Thornton closes book on N.J.

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 11/16/2001

hapter 1: Score early.

Chapter 2: Fall apart faster than a dot-com offering slapped together over morning coffee, taken to market by lunch, gone belly-up by dinner.

Chapter 3: Battle back from a two-goal deficit, tie, go ahead with 3:23 left in regulation, and then, just for a touch more drama, give up the tying goal with 27.6 seconds to go.

Chapter 4: Win it on a Joe Thornton long-range slapper, with a sweet, velvety drop pass by Sergei Samsonov, with 1:45 gone in overtime.

OK, it's not a novel that will knock Harry Potter off your daily sorcerer's ''must-read'' list, but the Bruins' 5-4 OT triumph over the Devils last night at the Vault had enough plot twists and turns to make it easily the most novel victory this season here in the Hub of Hockey.

Thornton's winner, his eighth goal this season, came on a slapper from above the left circle after the wizardlike Samsonov neatly dropped the puck a few feet ahead of Jumbo Joe's skating path. Thornton, who earlier set up Samsonov for a tying (3-3) goal, drove in a slapper for his second OT winner of the season.

''Even though it was on edge, I hammered it pretty good,'' said Thornton.

It served as the final punctuation mark in an evening that began with Bill Guerin knocking in the 1-0 lead with only 18 seconds off the clock. Who was to know it would be another 61:27 and a combined 72 more shots before the story line would be complete?

In fact, given the way the Bruins were shooting and skating in the opening minutes, it had the look of a night that could be all but wrapped up by the first intermission. Consider: With less than 8:30 gone, the Bruins held a commanding 12-1 shot lead, the defending Stanley Cup finalists having arrived in town with a game that still looked in deep 2000-01 hangover.

And then, the deluge. The Devils clicked for a pair of strikes in a span of 34 seconds, Sergei Nemchinov connecting first at 11:08, followed by Patrik Elias at 11:42. The Elias goal came on the ninth unanswered shot by the Devils.

Timeout, Boston.

''They had capitalized twice on our mistakes, and my mind said to call a timeout,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek, his club now with a two-game winning streak headed into tomorrow night's visit by the Sabres. ''I wasn't sure why, but I usually listen to my sixth sense. We had a little conversation about doing a better job along the boards.''

The break wasn't a cure-all, but it at least provided some breathing room. The deficit didn't get worse until the second period. The Bruins, amid a botched change by their defense pairings, watched Scott Gomez curl into the right circle and crush a short-range slapper by the defenseless Byron Dafoe. Now the night was 23:24 along, and a 1-0 lead had turned into a 3-1 deficit.

''I loved the third period,'' said Ftorek. ''We were down by a goal, and the guys kept chipping away, chipping away.''

The key was a Jozef Stumpel relay to Hal Gill late in the second that the towering defenseman turned into his 10th career goal with a quick, 57-foot snap. Instead of returning for the third period down by a pair, faced with the formidable Martin Brodeur in net, the Bruins had only the one-goal shortfall to cover.

Samsonov's tying goal came on a highlight-reel feed by Thornton, the big pivot cruising down the right side and ripping off a Jean Beliveaulike backhander that made its way by three Jersey red shirts. The racing Samsonov, the tiny pepper shaker to Joe's tower of salt, drove home the cross-slot feed with a pinpoint, one-time slapper at 6:13.

The Causeway crowd of 13,164 then went into full froth when Stumpel followed up his own rebound and knocked in his first goal since returning to the Bruins for the 4-3 lead with 3:23 left in regulation.

Over? Did someone say over? Not until Bobby Holik tied it at 19:32, with Brodeur pulled for an extra attacker. Holik centered out from the side of the net, and it deflected by Dafoe off the stick of the fishing-and-wishing Gill.

''The guys weren't really deflated,'' assessed Ftorek. ''Back at the bench, they were saying that the [final] 32 seconds [27.6, actually] were the most important. Someone said, `Let's get through the 32 seconds and win it in OT.'''

Done as easily as said. On to Chapter 4 (or 4 on 4 in today's NHL). Shot No. 74, delivered off Thornton's blade, blew by the helpless Brodeur and dented the back of the net.

''My wife said she wouldn't like to have 82 like it,'' said Ftorek. ''Maybe one could be a breather.''

It started that way, of course, with Guerin's stop and pop. But there are no easy reads here in 2001-02.

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 11/16/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.