Grahame golden in tie with Philly

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 11/17/2002

HILADELPHIA - When Boston-area native Jeremy Roenick signed with the Flyers a couple of summers ago, he turned down a more lucrative offer from the Bruins believing Philadelphia had a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Time will tell if he was right. Last night, two Eastern Conference division leaders - Roenick's team and the one he spurned - got their first look at each other this year. Call it Clash of the Titans I. The result was a 2-2 tie at the First Union Center that featured outstanding goaltending by Boston's John Grahame, who made 46 saves, and Roman Cechmanek, who made 32.

The Bruins extended their unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1-0). It was the third consecutive tie for Philadelphia.

The outcome was a little disappointing for the Bruins, who led, 2-1, heading into the final period, but it was a pretty good measuring stick of where they fit in the NHL hierarchy.

''I think everyone thought it was going to be a high-intensity game and that's what it was,'' said Grahame, who made his second consecutive start as Robbie Ftorek departed from his goalie rotation system.

The Bruins trailed, 1-0, after 20 minutes on a goal at 10:06 by Marty Murray. Murray's initial shot went wide and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (a game-high 10 shots) collected the puck along the left-wing boards. He fired it at the net and Murray potted the rebound.

The Bruins turned the tables on the Flyers in the second, as their surging power play connected twice. Brian Rolston dished the puck from the left point to Ivan Huml, who was deep in the left circle. Huml threaded a pass through the crease to P.J. Axelsson, who wristed it past Cechmanek to tie the contest at the six-minute mark. It extended Axelsson's scoring streak to five games. He has four goals and four assists in that span.

Less than three minutes later, the Bruins took the lead, taking advantage of another Flyers penalty. With Eric Weinrich off for cross-checking Axelsson at 8:42, Bryan Berard wristed the puck at the net from the right point through traffic. Cechmanek made the save but the puck ricocheted to Joe Thornton, who fired it into the empty net from the left circle. In the last five games, Boston has scored on 10 of 26 power plays.

The Flyers nearly got the equalizer with 13.9 seconds left in the period. Weinrich wristed a shot from the left point that trickled through the legs of Grahame, who was making his second straight start. However, before the puck crossed the goal line, Grahame reached around and smothered it with his blocker.

That sent the Flyers into the third period trailing for just the third time in 17 games this season.

The Bruins played far too conservatively in the third. Instead of attacking as they had before, they seemed content to ice the puck and try to kill time off the clock.

''In the third period, we kind of sat back too much,'' said Rolston. ''Johnny had to make too many big saves.''

That approach didn't burn them until only 2:27 remained in regulation, when John LeClair pulled the Flyers even.

Seidenberg sent the puck to the net from the right point. Grahame made the stop but LeClair was in front to pot the rebound.

''It was kind of a funny game,'' said Ftorek. ''There were parts of it that were really good for us and there were parts that weren't as good as we'd like to have them. I would think [Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock] would probably say the same thing. We'd have liked to have done better but we didn't, so we'll take the point and move on.''

Mark Jan. 25 on your calendar. It's the date when the teams next meet. That game will be played in Boston. We'll all know more then. But don't be surprised if it's Clash of the Titans II.

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 11/17/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.