By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/29/2001

UNRISE, Fla. - When Joe Thornton was playing for Mike Keenan last season, he admitted he didn't always like it. Keenan was hard on him, as he was on all his players, and the happy-go-lucky Thornton wasn't crazy about being leaned on.

However, the prodding made Thornton a better player, and Keenan, now behind the Florida Panthers' bench, got a firsthand look at how much better last night as Thornton notched a career-high five points to lead the Bruins to a 7-1 victory at the National Car Rental Center in their first game against their former coach.

It was the most goals Boston has scored this season and the most the Panthers have surrendered.

It was the 11th multiple-point game this season for Thornton, who put on a remarkable show.

Thornton, who had all of his points on assists, wasn't the only Bruin to have a big night. Glen Murray had a career-high five points, too - a pair of goals and three assists - as the Bruins registered their season-high fourth straight win.

Mike Knuble, who was a healthy scratch Wednesday against Ottawa, had a pair of goals and an assist, and Bill Guerin had two power-play goals and one assist. And all the offense was generated without Sergei Samsonov, who was out with the flu.

Thornton's night didn't start well. During the warmup, when he was trying to clear some pucks out of the net, one glanced off the crossbar and struck him in the mouth. He had to go to the dressing room for stitches.

''I'm going to do that every game now,'' said Thornton with a laugh. ''Then I was hit in the nose [during the second period].''

Those couple of painful moments notwithstanding, it was hard to envision a better evening for Thornton.

''Everything I passed to the guys they were burying,'' he said. ''[Murray] has been playing awesome. Everything I was feeding him he was scoring, and Mike Knuble had a great game as well. It's nice to see, and hopefully we'll keep it up.''

Early in the game, the Panthers had the better of the scoring chances, but Byron Dafoe turned back everything he faced. Florida's star forward, Pavel Bure, was pretty much as he's been all season - invisible. And his teammates had trouble finishing.

That sure wasn't a problem for the Bruins. Thornton started the barrage when he dished a pass from the right circle to the slot, where Knuble beat Trevor Kidd at 4:51 of the first.

Murray tallied his first of the night at 11:46 when Don Sweeney, who was deep in the left circle, relayed a pass as Murray was charging to the net. That gave Boston a 2-0 lead despite being outshot, 10-7, in the opening 20 minutes.

Keenan, who is as famous for switching goalies as he is for his hard edge, yanked Kidd at the start of the second and installed Roberto Luongo. But Luongo didn't fare any better.

At 5:15, Knuble tallied his fourth goal of the year when he converted a pass from Thornton to make it 3-0. Thornton, positioned beneath the left circle, fired the puck to Knuble, who redirected it past Luongo.

The Panthers got one back at 6:47 while shorthanded. Left wing Kristian Huselius chipped a backhanded pass up for center Olli Jokinen. Jokinen, who was fortunate to be playing after losing teeth in a collision with assistant coach George Kingston during the morning skate, beat Dafoe for his fourth of the year.

But Thornton kept on rolling. At 13:48, the 22-year-old pivot, who was beneath the left circle on a power play, set up Guerin for a one-timer to make it 4-1. It was his fourth point of the game and it marked the first time he'd had that many since Jan. 9, when he had four assists against Pittsburgh. But he wasn't done.

In the first minute of the third, after Murray's slapper struck Luongo in the mask, stunning the young goalie, Keenan pulled him and reinserted Kidd.

Shortly after that, Guerin dished a centering pass to Murray on the power play and it was a 5-1 game at the 59-second mark.

Guerin picked up his third point of the contest at 11:45, scoring his second goal and 17th of the year during a power play.

The rout was complete at 13:20 when Rob Zamuner scored his sixth goal of the season and fifth in the last four games.

The rest of the contest deteriorated into a series of chippy hits and garbage-time fights, generated largely by the frustrated Panthers.

''It was one of those nights you just felt you had so much time and you were seeing everything develop earlier,'' said Thornton. ''It came easy, and hopefully it will keep on coming easy for us.''

Odds are it won't, but for a night it sure did.

This story ran on page G1 of the Boston Globe on 12/29/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.