O'Donnell goal in OT secure win

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 1/31/2002

ONTREAL - The Bruins had the victory in their pocket. With a little more than five minutes remaining in regulation, Boston had a two-goal lead on the Canadiens and it appeared they would cruise to their third straight win. It wound up taking a little longer than that.

After allowing Montreal to tie the game with less than a minute left, defenseman Sean O'Donnell scored with 3:44 remaining in overtime to lift the Bruins to a 4-3 triumph last night at the Molson Centre.

What a difference a year makes. After last night's franchise-record seventh overtime victory, the Bruins enter the All-Star break atop the Northeast Division and are second overall in the Eastern Conference with 68 points (29-15-3-7).

Through 54 games last year, Boston had earned only 52 points and had a record of 23-25-6.

The Bruins took a 3-1 lead into the third period as Bill Guerin scored his second goal of the game with 5.4 seconds left in the second. Montreal stepped up the intensity in the third, and after Byron Dafoe (25 saves) staved off several flurries, Oleg Petrov made it 3-2 with five minutes remaining in regulation.

With 51.9 seconds left, the Canadiens were awarded a power play as a result of the Bruins being called for too many men on the ice. The culprit was Joe Thornton, who jumped on too soon for Jozef Stumpel. ''I thought Stumpy was closer than he was [to the bench],'' Thornton said. ''I just hopped on. I was getting too excited there. It's one of those things that happens.''

Montreal pulled goaltender Jose Theodore to make it a six-on-four advantage, and it became almost a six-on-three when O'Donnell broke his stick.

''I don't really know what happened. The next thing I know, I was whacking away behind the net and I noticed I had no blade, so I had to drop my stick,'' O'Donnell said.

Joe Juneau's one-timer was tipped in waist high by Doug Gilmour with 31.3 seconds left to make it 3-3 and force overtime.

O'Donnell said he felt relieved he was able to score the winner, but said he's concerned about the number of leads the Bruins have given up.

''We've been doing it far too many times,'' he said. ''We did it a couple of times at the start of the year, and we chalked it up to a bunch of new guys and our team getting used to winning. But it's been happening too frequently and that's something we need to address going into the last 28 games and the playoffs. If you can't protect a one- or two-goal lead going into the playoffs, you're not going to go very far.''

There was a downside to last night's win, which sends the team to the break with a three-game unbeaten streak. Right wing Martin Lapointe was forced to leave the game and missed the third period because of a pulled hamstring. It's not considered serious.

The Bruins wasted little time before taking the lead. Only 13 seconds into their first power play, Boston cashed in with Guerin's first goal.

With Gino Odjick off for high-sticking P.J. Stock, the Bruins set up in the Montreal zone. Brian Rolston, positioned at the left point, skated the puck a couple of strides toward the middle. He dropped a pass back for Guerin, who was at the left point. Guerin skated into the top of the left circle and wristed a shot that beat Theodore at 3:28. It was Guerin's 27th goal and his second in two games.

Less than two minutes later, the Bruins made it 2-0. Don Sweeney moved the puck up the ice for Sergei Samsonov, who dished a pass to Stumpel in the high slot. Stumpel backhanded a feed to Samsonov in the left circle and his shot beat Theodore at 4:58 for his 18th goal.

The Bruins, who had two goals on three shots, had other chances to build on their lead. At 13:24, Glen Murray teed up a slapper from the top of the right circle. Samsonov got to the rebound but Theodore made the stop.

The Habs had a chance to get back in the game at 16:26 when Stock was sent to the penalty box for slashing. But Montreal couldn't convert on the power play and headed into the second trailing by a pair.

The Canadiens nearly cut the lead in half at 5:24 when Richard Zednik backhanded a shot from the circle that went under Dafoe's glove. But the puck hit the right post and bounced out.

Gord Murphy, who was playing the first game of his second stint as a Bruin after agreeing to terms on a contract Tuesday, had a terrific scoring bid at 7:17 when the Bruins were operating on a delayed penalty. He jumped into the lane and took a backhand centering pass from Thornton, but Theodore made the stop.

The Habs got on the board at 16:51. Center Yannick Perreault, driving down the left side, sent a pass to Stephane Quintal, who was going to the net. Sergei Berezin, who was acquired from Phoenix Jan. 25 for Brian Savage and a draft pick, beat Dafoe on the rebound to make it 2-1.

With the Canadiens putting the pressure on, Guerin pulled his teammates' feet out of the fire with his second goal. Defenseman Hal Gill sent a lead pass from the Boston zone up to Thornton, who was at the defensive blue line. Thornton fired it up to Guerin at the blue line and he went in alone on Theodore, beating the netminder with a forehand shot to the stick side to make it 3-1 and kill the Habs' momentum.

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 1/31/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.