Loss a humbling one to expansion team

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 11/19/2000

oach Mike Keenan has appealed to their intellect, discussing strategy, system, and execution.

He has appealed to their sense of history - invoking the names of former Bruins such as Terry O'Reilly, who played with the heart of a lion.

Last night, after the Bruins turned in arguably their worst performance of the season, which resulted in a 6-1 loss to the first-year Minnesota Wild at the FleetCenter, Keenan appealed to his team's pride.

''It's time to ask yourself what does the Boston Bruins jersey mean to you and your family,'' said Keenan. ''This isn't the first instance. This has been going on here now for over a year. It's not something new. They have to make a decision. Management can change coaches, it can change players, but ultimately it comes down to the group in there that is supposed to be the core group, that wants to accept the responsibility and enjoy the privilege of wearing the sweater, and they haven't developed a sense for that by any stretch or means. I've had probably some of the best leaders in this game play for me. This group has a lot to learn about leadership.''

And a lot to learn about respect. Last night, they were undisciplined, sloppy, and, as Jason Allison put it, ''out to lunch.''

''What it means to me is this group does not respect the people they're playing and we've got to find out why because they've got no reason in the world not to respect them,'' said Keenan. ''The Wild never made the playoffs last year because they weren't in the league. The Bruins never made the playoffs last year because they didn't apply themselves.''

They sure didn't last night.

The Wild went up, 3-0, midway through the second period and never looked back. It marked the first time the Bruins had lost at home to a first-year expansion team since falling to the Islanders in 1973.

Maxim Sushinsky scored the first goal at 4:35 of the first. Defenseman Lubomir Sekeras tallied the next two on the power play, the second of which was on a two-man advantage at 11:39 of the second. It was the Wild's first road power-play goal after coming in 0 for 46.

Allison scored a shorthanded goal at 12:34 to close the deficit to 3-1, but Sushinsky and Darby Hendrickson kept the power-play deluge coming with goals at 8:15 and 13:26 of the third, respectively. ''It's two different teams, it's embarrassing,'' said Allison. ''We've proven that when we play with that desire, commitment, and jump, we can play with anybody. We've also proven how crappy we play when we don't. Look at their team on paper and look at ours and tell me they should take it to us like that.''

Goalie Byron Dafoe faced 31 shots and was as disgusted as the rest of his teammates with what he saw. ''I thought it was awful,'' said Dafoe. ''I thought right from the get-go we were awful. We didn't even make a game of it in the third period. I think everyone in here is embarrassed [by] the way we played. ''

Keenan tried to make sense of it afterward, and will hold a team meeting at the FleetCenter tonight at 9 to keep trying.

''It's an interesting group in interesting times,'' he said. ''I don't know if they understand what leadership means. I don't know if they understand what responsibility means. It depends on the people you have to work with and how proud they are. That's what it comes down to. How proud are these athletes today, what does it mean to them? In this day and age, the comfort level they have with their lives, you have to appeal to their pride.''

And Keenan gave them no grade for effort because in his estimation, there wasn't any. ''No rating, a nonrating,'' he said, ''that's about as low as you can get.''

This story ran on page D01 of the Boston Globe on 11/19/2000.
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