[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 11/4/2001

AST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - With 6:25 remaining and the Bruins ahead by a goal, Devils center Scott Gomez made a pass out of the corner to John Madden, who had been threatening to score all afternoon.

Madden blasted a low one-timer, and faster than you could say, ''Overtime again?'' Bruins goalie Byron Dafoe blocked it with his stick. It was as close as New Jersey would come to forcing an extra session, and for the first time in five games, the Bruins earned a decision in regulation, taking a 2-1 victory over the Devils yesterday at Continental Airlines Arena.

It ended Boston's winless streak at three games and stopped the Devils' winning streak at six.

It was the first time coach Robbie Ftorek had been back behind the bench at this arena since being let go by the Devils with eight games remaining in the regular season in 1999-2000.

He downplayed any personal significance in the victory, putting the emphasis on just how well the team played against the dangerous Devils, who beat the Bruins in overtime at the FleetCenter Tuesday night. For the past several games, the puck had been bouncing the wrong way for Boston. It was going off the Bruins' sticks, off their skates, and off their backsides and too often winding up in their own net.

Yesterday was the antithesis of that, with the club playing a tightly controlled defensive game that gave them dominance over the Devils for the first 40 minutes. Even with a pair of two-man advantages, New Jersey couldn't execute much of anything until the third - with the only exception being Madden - and even then, it wasn't all that much.

''I thought we did a great job of not really letting their big guns get going in our end,'' said Dafoe, who made 19 saves. ''They're a very well-rounded team, and I think we played them almost perfect tonight. Tonight was a nice little bit of retribution for the other night in Boston.''

For all intents and purposes, special teams won the game for the Bruins. They scored two power-play goals and killed off all six New Jersey power plays.

''Our penalty killing has been phenomenal all season long and this was no exception,'' said Dafoe. When New Jersey didn't score on the two-man advantages, he added, ''I have to think that takes a little something out of their offense.

''Really, they had maybe one shot in each five-on-three, so you've got to attribute the success to the penalty killing at two key times, and we never got running around or scared when they started putting pressure on us.''

Joe Thornton set up the first Boston goal and scored the second. At 5:28 of the first, Thornton was set up behind the net while right wing Martin Lapointe was battling defenseman Scott Stevens in front. Stevens finally let go of Lapointe, and Thornton took advantage, threading a pass right between Stevens's legs to Lapointe, who banged home his sixth goal of the year.

At 2:25 of the second, it was Lapointe who did the dirty work to set up Thornton's goal. The big right wing did a superb job of backchecking on Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer, which got the puck to Brian Rolston. Rolston sent a lead pass Thornton's way, and the center charged down the left side and his quick wrister from the left circle beat goalie Martin Brodeur over the glove for the 2-0 lead.

The Devils' only goal came at 3:45 of the third when Jason Arnott forced a turnover by Bruins defenseman Jamie Rivers and then dished a backhand pass to Patrik Elias, whose one-timer beat Dafoe after caroming off the far post.

Unlike in past games, though, when the Bruins showed signs of tightening up that too often led to giving up the tying goal and forcing overtime, they kept their composure.

''Even when Elias got that goal that obviously gave them some spark, they had a little bit more pressure, but we still contained them very well,'' said Dafoe. ''Other than the last couple of seconds of the game [with Brodeur pulled for a six-on-five advantage], we were in pretty good control.''

Ftorek said he was pleased his players stuck with the game plan, especially when the Devils made adjustments to start the third.

''They changed their lines around a little bit and started to come at us pretty good,'' he said. ''Our defense, we shortened up a little bit and they worked hard. They were a little tired, no question about it. But they did a great job.

''And Byron made some big saves when called upon. We're really pleased with the whole effort by everybody. It was just a great game from the start to the finish and the penalty killing was great and the power play was great and that's basically what won it.''

When asked if he was just happy the game didn't go to overtime, Ftorek smiled.

''Yeah, yeah, yeah,'' he said. ''Definitely.''

This story ran on page D5 of the Boston Globe on 11/4/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.