[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/24/2002

he Bruins have come full cycle.

They began the month with a shutout loss to St. Louis. After that came back-to-back overtime wins over Atlanta and Tampa Bay and a convincing victory over the Rangers. But there were signs that Boston's game - so dominant the first two months of the season - was eroding. More and more mistakes were being made, and players were trying to do too much, but they were getting away with it so nothing changed. Then came the losing. There were two to hated Montreal sandwiched around a particularly ugly defeat at the hands of Ottawa, followed by a horrid two-game trip that brought losses in Buffalo and Washington. They were in a serious skid, though the third period against the Capitals seemed to indicate a turnaround may on the horizon.

After settling for a tie against Florida Saturday despite dominating for two periods, the Bruins were winless in six (0-5-1-0) and said by hook or by crook they were determined not to go into the Christmas break without ending their bad run. They accomplished that with a 5-2 win over the San Jose

Sharks at the FleetCenter last night, their first triumph since Dec. 8. Relief was the order of the night.

''It goes in cycles,'' said Brian Rolston. ''It's a love-hate relationship. A lot of things go in cycles. We got away from it a little bit but we were still winning games. That kind of took us into the long winless part there and then we got back to it against Washington and I thought we played hard against Florida and they get a couple of bounces late in the period and that's what happens when you're in those things.''

Mike Knuble put the Bruins on top with his eighth goal of the season. With the Sharks' Dan McGillis in the penalty box for slashing at 11:27 of the first period, Joe Thornton drove down the right side of the San Jose zone with Brad Stuart practically riding on his back.

Thornton was able to protect the puck and he dished a backhand pass across to Knuble, who was battling Bryan Marchment in front. Knuble got a stick on it and redirected it into the far side of the net past goaltender Evgeni Nabokov at 12:39.

The lead lasted just over a minute. Patrick Marleau carried the puck around the net from left to right. Despite having several bodies in front of the net, Marleau was able to thread a pass through the crease to Teemu Selanne, who was positioned near the left post. He swept the puck into the net for his 18th of the season at 13:45.

The Bruins went back on top - this time for good - on their second power-play goal of the night. Defenseman Bryan Berard fired a shot from beyond center ice that Nabokov stopped but bobbled. The puck bounced out in front of him and with the Bruins charging toward him, Nabokov made a desperate poke check to get the puck out of harm's way. Instead, it caromed off right wing Glen Murray, then off Knuble, and finally back out to an incoming Berard, who fired it into the net for the 2-1 lead at 8:21 of the second. It was Berard's second point of the night, giving him No. 200 for his career.

At 13:40, Boston gave itself some breathing room on the sixth goal of the year for rookie left wing Ivan Huml. Defenseman Sean O'Donnell had an assist on the tally, giving him No. 100 for his career. Huml's hard wrister from the right circle gave his team a 3-1 advantage heading into the final period, and it's fair to say no one was planning on any late-game lapses the likes of which cost them a point Saturday against Florida when they gave up two goals in the final 52 seconds of regulation and had to settle for a 3-3 tie.

Instead of allowing the Sharks back in, Boston added a fourth goal in the third, providing a three-goal cushion. Murray sprung Thornton and he charged down the slot, deked Nabokov down, and lifted a high backhander into the net at 6:35 for his 20th of the year. It was Murray's second helper of the game, giving him 200 for his career.

''Joey's goal was a huge goal for us,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek. ''That's what Joey's got to do for us and he did. I felt really good after that goal.''

Sharks defenseman Jim Fahey, a Milton native and former standout at Northeastern, closed the gap to two when he tallied his first NHL goal at 10:29. His slapper from the right circle beat goalie John Grahame over the left shoulder to make it 4-2.

But that's as close as they would come. Instead of giving up goals, they added one as left wing P.J. Axelsson scored an empty-netter with 10.7 seconds left.

''It's nice to come out and talk to [the media] not being on the losing end of things,'' said Rolston. ''It was a great win. Everything was going. We know that's the way we can play and it will be a nice couple of days off.''

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 12/24/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.