Late Guerin flourish finishes off Thrashers

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/5/2001

TLANTA - On several occasions this season, the Bruins have outplayed teams by a wide margin only to have little or nothing to show for it. Sometimes the chances didn't go in, the power play wasn't clicking, or the opposing goaltender was on a hot streak.

Last night was that rare occasion on which the Bruins were brutal for nearly 40 minutes but saved the day with opportunistic scoring in the late going.

Brian Rolston potted a goal with 33.8 seconds remaining in the second period, and Bill Guerin tallied twice within 18 seconds early in the third to carry the Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the pesky Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena.

It was a classic illustration that bad games aren't always losses and good games aren't always wins.

''The first period, we just came out and kind of skated, we didn't really play,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek. ''They were taking the play to us quite a bit and Byron [Dafoe] had to make a lot of big saves.

''Then, in the second, we did a little bit at the end of the period but prior to that we still weren't really going very well. The third period, we came out and played the way we were supposed to play a little bit.''

In an arena in which Boston never seems to play well, it appeared for much of the evening that the Thrashers would cruise to the win. They got on the board at 5:47 of the second period, with rookie Dany Heatley converting on the power play.

Highly-touted rookie Ilya Kovalchuk gave the Thrashers a two-goal lead at 12:55. After Joe Thornton's line did everything but score, Atlanta defenseman Frantisek Kaberle fired a lead pass to Kovalchuk, who sprinted up the right side. He teed up a slapper from the right circle and it sailed past Dafoe to make it 2-0.

''I knew he wasn't going to deke,'' said Dafoe, ''because [Nick Boynton] was cutting him off. So I felt I should've had it. I think I was off my angle a little bit. He caught me going one way and shot it the other way.

''It was a big goal to give up. But it doesn't matter, we got the win.''

The Bruins' alarm clock went off with less than a minute to go in the period. P.J. Axelsson beat two Thrashers along the right-wing boards and dished a pass to Rolston. Rolston, in the right circle, relayed a pass to Glen Murray in the left circle. Murray gave it right back to him and Rolston beat Milan Hnilicka for his 12th goal of the season with 33.8 seconds remaining to pull Boston to within 2-1.

The momentum shifted dramatically in the third period. Guerin, set up by Jozef Stumpel, scored at 3:34 and 3:52. Since being snakebit following his three-game suspension - 3 points in 12 games - Guerin is now rolling with eight goals and three assists in his last 10.

''Obviously, your confidence grows and you feel better about yourself,'' he said. ''The important thing is that we keep winning. I'm a guy who gets a lot of ice time and I feel I have to do something with that ice time, and that's produce.''

Guerin acknowledged that by no means was it the team's best performance. However, it's 2 points in the bank.

''That's the way it goes some nights,'' he said. ''It's a funny game. You seem to get breaks at strange times or you win a game that maybe you shouldn't have or a game you didn't play that well. Then you play great in one game and you get beat, but that's the way it goes.''

Dafoe, who had 23 saves and had to come up big for much of the game, believes that Atlanta, which beat Boston four times last year, has been underestimated.

''Their weakness is their lack of maturity,'' said the netminder. ''They came out really hard those first two periods and showed us a lot. I thought we were fortunate to be in it.

''We didn't fold the tent at 2-0. We kept going at them. We said, `They're fragile, let's go at them right away at the start of the third period.' And boom, we get two straight goals in a minute and you could just see their whole bench sink.

''I think that's the inexperience, because they're going to be a heck of a hockey club in a couple of years, when they mature.''

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 12/5/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.