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HURRICANES 4, BRUINS 2 Hurricanes storm past sluggish Boston [ Game summary ]
They believed they were gearing up for an even more important contest - last night's against red-hot Carolina, which was just above them in the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
But all their talk turned out to be so much hot air as they came out flat, fell behind early, and were knocked off by the Hurricanes, 4-2.
The loss ended the Bruins' winning streak at four games. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes increased their unbeaten string to nine (7-0-2), the longest for the franchise since March 13-29, 1985, when the club was in Hartford.
Coach Mike Keenan was clearly steamed by his team's ugly beginning.
''It was a very disappointing start for us, considering the magnitude of the game,'' said Keenan. ''Carolina was a lot more prepared for this game than we were. Nothing seduces you more than success. There was a great claim about how there was an expectation that they should win every game. Sometimes you can get yourself to a point where you're somewhat disrespectful or a little bit borderline in terms of your preparation, and that's exactly what happened here.
''We beat a big club last game and there wasn't the same, not nearly the same, level of preparation for a game that was probably more important than the last game to us.''
By the 6:37 mark, they had fallen behind by a pair of goals and never were able to quite get up. Glen Wesley, who cut his teeth behind the Boston blue line for the first seven years of his career and whose trade to Hartford for draft picks brought Kyle McLaren and Sergei Samsonov, gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead only 2:34 into the action.
Wesley, positioned in the high slot, fired a shot past goalie Byron Dafoe. It was Wesley's third goal of the season.
The next goal resulted in Dafoe being pulled. After former Bruin Rob DiMaio took out right wing Andrei Kovalenko along the boards, left wing Bates Battaglia got the puck and dished a pass to center Josef Vasicek in the left circle. Vasicek's shot beat Dafoe, and Keenan - in an effort to jolt his team - inserted Peter Skudra.
''We didn't come out hard,'' said Dafoe, who was disappointed at being yanked. ''They definitely took it to us the first 10 minutes, but after that, I thought we settled down and I thought we played pretty good overall. I thought we made an effort at least to come back. It was a big game, it was a 4-point [swing].
''I don't think anyone quit in here and I don't think it was a terrible effort. I thought we battled hard the rest of the way. Unfortunately, we got down, 2-0, quick, and it was an uphill battle. The game was lost in the fact that we didn't come out as prepared as we should've been, and we sat back and let them come to us. That's not really been our trend as of late. It's a lesson to be learned.''
In the second, the Bruins played markedly better and outshot the Hurricanes, 17-6, but couldn't gain any ground. They did pull within a goal at 5:07 on a tally from the right circle by Patrick Traverse, his third of the year.
But only 30 seconds later, the Hurricanes made it a two-goal cushion again.
Ron Francis, who just surpassed Phil Esposito for fifth all-time on the NHL's points list, hit center Jeff O'Neill with a short pass and O'Neill rapped a shot past Skudra at 5:37 for the 3-1 lead.
Midway through the third, Brian Rolston pulled Boston back within a goal with his first tally in eight games. Kovalenko dished a backhand pass to Samsonov. Samsonov relayed it to Rolston, who blew a slapper from the point past Arturs Irbe at 7:32 to make it 3-2. But, unlike the heroics against the Devils, that was as close as the Bruins would come.
With Boston pressing during a four-on-four situation, Hurricanes left wing Martin Gelinas scored the backbreaker when his shot from the right circle deflected off Traverse and past Skudra at 14:19.
Irbe made 28 stops, but Keenan said that wasn't the difference. It was his team's indifference.
''We made him look good,'' said Keenan. ''We pushed the puck at him, we weren't emotionally prepared to finish him off. Those were good saves, but they weren't spectacular saves because we weren't prepared to play right from top to bottom. We tried to get ourselves ready to play during the game, which is very, very difficult unless you're really, really, really talented.''
This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 1/19/2001.
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ALEIGH, N.C. - When the Bruins rallied late in the third period to beat the Devils Tuesday, their postgame attitude was that defeating the defending Stanley Cup champions was no big deal.