[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/9/2001

he Bruins' penalty killing has been one of the most effective in the NHL this season. Not only are they able to frustrate their opponents' opportunities on the man advantage, but they provide an impressive share of offense.

Last night against the Buffalo Sabres, Brian Rolston scored a pair of shorthanded goals and Joe Thornton had two at even strength, lifting the Bruins to a 4-2 victory at the FleetCenter.

It was Rolston's third and fourth shorthanded goals of the season. It was the first time a Bruin scored two shorthanded goals in a game since Bryan Smolinski did it March 22, 1994.

The Bruins were outshot, 29-27, for only the third time all year.

Rolston gave the Bruins the lead for good 5:10 into the first period on the team's first shot. It was no doubt one of the easiest scores of the forward's career. Buffalo netminder Martin Biron came charging out of the crease toward Rolston, who was skating up the right side. Biron tried to pokecheck the puck away as he dived forward in the circle, but he missed completely and Rolston had an empty net to shoot at.

Rolston said he was stunned to see Biron come toward him.

''I actually didn't see him until about the last minute,'' Rolston said. ''I was very surprised because I collected it between the red line and the blue line. He obviously thought the puck was coming a little harder and it was one of those goals. I'll take 20 of those a year.''

At the other end, goaltender Byron Dafoe stopped some tricky scoring chances. One came at 6:55 when he made a great stop on a bid by Dmitri Kalinen from the left circle. He made an even better save on the follow-up shot by Slava Kozlov, who tried backhanding a shot from the low slot.

Thornton made it a two-goal lead at 1:12 of the second with his 11th of the season. He skated the puck up into the right circle, pulled up, and looked for help. He switched from his forehand to his backhand to his forehand again and not seeing anyone open, he skated toward the middle and let go a shot that sailed through traffic and past Biron to the glove side.

The Bruins continued to keep pressure on the Sabres, who were being frustrated by Boston's attack, which included a five-on-three advantage for nearly a minute. They didn't score but Bill Guerin had a good chance from the left circle. His slapper hit Biron in the pads, dropped to the ice, and a scramble ensued, but the Bruins couldn't push it past Biron.

It didn't matter. With 3.7 seconds remaining in the period, Rolston struck again with his 14th goal. With Buffalo on the power play, point man Miroslav Satan fell, which meant the puck was free and there was a wide-open lane to the Sabres' net for Rolston.

With Rolston barreling in on him, Biron tried to guess what the Bruins forward would do. Rolston skated into the left circle and faked a shot. Biron fell for it and dropped to the ice. With the netminder down, Rolston drove down the left side and lifted a shot high into the far side of the cage.

The Sabres, who replaced Biron with Bob Essensa to start the third, attempted to climb back into it at 1:40. Satan made up for his earlier boo-boo when he scored on a rebound to make it 3-1.

Boston increased its cushion to three goals again on Thornton's second of the night and 12th of the season. He took the puck from Glen Murray and raced in on Essensa. Thornton glided down the slot and beat the goalie with a high shot to the stick side. It's become his signature shot.

''Let's keep that hush-hush,'' joked Thornton. ''He gave me an opening so I kind of took it. Hopefully the other goalies won't see that.''

The highlight for the fans came at 7:10 when forward P.J. Stock, who was playing his first game after missing 12 with a sprained ankle, took on the Sabres' Eric Boulton. In what looked like a battle of the titans, the two pounded each other. Stock gave a wave on his way to the penalty box, which excited the crowd even more.

The Sabres managed one goal after that, by Vaclav Varada at 12:36, which kept them alive.

Rolston nearly had a hat trick when he tried for an empty-netter with 39 seconds left.

''Unfortunately, we didn't bury them in the beginning of the third,'' said Dafoe. ''That's our one maybe negative is that we still haven't learned to put teams away. But the guys played hard the whole way.''

This story ran on page C7 of the Boston Globe on 12/9/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.