[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 3/1/2002

he moment the game got out of hand came with three seconds remaining in the second period.

Carolina defenseman Sean Hill stuck out his knee and slammed it into the knee of Bruins left wing Sergei Samsonov. The normally mild-mannered Samsonov, taking issue with the dangerous hit, cross-checked Hill and wound up fighting forward Sami Kapanen as the period ended.

When it was sorted out, Samsonov had 19 minutes in penalties and Kapanen five. Hill was not penalized.

That led to bedlam in the third period and after it was over, Boston had 94 penalty minutes to 33 for Carolina and it wasn't difficult to tell the Bruins were more angry about the noncall on Hill than they were about the 6-2 loss to the Hurricanes in their first game at the FleetCenter since Feb. 9.

Even more disturbing, they could lose the services of top center Joe Thornton, who was assessed 20 minutes, including a match penalty for attempting to injure Carolina center Rod Brind'Amour at 3:40 of the third. Thornton already has two stick-related suspensions from last season. As a repeat offender, the penalty could be severe.

Last year, Thornton was told if he was going to punch somebody to drop his stick. Last night, he acknowledged he hit Brind'Amour with his stick and that point could work against him.

Thornton made no bones about the fact he was furious with the way the game was officiated by referees Don Koharski and Tom Kowal.

''It's the officiating,'' said Thornton. ''If they call the knee on Sammy, the whole game would've been done at that. Then they give [coach Robbie Ftorek] a penalty. They can't give them a five-on-three for eight minutes. The officiating let it get out of hand. That's what happens. We watched the replay in here and he totally wanted to take out Sergei's knee, so I hope he gets suspended.''

Thornton said he feels as if the top forwards on the Bruins have been the victims of other teams taking liberties without getting penalized.

''The amount of stuff they do to Sergei, myself, and Billy [Guerin], some of the good players on this team. It's unbelievable that the officiating lets that kind of stuff go. Every game there's a cheap shot toward one of us. It has to stop, and the officiating let the game get out of hand tonight. They could've nipped it in the bud right away and they didn't and that's what happens.''

Despite his record from last year, Thornton doesn't believe he'll be suspended.

''Maybe a $1,000 fine,'' he said. ''I can handle that.''

Ftorek was less vocal about the officiating, saying he didn't want to get into trouble, but he was clearly angry about the hit on Samsonov.

''With a few seconds left to go in the second period, a guy tries to take your guy's knee out and nothing is done about it by the referees,'' said Ftorek, speaking through gritted teeth. ''That's enough to be said. I just wish that maybe the league would put some supervisors in the stands.''

Carolina jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ron Francis (4 points), Jeff O'Neill, and Kevyn Adams.

The Bruins got one back when Guerin scored on the power play at 13:07 of the second but Carolina made it a three-goal bulge again just over two minutes later on a score by Marek Malik. The Hurricanes, who got 13 power plays to five for Boston, made it 5-1 at the 50-second mark of the third before Brian Rolston made it 5-2 on a shorthanded breakaway with Boston down two men. From there, it got very nasty and Brind'Amour closed out the scoring with his second goal of the game at 10:50.

At 12:17, defenseman Nick Boynton saw Hill near the Boston bench and with the contest long decided, went after him, attempting a little payback.

''You can't go the whole game letting him float around out there,'' said Boynton. ''Somebody else would've done it, too. We need Sammy, you can't be doing that type of stuff. That's just dirty whether he meant to or didn't mean to. You can't be doing that kind of stuff and you've got to pay for it. If there's a call made on that play, it's a different game. There was no call and the game got out of hand.''

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 3/1/2002.
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