will be nice to get four or five under my belt and get back to where I should be.''

The Devils got on the board first with a goal at 5:17 of the first period. Center Sergei Brylin came out on a wraparound chance and his shot was stopped by Dafoe's stick. However, the puck squirted out to right wing Turner Stevenson in front and Stevenson buried it for the 1-0 lead.

Dafoe came up huge at the 8:38 mark as a result of a complete breakdown by the Bruins' defense. Blue liners Hal Gill and Jarno Kultanen were no match for streaking center Petr Sykora, who charged between them on the way to the net. Sykora, all alone, had plenty of room, but Dafoe stopped him cold.

In the second, the Bruins tied the game at 6:02 on a great individual effort by Jason Allison.

Allison, using his size and strength, drove through the left circle, with New Jersey defenseman Brian Rafalski making a weak attempt to stop him. Allison pulled the puck to his forehand, shook off Rafalski, and jammed it past goalie Martin Brodeur.

The Bruins took the lead during a two-man advantage when Joe Thornton redirected a pass from Brian Rolston and beat Brodeur at 16:58. But a little more than a minute later, the Devils pulled even on a shorthanded strike by Sykora at 18:06, who blasted a shot from the left point.

''He pretty much just beat me,'' said Dafoe. ''Plain and simple. I was a little bit disappointed because I don't like getting beat like that, especially one-on-one. I thrive on making the big save when I have to.''

Gomez sealed it at 4:58 of overtime off a scramble in front.

''We played a pretty solid game and pretty much had it in our grasp with under five minutes to go, and then, unfortunately, we gave up a shorthanded goal,'' said Dafoe. ''Maybe we got a little too comfortable. In the overtime, we kind of just seemed to lay back a bit and they were the hungrier team come overtime. We've got to learn from this. You have to play to win hockey games. It's unfortunate. We have to let this one go.''

But the coach wants them to remember it and the lesson that accompanies it.

''We could've won the game,'' said Keenan, ''if we would've paid attention to what we were supposed to be doing in the closing stages of it.''

This story ran on page C01 of the Boston Globe on 11/17/2000.
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