Cause for concern as skid continues

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 3/7/2002

ONTREAL - Is it panic time yet?

On Monday night, the Bruins stressed after their third straight loss that no one was overreacting. Yes, it was a concern that they were winless in four games (0-3-1-0); yes, they weren't playing as well as they could; and yes, they had dropped off in the race for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and had lost the Northeast Division lead to Toronto.

But no one was panicking. OK, fine. Well, what about now? After Boston dropped a 5-3 decision to the Montreal Canadiens last night at the Molson Centre, it's time to push some button, for sure.

The key reasons they lost:

• Penalty killing. The Bruins gave up three power-play goals for just the fourth time this year. Need we say it? They were all losses.

• Goaltending. Normally, you can count on Byron Dafoe to be a standout. Last night, the first minute was a nightmare for Dafoe, who gave up two goals on the first two shots, both by Joe Juneau.

• The line of Sergei Samsonov-Jozef Stumpel-Glen Murray has dried up offensively. Stumpel has no goals in his past eight games, Murray is scoreless in four, and Samsonov has no points in his past two.

• Joe Thornton. He missed the final game of a three-game suspension last night. As Thornton said, ''I have had enough [time off] this year.''

After falling behind, 2-0, at the 53-second mark of the first period, the Bruins rallied to tie. But penalty trouble early in the second, which led to back-to-back Montreal goals, helped cost them the game.

Bill Guerin said he knows he's repeating himself, but there was an edge in his voice last night.

''We're not sharp,'' said Guerin. ''We're not doing some of the little things that made us successful before the Olympic break. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We have to look in the mirror and realize we're not playing up to our capabilities. We have to be better prepared and we have to expect more from ourselves, and that's the bottom line because we're playing beneath our abilities right now.''

One area in which the Bruins are failing is on special teams. It had been a staple of their attack, but lately it's been more of a liability.

''The penalty kill hasn't been great, the power play has been worse, but you know what? We've been successful at it,'' said Guerin. ''It's a matter of expecting more from ourselves and being prepared to do those things. It takes hard work, it takes commitment and sacrifice. We have to get back to doing all those things. There will never be a problem with effort here, never. We just have to realize it's not good enough. To work hard isn't good enough because a lot of guys work hard.''

After getting down by a pair, the Bruins battled back to tie it on goals by Martin Lapointe at 10:42 on the power play and Jamie Rivers at 12:57. In the second, Montreal left wing Sergei Berezin scored during a four-on-three advantage at 1:18, and Yanic Perreault made it 4-2 during a two-man advantage. Benoit Hogue pulled the Bruins within a goal at 3:24 of the third.

Lapointe nearly scored again at 8:30 during a pileup in the crease, but goalie Jeff Hackett somehow managed to bat the puck out and along the goal line before it trickled out at the left post. That save came with a price, however. With all the bodies on top of each other, Hackett sustained a dislocated left shoulder and had to be helped off the ice. Jose Theodore came on in relief and shut down Boston the rest of the way.

Richard Zednik put it out of reach for Montreal with a power-play goal at 17:37.

''We've got to take responsibility,'' said Brian Rolston. ''This is five games and we've got to stop the bleeding.''

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 3/7/2002.
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