Murray goal helps beat best of West

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 3/17/2002

hen the puck went in the net late in the second period, beating Detroit goalie Manny Legace to the stick side, Bruins right wing Glen Murray put his hands on top of his helmet and his mouth dropped open.

By no means was it the first goal Murray had scored, but it was one of the more timely. It held up as the winner as the Bruins knocked off the Red Wings, 2-1, yesterday at the FleetCenter.

It was the first home victory over Detroit since Dec. 19, 1998. Not only did Boston move back into first place in the Northeast Division (Toronto tied Dallas, 5-5, last night), but it is tied in points (84) with Philadelphia atop the Eastern Conference, following the Flyers' loss to Colorado yesterday.

The Red Wings, who have far and away the best record in the NHL, are widely believed to be a slam-dunk to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins' objective was to show they're one of the teams to be reckoned with in the East, especially after their disappointing effort against the Maple Leafs Thursday.

''I'm sure it may send a message around the league, and that's always a good thing,'' said assistant coach Jim Hughes, who conducted the postgame news conference at the request of head coach Robbie Ftorek. ''More importantly, our guys in the room feel real good about it. They earned it, they deserve it, it was good to see them get some results today.''

One of the more interesting decisions the Bruins made in preparation for the game was installing John Grahame in net over Byron Dafoe. Grahame turned in his best performance of the year, making 29 saves.

''It was Grahame's opportunity today,'' said Hughes. ''We knew how important this game was for us in the standings. More importantly than the points, it was important for us as a team growing together. It's a step in the right direction, this style of hockey we played today.''

The Bruins felt it was important to come out of the first period with a lead. They did that as center Brian Rolston potted his 27th goal of the year at the 14:56 mark. His slapper from the left circle beat Legace through the pads. Center Kris Draper tied it at 3:58 of the second when he finished off a tick-tack-toe play with Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan.

Then it was Murray's turn. The forward, who went in with only one goal in his last eight games, took a pass from center Jozef Stumpel and drilled it past Legace at 17:29. Not only was Murray relieved just to get back on track, but his 30th goal of the year was a career high.

''[Legace] had made a pretty good save just before that,'' said Murray. ''It was the same shift, and I had a lot of chances. I was definitely relieved to get over that. Stumpy was finding me all night in that slot area. Stumpy seems to find me in those spots. I hadn't scored in a while, and it feels like forever. It feels good because I've been stuck there a couple of times before.''

Hughes said what propelled the Bruins to the win was how effectively they followed the game plan. Their penalty killing was excellent, their defensive zone play - with rare exception - was stifling, and their forwards were strong on the puck all afternoon.

''It was a fantastic win,'' said Hughes. ''They sacrificed their bodies for each other, they won the one-on-one battles for each other, they worked hard for each other, and we really looked like a team tonight. We wanted to come in after one with a lead to make a statement about how the day was going to be for us. We did the same for the second and third. It was fun, I think, for everybody in the building to watch the way our guys played.''

For the most part, the Bruins made sure their goalie saw everything coming at him. In one of the few tough moments he had, Grahame stood tall. The flurry came with just less than six minutes remaining when he was called on to stop back-to-back shots by Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk.

''[Holmstrom] took a shot and the rebound kind of laid there,'' said Grahame. ''[Datsyuk] just chopped at it, and I just reacted. I was just fortunate to get my arm or glove or whatever I got on it.''

As a result, the Red Wings know what the Bruins can do and the Bruins maybe sent a message to other clubs.

''I don't think we're a big secret anymore,'' said Bill Guerin.

This story ran on page D1 of the Boston Globe on 3/17/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.