ut of context, dropped into the middle of a busy December or January week, the Bruins' 2-2 tie with Vancouver last night would have rated as respectable, perhaps promising. Especially after losing four straight games, Boston might have considered it a safe harbor, a new beginning.
But in mid-March, with playoff bids now as precious as that last bag of rock salt at your local Home Depot, these are the ties that try men's souls.
When the night began, the Bruins were 2 points behind Carolina for the final playoff spot in the East. When the Vault faded to black, the deficit stood at 3 points. While they were getting that one foot down, reestablishing their game with Byron Dafoe's solid goaltending and improved, alert defense, they were losing ground where it mattered most - in the race against the 'Canes for the spring soiree.
''It doesn't matter what Carolina does,'' said Bruins winger Brian Rolston, asked if the Boston bench engaged in some scoreboard watching, the 'Canes rolling to a 3-0 win over the Capitals. ''It does, in the big scheme of things, but it's important for us to win; we can't control what Carolina does.''
As the end of the regular season (April 7) approaches, it's exactly that inability to confront Carolina face-to-face that could be Boston's most frustrating point of all. They now have 12 games remaining in the 82-game regular season, and not one will be against the former Forever .500s. There are no recounts, no dimples, no hanging chads. Three weeks to make up 3 points. If not, Boston misses the playoffs for the second straight season, the third time in five years.
''A big point for us, a moral victory,'' said Dafoe, who was especially sharp in the first period, limiting the Canucks to a brief 1-0 lead when they easily could have been on their way to running the table. ''Our main concern right now is to get that final playoff spot, and tonight we lost a point.''
Had it not been for Dafoe's handiwork, and the better attention to team defense, the Canucks would have taken both points. Daniel Sedin jumped Vancouver to a 1-0 lead at 10:41 of the first, sending a 15-foot redirect past Dafoe off of brother Henrik Sedin's pass from the right side. Sedin from Sedin. Shades of the Colisee days of Stastny, from Stastny and Stastny.
Earlier in the period, Dafoe snuffed out an Andrew Cassels shorthanded attempt, and later he robbed Markus Naslund. Just shy of 17 minutes, the Canucks easily could have been in control of a 3-0 lead.
''A stabilizing influence on our hockey club,'' is how head coach Mike Keenan classified Dafoe, who hadn't played in five weeks. For most of those five weeks, the Bruins were rudderless without their No. 1 one - and only.
Meanwhile, the Bruins chipped away, tied it with Joe Thornton's 30th goal of the season late in the first, and moved ahead, 2-1, when Bill Guerin struck on a power play midway through the second.
Thorton's strike came when Andrei Kovalenko, finally looking as if he were emerging from a months-long fog, did some nifty forechecking in the slot. He hunkered down, picked off a Canucks pass with a rare sweep check (shades of Derek Sanderson), and relayed left for a swooping Thornton to nail a backhander past Dan Cloutier.
Guerin struck with a wrister from the left circle, closing in from the half-boards on a power play and beating Cloutier short side. It was a blatant error by Cloutier, who looked to be cheating toward the middle, anticipating Guerin would pass to either Thornton or Jason Allison.
Early in the third, with only 1:50 ticked off the clock, Brendan Morrison connected for the 2-2 tie. He ripped a shot off right wing after Boston defenseman Hal Gill fell down, and then followed up to knock in his own rebound, neither Mike Knuble nor Jarno Kultanen able to cover for the fallen Gill.
With 33 seconds left in OT, Rolston slid a pass across for Guerin, who had acres of open net to shoot for on the right side. The shot never materialized, because Guerin's stick blade either slipped out of its shaft or broke off under pressure. By then, Carolina's 3-0 win had been posted on the board. A shot missed. A point lost.
