In trying to remain unbeaten, Bruins hung up in Minnesota

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 10/11/2001

T. PAUL - The coach has changed, the cast has significantly changed, and the expectations have certainly changed in Boston.

But one thing remains the same: When the Bruins play a Jacques Lemaire-coached team, it promises to be a difficult night at the office.

It doesn't matter if it was his former teams in New Jersey or his current squad, the Minnesota Wild, Lemaire's players work and trap and clutch and grab and smother and generally drive the opposition crazy.

Last night was no exception. Center Stacy Roest potted his second goal of the contest at 16:38 of the third period, lifting the Wild to a 2-1 victory at the Xcel Energy Center. It was the first loss of the season for the Bruins, who are now 3-1.

"We got out of the game a little bit and weren't able to get the puck out of the zone when we had opportunities to," said Bruins coach Robbie Ftorek. "That gave them momentum and also gave them more scoring chances. We were running around and it was like three shifts in a row where the puck came up to the blue line but wouldn't get out.

"They played well positionally and took advantage of a couple of mistakes we made. When that happens and you're not able to put the puck in [the net] at critical times, you lose, 2-1. We had lots of chances. The puck didn't go in for us tonight."

On the deciding goal, Byron Dafoe had made the initial save on the Wild's rush, sending the puck off his blocker and up against the left-wing boards. Former Bruin Antti Laaksonen collected it and dished a pass to Roest, who drilled a one-timer from the slot that glanced off Dafoe's glove and in.

Last year, expansion teams were the bane of the Bruins' existence. Had they been able to get even a single point from games against Atlanta (four losses), Columbus (one loss) or Minnesota (a humiliating 6-1 defeat at the FleetCenter), they would've made the playoffs. This year, in the second game of the year, the Thrashers took them to overtime before the Bruins prevailed. They made it no further than regulation last night against the Wild, who were playing their home opener.

It could've been worse. The Bruins owed a pretty significant debt to Dafoe, who was tested significantly more than he'd been in the previous three games.

It didn't help that they were playing without right wing Bill Guerin (suspension) and defenseman Kyle McLaren (injury).

After a scoreless first, the Bruins picked up their game in the middle period but had to continue to try to solve Lemaire's pestering style, which was like negotiating a barbed-wire fence.

The Wild got on the board first after a fortuitous bounce during a Bruins power play sprung Roest for a shorthanded breakaway.

With Boston operating on the man advantage, Nick Boynton's shot from the right point was blocked and it squirted out of the zone. Roest took off and with center John Emmons giving chase, lifted a forehander over Dafoe for the 1-0 lead at 12:23.

A little less than four minutes later, the Bruins pulled even. Don Sweeney gained the blue line, dished the puck to Martin Lapointe in the right circle, and Lapointe beat goalie Manny Fernandez to the far side of the net at 15:59 for his second goal of the season.

That gave the Bruins a tremendous lift as they began pressuring the Wild in their zone. They outshot Minnesota by a whopping 14-3, with a good number of them coming down the stretch.

Joe Thornton had two terrific bids back to back at the 18:12 mark. Thornton tried a backhander at the left post that Fernandez stopped. He got the rebound and tried another backhander from the netminder's right, but Fernandez stymied that, too.

Both teams had chances in the third. Minnesota's bids came in dangerous flurries, leading to Roest's winner with 3:22 left.

Ftorek pulled Dafoe for a sixth attacker with 1:20 remaining but Fernandez held the fort.

"Byron played very well and kept us in the game," said Ftorek. "Especially in those three flurries in the third period when we weren't able to get the puck out of the zone and they were turning up the heat a little bit."

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 10/11/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.