Late Atlanta goal hands them third straight loss

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 12/5/2000

TLANTA -- Too many important players with too many injuries, too many minor leaguers asked to fill big league boots, and way too many people without a clue when it comes to the basic nuts and bolts of defense.

Add it all up and what do you get? Too much.

For the Bruins, it now amounts to a three-game losing streak, the latest chapter a bizarre 5-4 loss last night at the hands of the one-year-past-expansion Thrashers.

Seemingly invigorated after erasing a two-goal deficit late in the third period with a pair of Sergei Samsonov goals, the Bruins crashed and burned when a bad puck exchange between Brian Rolston and Don Sweeney resulted in Chris Tamer's goal -- his first strike of the year -- with only 61 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I tried to get it to [Sweeney]," said a disappointed Rolston, detailing the short chip pass that quickly turned into a dropped-baton-like catastrophe. "He turned right in front of me, I tried to get to him ... I don't know, maybe I just should have fired it out of the zone, I guess. But I missed, and I couldn't possibly recover in time."

That one play supplied the final exclamation point to what was a very sloppy, often-disoriented evening of defense -- the aspect of the game that was a Boston tradition for decades.

All night long, save for a stretch in the middle period, the Bruins constantly chopped up the puck and handed the Thrashers prime scoring chances that too often ended up in the net. Ray Ferraro potted three of those miscues, helping the Thrashers to a franchise-high third

straight victory (such streaks once sounded modest, didn't they?). "Really poor defensive decisions," said Bruins coach Mike Keenan, who, somehow, maintains a patient reserve amid the ongoing disaster. "We made some very, very bad decisions. We expect more from our players than that."

Shift by shift, the Bruins drop lower and lower in the standings. At their current rate, they could own the league's worst mark by Christmas. Making that prospect even worse than it sounds: at year's end, they would be obliged to hand over the pick in a switch of first-rounders with Edmonton, part of the deal that brought Bill Guerin here in the middle of the ongoing Nightmare on Causeway Street.

The Thrashers were aided immensely by three assists from the stick of Donald Audette. The ex-Sabre made fine plays for on a pair of first-period goals for a 2-0 lead in the opening 5:12 and then added a helper on Ferraro's second goal of the night at 1:57 of the third, moving the Thrashers out to the 3-1 lead.

Jason Allison scored his second of the night at 10:58, cutting the Atlanta lead to 3-2. But less than two minutes later, with Mike Knuble in the penalty box (one of eight power plays the Bruins yielded), Ferraro snapped home his third goal of the night for what appeared to be the jawbreaker.

But, with Keenan cutting the bench short, the Bruins cut it back to 4-3 when Samsonov connected on a rebound with 6:13 to play and then tied it, 4-4, when the buzzing Russian winger potted a second with 3:48 remaining in regulation.

All the momentum going their way, the Bruins then booted away at least one point on the botched Rolston-to-Sweeney chip.

The sides were skating four men apiece when Rolston made a good play to gain possession on the left wing, then made the bad decision to try to spring Sweeney with the short head-man pass. Steve Guolla took possession, swept a relay to the high slot, and Tamer fired in a 30-foot laser.

"It was an opportunity to protect the puck, and we gave it away," said Keenan. "I can't answer for them. We'll continue to teach and do what we can to make them understand their responsibilities and hopefully they'll be responsible to the team."

With one-third of the schedule now complete, the Bruins are six games under .500 (8-14-3-2). They show some flashes of adequacy. Most of all they display lack of talent, tissue-thin confidence, and enough mental blunders to make the Players Association grateful there is no MCAS test equivalent in hockey.

"There were some good things," said Sweeney. "But let's look at the early part of the game, where our mistakes put us in that situation. Not good. Down, 2-0, right away, that's tough. We're all being accountable. We're fighting to get the job done. But ... "

This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 12/5/2000.
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