With goals galore, win over Capitals recalls days of yore

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 1/6/2002

nto every hockey season a little entertainment is expected to fall, and yesterday it fell with the weight and wonderment of some 30 years gone by on Causeway Street.

If you closed your eyes and listened to the roar of the crowd and the announcement of each goal - including three by Joe Thornton and a pair by Bill Guerin - it was as if a time warp had swept the frenzied full house back to the days when Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr shook down the thunder at the grand old Garden.

Lots of goals. A couple of bare-knuckle fights - the best being a P.J. Stock-Stephen Peat toe-to-toe Pier Sixer at center ice. And, ultimately, a 7-4 Bruins victory over the Washington Capitals that should have had the sellout crowd of 17,565 wondering if what they had witnessed was the NHL's version of Halley's comet. In a league that is too often a watered-down morass of neutral-zone trapping teams, yesterday's scoring fest was truly the distant bright light in the night sky.

''Two years without a trip to the playoffs,'' said goalie Byron Dafoe, who could luxuriate in the Bruins' bounty. ''That doesn't sit well in Boston.''

Deep in the background of the matinee pummeling, the failures of recent seasons could be felt in how the crowd responded to the onslaught. Thornton had two goals and an assist in the opening 12 minutes. Guerin had his pair in a 46-second span of the second period. Mixed into that brew was the Stock-Peat feature bout, with Stock again delighting the hometown crowd with his near-mesmerizing flurry of lefts and rights.

Stock is hockey's version of a Rock 'em Sock 'em Robot, with his chin down, dukes up, and now a trademark wave to the crowd after he finishes a fight. Don King, where art thou?

''You could see they were loading up with their guys on that shift - guys like Peat and [Chris] Simon,'' said Stock, who went to battle after Guerin's second goal bumped the Boston lead to 6-3. ''And we said, `Well, OK, we'll give you your chance to get it out of your system.'''

The crowd loved it, responding with even more enthusiasm than it did with each of the Thornton and Guerin goals. The Hub of Hockey remains a town that loves a good fight.

Nearly 30 years removed from the Bruins' last Stanley Cup, Boston dreams of another championship parade snaking through the Back Bay and rhumbaing into Government Center. Could it be this year? They are far from favorites, but the Bruins are holding fast with the heavyweights in the Eastern Conference, they have solid goaltending (almost every night) in Dafoe, and lately they have shown some awesome offensive force.

''I'm not saying we're going to score seven goals every night,'' said Dafoe. ''But these last 10 games or so have been pretty impressive.'' In their last nine games, the Bruins are 7-2 and have outscored the opposition, 39-20.

No one has been hotter of late than Thornton. On Dec. 28 he piled up a career-high 5 points, all assists, in a 7-1 spanking of the Panthers. He has collected five goals and 16 points over the last 10 games, the highest sustained production of his career. He acknowledged yesterday that Team Canada has told him to be ready if an Olympic berth opens up next month in Salt Lake City.

It's virtually unfathomable that the Canadians didn't reserve a spot for Jumbo Joe when they named the squad last month.

''If he's not the best young player in the game, I don't know who is,'' said Guerin, who will be in Salt Lake City with Team USA. ''It seemed they were looking for a mix of veterans and up-and-comers, and it seems he would have been ideal.''

Oh, well, one less Canadian for the Yanks to worry about at Olympus, figured Guerin.

''I guess so,'' kidded Guerin, ''but I was kind of hoping to take a run at him.''

Ah, another hint of times past, a guy in the same locker room dreaming of the chance to take it to a Black-and-Gold brother. What next, guys talking of strolling over to Daisy Buchanan's for a couple of drafts and a full night's worth of carousing? For kicks, will one of them suggest rolling Phil Esposito through a Massachusetts General Hospital lobby on a gurney?

At least for one afternoon, old-time hockey came rumbling down Causeway Street, took a hard left by the empty lot where the Boston Garden once stood (got a brick?), and took a bow on that huge spoked B at center ice.

Rarely, if ever, does it get any bettah.

This story ran on page D1 of the Boston Globe on 1/6/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.