[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/16/2001

here have been times this year when the Bruins have had a bad shift here and there, but for the most part, they played sound hockey. Then there have been nights when they played a bad period, but the rest of the contest was not too bad. There have been terrific performances, too.

But it's been very rare when the Bruins have flat-out stunk. Last night was one of those nights as the Flyers ran roughshod and buried the Bruins, 5-2, at the FleetCenter.

Normally responsible on defense, the Bruins made uncharacteristic mistakes, were drilled all over the ice, and were outplayed in virtually every category.

''There are a lot of things we could say but the bottom line is they worked harder than we did,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek.

The Bruins were missing two of their top forwards. Bill Guerin was sidelined because of a charley horse in his left leg, suffered against the Capitals Thursday, and Sergei Samsonov remained out because of a sprained knee.

Still, the Bruins managed to take the lead on the Flyers midway through the first period.

With Philadelphia on a power play after Boston got caught with too many men on the ice, Kyle McLaren made a terrific play to set up a shorthanded goal.

Veteran Mark Recchi tried to make a pass but McLaren intercepted it. McLaren raced up the right side of the ice and into the circle, then fired a pass to Brian Rolston, who was charging the net. Rolston went from his forehand to his backhand and lifted a shot over Brian Boucher. It was Rolston's 15th goal of the year and fifth shorthanded tally of the season, tying a career high. The Bruins have scored seven shorthanded goals this season.

''From beginning to end, we just weren't there,'' said Rolston, who had a game-high seven shots. ''It wasn't a good night and it's something we're going to have to put behind us. We slept at certain times. I don't think we've had one game like this one this year. This was not a good effort by us at all.''

After Rolston's tally, it was all downhill for the Bruins as the Flyers scored the next five goals, all at even strength.

At 14:29 of the first, Recchi made up for his mistake by pulling Philly even with his 10th goal of the year.

The play started when Jiri Dopita took a centering pass from Jan Hlavac and fired a shot at Byron Dafoe from the inside edge of the left circle. The puck glanced off Dafoe's glove to Recchi, who buried the rebound.

With 37.6 seconds left in the period, Sean O'Donnell had the puck behind his net. Without realizing there was a Flyer on his tail, O'Donnell dumped the puck behind him, right to Kent Manderville. Manderville tried a wraparound at the left post but Dafoe stopped it with his stick.

The Bruins escaped but it proved a harbinger of things to come.

In the second, Dafoe received less help. The barrage began at 10:19 when Manderville, along the left-wing boards, dished a pass to Paul Ranheim, who was charging through the slot. Ranheim's shot beat Dafoe between the pads and the Flyers were up 2-1, and on the way to more.

At the 14-minute mark, Ruslan Fedotenko tapped in a Simon Gagne offering to make it 3-1. The Flyers' lead ballooned to 4-1 with 13.5 seconds remaining in the period when Marshfield native Jeremy Roenick backhanded a shot over Dafoe from the right circle. It was Roenick's seventh goal of the year.

Things got worse in the third before they got better. At 10:04, left wing John LeClair potted a goal from the slot for his 12th of the season, prompting a sour response from the 16,620 in attendance.

Don Sweeney pulled Boston to within 5-2 when he tallied his first at 11:02. But the horse had left the barn.

''You give up three goals to a team in one period, you're really behind the eight ball, and we were,'' said Dafoe. ''It's unfortunate because it was a big game for us. It's disappointing.''

This story ran on page C12 of the Boston Globe on 12/16/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.