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BRUINS 4, PANTHERS 2 Bruins stay on roll with Raycroft
[ Game summary ]
Raycroft was excited about the prospect of facing sniper Pavel Bure and let Dafoe know how much.
''He couldn't stop saying enough good things about Pavel Bure,'' said Dafoe, chuckling yesterday at the memory. ''So I said, `Don't worry about him, you do your job. He is stoppable.'''
And how. Raycroft got his first National Hockey League start yesterday, facing Bure & Co. for real this time, and earned a 4-2 victory at the FleetCenter.
The line on Bure? No goals, one assist, three shots, four missed shots, and one giveaway in 25 minutes 11 seconds of ice time.
The Bruins improved to 2-0-1 before they head out West for a five-game road trip. Last season, it took the Bruins nine games to get 4 points. In three games this year, they already have 5.
With Jason Allison sitting in the penalty box with a four-minute minor, right wing Mike Knuble gave the Bruins a huge lift at 1:47 of the first period when he took a feed from Brian Rolston and beat goalie Roberto Luongo.
''Everybody felt better,'' said coach Pat Burns, ''including me.''
It was the Bruins' first shorthanded goal since Chris Taylor potted one against the Detroit Red Wings Dec. 19, 1998. Boston didn't have any last year.
Rob Niedermayer tied it in the final seconds of that power play, beating Raycroft at 4:11. However, the Bruins regained the lead at 8:54 when Mikko Eloranta one-timed a beautiful feed from center Samuel Pahlsson past Luongo for his first goal of the year.
Allison cashed in on a two-man advantage early in the second with his second tally of the season, giving the Bruins a 3-1 cushion. Right wing P.J. Axelsson was the beneficiary of a great play by center Joe Thornton to make it 4-1 at 12:18. Thornton, taking a faceoff in the left circle against center Viktor Kozlov, beat Kozlov going forward by threading the puck right between the Panther's legs. He then feathered a pass between the legs of defenseman Brett Hedican right to Axelsson, who banged it past Luongo.
Center Ray Whitney pulled the visitors within 4-2 when he took a pass from Igor Larionov off a breakaway and beat Raycroft between the legs at 17:46.
But virtually nothing could ruin the day for Raycroft, whose parents were on hand for his debut.
''The kid played well,'' said Burns. ''He was a little bit nervous before the game, you could see, but the guys were good with him in the room for sure and helped him out and jokingly settled him down.
''He has a knack of staying square to the puck, he doesn't end up by getting the south part of his body pointing north. He doesn't flip and flop. He seems to do a very good job of staying square to the puck. He was tested a couple of times up close with some pretty impressive players.''
Raycroft, who collected the game puck as a memento from veteran defenseman Don Sweeney, played for a little more than half a period against Philadelphia Saturday after Dafoe went down with a hamstring injury. That helped ease some of the butterflies he had before his first start. He said he wasn't sure if this was how he expected to feel after his first NHL victory.
''I guess so,'' said Raycroft, who was backed up by Kay Whitmore. ''I had no idea what my first NHL win would feel like. It feels pretty good, though. It's unbelieveable. I can't believe all this is really happening. It's pretty cool.''
''I was pretty proud of him,'' said Dafoe. ''He's a pretty low-key kid and he doesn't let a lot get to him and you could see the way it affected him on the ice. I thought he played very solid. He doesn't show a lot of nerves.
''I thought it was good for him to play in Philadelphia and get that first save in the NHL over with. He gave up a goal early [yesterday] which wasn't his fault but he rebounded and played very well the rest of the way and got a big win for us.''
Stylewise, Raycroft couldn't be more different from Dafoe.
''He reminds me a lot of the French goaltenders like Patrick Roy, the butterfly,'' said Dafoe. ''That's a lot different than what I am. I'm much more aggressive and just do whatever I do to get the puck out. I thought he played very well. This is a tough town to break in.''
Boston's special teams were again very important. The Bruins were 1 for 6 on the power play and held Florida to 1 for 7, killing off a five-on-three for 57 seconds in the first period and a six-on-four in the final 50 seconds of the game.
''I think it was important especially this one today before we go on the trip, to give us that much confidence,'' said Burns. ''You have to remember, too, that all of a sudden teams will be taking notice of us.
''I said it from the start, I like our enthusiasm, I like our energy, I like the role that everybody is playing and it makes a big difference when everybody is there.''
This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 10/10/2000.
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hen the Bruins played the Panthers in South Florida during the exhibition season, 20-year-old goalie Andrew Raycroft was slated to play the final two periods after Byron Dafoe saw his first action of the preseason in the opening 20 minutes.