[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/13/2002

lame the schedule that had the Bruins playing their eighth game in 14 days. Blame the Bruins, who were not nearly as sharp as they've been on many other nights this year. Blame the Ottawa Senators, who were still ticked off at being embarrassed when they were beaten by a six-goal margin here Nov. 9.

The bottom line is Boston is in its first official slump of the 2002-03 season as a result of a 5-2 loss last night to the Senators at the FleetCenter.

Last night's defeat, coupled with Tuesday's drubbing by the Montreal Canadiens, marked the first time the Bruins have lost back-to-back contests this season.

After an outstanding October and November, this month has brought the Bruins to earth. It started with a dreadful performance against the St. Louis Blues Dec. 3 (a 4-0 loss) and was followed by two Houdini-style escapes against Atlanta and Tampa Bay that turned into overtime wins. A decisive victory over the Rangers in New York last Sunday masked what had been evident for several games - that the Bruins were not playing the same way they had in earning so much success earlier, and it was alarmingly true last night.

The game started out well. Mike Knuble put the Bruins on top with a power-play goal at 3:37 of the opening period. After slow starts in the last few games, Boston jumped out in front. The goal came as a result of a shot from the point by Bryan Berard. Berard's shot went off the stick of Senators defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn in front and then caromed off the skate of Knuble past goalie Patrick Lalime. It was Knuble's sixth tally of the season. As has been the case so often, Knuble was subbing on the top line with Joe Thornton and Glen Murray in place of Sergei Samsonov (groin injury).

But the next five goals belonged to the Senators and the rout was on.

''We beat them pretty bad last time and they beat us pretty bad this time, so they got their revenge,'' said Thornton. ''In our winning streak, we just kept getting pucks out of our end and we haven't gotten pucks out of our end. They know what we do and they played us well. They didn't give us the blue line. They kept the pucks out of their end and made us play a lot of defense. They did their homework.''

Although not a disaster, Thornton acknowledged it does feel like a slide.

''We haven't been playing well the last three or four games,'' he said. ''We need to nip it in the bud right now, go into Montreal [tomorrow night] and win that and get our team confidence back.''

There wasn't much to be confident about against the Senators. Ottawa tied the game at 9:53 on a goal by center Shaun Van Allen. Van Allen beat Thornton in the left faceoff circle, winning the puck back to the left point for Leschyshyn, and Van Allen went right to the net. Leschyshyn relayed the puck to the right point for defenseman Shane Hnidy and he fired it on net. Van Allen deflected it past goaltender Steve Shields for his third of the year.

The Senators took the lead at 16:01 when right wing Chris Neil buried a shot from the left circle. The Bruins' fortunes got worse in the second when the visitors erupted for three more goals to run the score to 5-1.

Center Todd White started the damage at 5:07 with a shorthanded goal. Mammoth defenseman Zdeno Chara brought the puck through the neutral zone and skated it into the right circle. He fired a shot on Shields that the goaltender stopped but he gave up the rebound and White didn't miss.

''Any time you get a shorthanded goal [against], it's tough,'' said Thornton. ''It breaks the confidence of the team, but we have to come out and grab that next goal and we didn't.''

Instead, the Senators kept building on their lead. At 10:30, with Shields and his defense battling for control of the puck in the crease, defenseman Anton Volchenkov tried to beat Shields with a forehand bid but Shields got his body in front of it. However, Volchenkov collected the rebound and lifted a backhander into the net.

The toughest of the lot came with just 23.2 seconds left in the period. Center Radek Bonk, positioned in the right circle, relayed a pass to right wing Marian Hossa in the slot. Hossa tapped it past Shields for his 19th of the season.

The Bruins closed the gap in the third on Thornton's 16th strike of the year. He beat Bonk in the left faceoff circle and then advanced it toward the net before beating Lalime with a forehander.

However, it was much too little, much too late. This time, it was the Bruins' turn to be embarrassed.

''We didn't play as well as a team as they did,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek.

Tomorrow night, it will be the Bruins seeking a little revenge when they get another crack at the Canadiens.

''This is a good test for this team,'' said Thornton. ''We'll see how we react.''

This story ran on page C5 of the Boston Globe on 12/13/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.