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BRUINS 2, CANADIENS 1 Consecutive wins drought is halted [ Game summary ]
Nonetheless, the Bruins left here with a sense of relief and reward last night, paced to a 2-1 win on goals by Joe Thornton (13) and Don Sweeney (1). The triumph not only lifted the Bruins to within a game of .500 (16-17-6-4), it also brought them consecutive wins for the first time in three months.
''I hope it never happens again,'' said Sergei Samsonov, referring to a span of 37 games in which the Bruins went without back-to-back wins. ''It's been tough, mentally. Everyone's been talking about it, and it's nice to get it out of the way.''
On a smaller, but perhaps more significant scale, it was an impressive carryover from Tuesday night's emotional 5-2 win over the Penguins at the Vault. They didn't have the snap and speed they showed against Mario Lemieux and his Penguins, but they continued to work hard for 60 minutes, dumped their ugly drought, and overcame the losses along the way of Andrei Kovalenko (back) and Brandon Smith (shoulder).
''A tough day at the office,'' said coach Mike Keenan, who arrived on the Boston bench some 10 weeks ago - about two weeks after Boston's only other multiple-win streak (three games) at the start of the season. ''We lose Kovie and we lose another defenseman. It seems like we lose a defenseman every game.''
Kovalenko, who connected for his second career hat trick Tuesday, left early in the second period with a wrenched back. Smith, called up prior to Tuesday's game, banged up a shoulder along the boards and was in a sling after the game. Keenan sounded as if Kovalenko could be back soon, but he wasn't at all optimistic about Smith. It's possible the journeyman defenseman could be sidelined for a matter of weeks.
It was yet another impressive night for Thornton, who picked up a career-high four assists against the Penguins. Jumbo Joe broke apart a 0-0 deadlock with 3:53 remaining in the second, drilling in a slapper off the wing after Samsonov and Brian Rolston initiated a rush out of the Boston end. Thornton now has 5 points in the last two games, an emphatic response to Keenan's public challenge earlier this week to add some grit to his game and play to the billing that led him to be chosen first overall in the 1997 draft.
Sweeney, pressed into power-play duty with the mounting losses on the blue line, bumped the Boston lead to 2-0 at 4:57 of the third period. Samsonov feathered a feed into the high slot and Sweeney belted a one-timer high into the net.
''I'm not the obvious choice to be out there, I know that,'' said Sweeney. ''But they were probably thinking more about Sergei doing something there, and that left me with a lot of room to shoot for.''
The not-quite-ready-for-a-Cup-parade Canadiens managed to pick a shutout out of Byron Dafoe's pocket at 9:45 when Arron Asham crossed the blue line, left wing, and smoked a slapper high to the far side. But there really wasn't much of a challenge left in them. The Habs collected only 18 shots, while allowing the Bruins 25 chances at Jose Theodore.
The frozen tundra of Boston's winter sports landscape thawed a little more. There was a time when a Bruins win here would have sent a tsunami surge of late-night partying through Quincy Market. Not so anymore. The Bruins surged past Carolina for the No. 8 spot in Eastern Conference and beat their oldest rivals - never mind that genetic coding - to keep the heat on the bottom of the pack.
''It's not so much the two-game thing,'' said Sweeney. ''It's more that we're trying to get on a serious role here, and we played well [Tuesday], and then came here and won - even though we didn't play as well as against Pittsburgh. I think we're all more in tune now with what this team has to do to be successful, and we're all taking responsibility for that - and the wins come from there.''
This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 1/11/2001.
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ONTREAL - There isn't much glory in beating the Canadiens in 2001 A.D. Once the proudest of all North American sports franchises, they now skate around in those same CH sweaters, but the product inside doesn't carry the same genetic coding that for decades cloned those Habs names to ring upon ring of the Stanley Cup.