Hapless Thrashers win it in overtime

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/19/2001

hey may have the fewest victories in the league (seven). They may have an inexperienced lineup, with their two prized rookies - Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley - having to carry a lot of the offensive burden. They may have a goaltender - Milan Hnilicka - whose name few can spell or pronounce.

But the Atlanta Thrashers continue to give the Bruins fits. Boston may outshoot them and outplay them, but something keeps Atlanta hanging around.

The Bruins, who rallied from a two-goal deficit, outshot the Thrashers, 55-14, last night but lost, 3-2, when Heatley beat Byron Dafoe with 1:02 left in overtime. It was the Bruins' third straight loss.

The Bruins had beaten the Thrashers twice this year (both one-goal games) after losing to them four times last season.

''There should be some concern here,'' said Dafoe, referring to the team's skid. ''I don't think we should be satisfied with taking a point off Atlanta. Yeah, we worked hard and had a lot of great chances, but we didn't win. That's a team we should be 4-1 or 5-1 or 5-2 or whatever. You've got to be positive about it, the fact we came back from a two-goal deficit, but we've got some tough games coming up and we need these points desperately.''

Despite being outshot, 15-5, the Thrashers went into the first intermission with a lead. With 1:30 left, Bruins defenseman Sean O'Donnell had a great scoring opportunity. He skated the puck into the left circle, cut through the slot, and tried to beat Hnilicka with a backhand shot, but the puck struck the side of the cage. It appeared from the replay that Hnilicka had thrown his stick at the puck, which would've resulted in a penalty shot, but there was no call.

''I knew something happened there,'' said O'Donnell. ''Guys told me that's what happened. It looked like it came out of his hand. I don't know if it was intentional or not. I know I'm not known for goals but when you get an empty net like that, you have to make sure it goes in.''

After that chance failed, the Thrashers converted at the other end, taking a 1-0 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Tomi Kallio, behind the Boston net to Dafoe's left, fired a centering pass in front. O'Donnell tried to clear it with his stick but the puck got away from him and went to Hnat Domenichelli. Domenichelli's shot bounced off the netminder and into the net.

''I got my stick on it but it kind of took a weird bounce,'' said O'Donnell. ''It hit my stick and came to [Domenichelli] and he kind of one-timed it. I think it kind of took [Dafoe] by surprise.''

The Bruins (16-11-3-4) had a boatload of bids in the second period, too, outshooting Atlanta, 16-4, yet they trailed, 2-1, at the intermission.

At 13:52, the Thrashers went up by a pair on a breakaway goal by Kovalchuk, the first pick in last June's NHL entry draft.

After a scoring chance by Kyle McLaren, the Thrashers counterattacked, with defenseman Yannick Tremblay relaying a pass to Heatley. Heatley dished the puck past Hal Gill to Kovalchuk, who broke in alone on Dafoe.

''Kyle jumped up in a two-on-one, which was a good play, but you've got to have guys coming back,'' said Dafoe. ''I think that's partly why they had the chance for him to get open.''

The comeback began at 17:22 on a power-play goal by Bill Guerin, back in the lineup after missing a game because of a charley horse in his left leg. Guerin took a backhand pass from Joe Thornton and beat Hnilicka with a high shot from the edge of the crease. It was Guerin's 14th goal. A momentum shift was evident, as the Bruins continued to pick up steam.

The Bruins pulled even at 2:30 of the third on the 16th goal by Brian Rolston, who had a game-high 10 shots.

But then overtime came and it was all over.

''We missed a lot of opportunities,'' said Guerin. ''In the end, we didn't do the things it took to win the game and that's the bottom line. That's a bad loss for us.''

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 12/19/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.