Sabres can't follow the Eastern leaders

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 3/22/2002

UFFALO - New faces, same style, same results.

Led by goals from Sergei Samsonov and Nick Boynton (career-high 2 points), the Bruins rolled along to win No. 38 last night, pinning a 2-1 defeat on the Sabres before a crowd of 17,361 at HSBC Arena.

The victory, their sixth in the last seven games, kept the Bruins (38-21-5-7) atop the Eastern Conference with 88 points.

''The first two periods were pretty boring,'' said Bruins netminder Byron Dafoe, who improved his record to 31-23-2. ''Lots of icings, lots of whistles - not a lot of flow or pace.''

With new defensemen Sean Brown and Jeff Norton plugged into their lineup, the red-hot Bruins chipped closer to their first 100-point season since 1992-93. They now have 11 games left and need to play only slightly better than .500 to reach the plateau after missing the playoffs the last two seasons.

After a scoreless first period, the Bruins traded goals with the Sabres in the middle period, then moved out to a 2-1 lead with 5:53 to go when Boynton nailed in his fourth goal of the season with a shot that sheared his stick in half as he unloaded from the top of the right circle.

The go-ahead goal began with a centering pass off left wing, fired into the middle by P.J. Stock. The relay was deflected in the slot and kicked toward the opposite-wing faceoff circle. Late crossing the blue line, the charging Boynton nailed a hard, low slapper that beat netminder Martin Biron between the legs for the 2-1 lead. When the play came to an end, Bonynton tossed his stick down, seemingly in frustration.

''You can't play with a broken stick, right?'' said Boynton. ''That explains my look there. I was worried more about a broken stick than I was about a goal, to tell you the truth.'' Stock's pass was intended for fellow third-liner Jamie Rivers, who was rushing to the net with Stock in control of the puck on the left side. It deflected in the middle and squibbed out toward the right faceoff circle.

''A great fourth-line goal,'' said the sardonic Stock. ''A missed pass ... a deflection and a broken stick. What else could you want?''

All polished off by a dead-pan Boynton, his high-tech carbon-fiber stick broken in half at the shaft.

''We don't like to celebrate too much,'' said Stock, adding a touch more humor to Boynton's odd reaction.

Earlier, the Bruins took their first lead of the night when Samsonov scored for only the second time in nine games, beating Biron with a highlight-reel move once he cut in from the left wing. Darting toward the crease once he hit the left circle, Samsonov easily eluded the poke-checking Dmitri Kalinin with a burst of speed toward the net. Biron made a late lunge, attempting to knock the puck off Samsonov's stick, but it was one lunge too late. The net all his, Samsonov roofed his wrister in at 6:49 for his 26th goal.

''It's been mental more than physical,'' said Samsonov, explaining his recent offensive dip. ''It's been all the games and all the practices - it can be tough to fight through, mentally. But a win like this gets you excited to battle through it.''

It took Buffalo, fighting fiercely to stay in the playoff hunt, only 48 seconds to pull even. Maxim Afinogenov collected the puck off the rear boards, not long after Curtis Brown won a key draw to Dafoe's right and wheeled back toward the goal line for a tough-angle shot. The shot appeared to hit a Boston defender or perhaps ricochet in directly off Dafoe. Whatever it was, it was all tied.

The first period was about as dry as it gets. No goals. Not much in the way of a legitimate scoring chance. On a snowy night in Buffalo, the Sabres and Bruins played like a couple of frozen ice sculptures in the first 20 minutes.

As coach Robbie Ftorek said after the morning skate, Norton saw some work at the point on the power play. Paired with Brian Rolston, Norton flubbed his first chance, sending the puck back over the blue line, out of the offensive zone, only seconds after the Bruins set up the man-advantage attack when Alexei Zhitnik was caught for hauling down Boston tough guy Dennis Bonvie.

Earlier in the period, Bonvie hooked up in a battle with longtime Sabres pugilist Rob Ray. The battle ended when Bonvie's sweater crept up over his head, rendering him unable to continue the punchfest. Ray showed incredible restraint and mercy, opting not to continue the fight, simply raising his right arm, as if to say, ''Win by TKO.'' Who says the age of chivalry is dead?

The Sabres also did nothing with their one power-play attempt in the first period. Rob Zamuner was whistled for tripping at 5:21, bringing out a No. 1 PP unit of rookie Ales Kotalik, Chris Gratton, and Miroslav Satan, backed by point men Alexei Zhitnik and Tim Connolly.

This story ran on page 2, SABRES 1 of the Boston Globe on 3/22/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.