Bruins' elation turns to deflation

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/4/2002

he Bruins' roll has almost been too smooth, too slick, too flawless, hasn't it?

When they beat the Penguins Saturday night, a few players were joking about it being ''just another day at the office,'' because their fortunes were just so well, fortunate.

The breaks were going their way, the goals were piling up, the goaltending was outstanding, their defensive play was tenacious.

It all came to a crashing halt last night in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Blues at the FleetCenter. It marked the first St. Louis shutout in Boston in more than 30 years - since Nov. 5, 1970, when the Blues posted a 2-0 victory.

After eight straight victories on home ice and five straight overall, the Bruins suffered just their fourth loss of the season in 24 games. It was just their second loss in regulation in the past 14 contests.

Their skating was out of synch, their timing was a hair off, their scoring bids were few and far between, and they couldn't beat the Blues' trap.

Brian Rolston said it was reminiscent of opening night, when the Bruins were shellacked by Minnesota, 5-1.

''I didn't think we came out with our best effort,'' said Rolston. ''You can give them credit, absolutely. It was tough to get around their trap in the neutral zone. I don't think we were really making the plays to beat it, either.''

The Bruins had outscored their foes, 21-8, in the previous five games, but against the Blues, they could barely get a sniff.

''They played a good game, there's no question about that, but we weren't as sharp as we would've liked to have been,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek. ''Every loss is disappointing, but they're a good team. They're a very offensive team. Their weakness is probably within their defense and we didn't exploit them.''

Former University of New Hampshire standout Eric Boguniecki potted his 11th of the season to give the Blues all they would need offensively at 5:27 of the opening period. Petr Cajanek had the puck along the right-wing boards and threw it at the net. Boguniecki was parked in front of goaltender Steve Shields and tipped it past him. The puck trickled along the goal line and just made it in.

The Blues' next two strikes came in the middle period, during which Boston outshot St. Louis, 14-9.

At 8:41, Scott Mellanby made it a two-goal advantage with his seventh of the season. He was set up nicely by former Boston University Terrier Keith Tkachuk. Tkachuk delivered a backhand pass down to Pavol Demitra in the right circle. With Shields square to Demitra, and Rolston and Nick Boynton facing in Demitra's direction, Mellanby slipped in behind and went to the net. Demitra threaded a pass to Mellanby and he tapped it into the net.

Doug Weight made it a three-goal cushion at 11:55. He converted a rebound with a backhand bid from the inside edge of the right circle for his 10th tally of the year.

The Blues came close to striking again with 1:49 left in the period. Tkachuk, an imposing presence at 6 feet 2 inches, 227 pounds, barreled in on Shields on a breakaway. But defenseman Hal Gill, no small fry at 6-7, 250, used his superior reach to chase down Tkachuk and knock the puck away.

In the third period, the Bruins tried to open things up, but in doing so, they gave up some odd-man rushes, and one of them resulted in the Blues' final goal.

St. Louis came up ice on a three-on-one break, with Boynton back. Demitra relayed a forehand pass from the right circle right on Tkachuk's tape, and he one-timed it past Shields with 4:33 left.

The game was really over then. But for the Bruins, it was one that never really started.

''I don't think we should feel like any night should be an off-night,'' said Shields, ''especially with the amount of guys we have in here playing well. Everyone at least should show up and work hard. We seemed to do that tonight, but we just couldn't manage to put any pucks in the net.''

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 12/4/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.