[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 12/28/2002

AMPA - Three goals on four shots. It doesn't get much worse.

Through two periods, the Bruins were even with the Lightning, at 2-2.

But in the final 20 minutes, Boston surrendered three unanswered goals on four shots on the way to a stunning 5-2 loss to Tampa Bay last night.

It was a bitter disappointment for Bruins goalie John Grahame, who turned back 20 of the first 22 shots he faced and kept his team in the game for the first two periods. He said the tally by Martin St. Louis, which turned out to be the winner, was the worst.

"It was a case where the third goal kind of killed us," said Grahame. "That's a goal you can't let in. It gave them all the momentum and kind of brought us down. I take the responsibility for that. It should've been a nothing goal. It should've continued to be 2-2, and everything crumbled from there. Timing is everything when you're playing goal. I keep dwelling on it but I've got to make that save on the third goal. If that doesn't go in, it's a whole different story."

It marked the first time in 10 games that Boston had lost to Tampa Bay (7-1-2-0). The Bruins' last defeat to the Lightning was April 4, 2000.

The Bruins have just one victory in their last eight games (1-6-1-0).

They came out flat in the first period. The holiday break, coupled with several players coming off bouts with the flu, seemed to affect their legs early. Add the netminding of Nikolai Khabibulin and it was tough sledding for a while.

Less than a half-minute after Khabibulin foiled a scoring bid by Bruins captain Joe Thornton at 13:34, a former Bruin came back to haunt his old team. Dave Andreychuk put the Lightning up, 1-0, at 13:53.

The Lightning capitalized on a Boston penalty to boost their lead to a pair. With Jozef Stumpel off for tripping, Tampa Bay's Fredrik Modin had the puck in the left corner. He curled and dodged defenseman Nick Boynton before firing a backhand shot past Grahame at 7:42 of the second period.

The Bruins, who played a much better second period, answered with a power-play strike of their own. With Vaclav Prospal off for hooking, defenseman Sean O'Donnell gained the blue line and dumped the puck into the left corner. Lee Goren came up with the puck, skated up to the left boards, and then gave the puck back to O'Donnell at the point. He immediately relayed it down to Stumpel, who was below the left circle. Stumpel's shot on Khabibulin was turned away, but Goren came charging through the left circle and buried the rebound to make it 2-1 at 10:00.

Goren, who was called up from Providence yesterday when Mike Knuble was unable to play because of the flu, has been scoring regularly during his time with Boston's top affiliate. In 30 games with the Baby B's, Goren has 12 goals and 16 assists.

Boston pulled even at 14:16 when Glen Murray potted his 18th goal of the year. Murray teed up a slapper from just inside the blue line that went through the legs of defenseman Nolan Pratt and then through the legs of Khabibulin.

It didn't stay that way for long. In the pivotal third, the Lightning piled on and the Bruins had no answers. St. Louis, who leads the club in scoring, gave the Lightning back the lead for good at 8:14. The Bruins turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Modin gave it to St. Louis. Despite being checked by defensemen Jonathan Girard and Hal Gill, St. Louis got off a shot and put it past Grahame.

Modin scored his second of the night at 10:14 when he tipped in a Dan Boyle shot from the right side of the blue line to make it 4-2.

Bruins coach Robbie Ftorek felt it never should have come to that. He said the officials waved off an icing that should have been made.

"I just thought it was a bad call on the non-icing," said Ftorek. "Hal Gill plays 25 minutes a game and the guy shoots the puck in the air off the boards and it goes by Hal 10 yards and the guys said he's not skating. He pivoted toward the puck and took two strides, and it should not have been waved off. A fair call is a fair call and I don't believe that was a good call. It wasn't a goal that cost us the game, but it wasn't the right call. It was a terrible call."

Prospal closed it out at 15:55 when he converted a touch pass from Vincent Lecavalier.

"The thing that really killed us was the momentum we gave them in the third when we took some penalties and had to kill [them]," said Ftorek, whose club was whistled for two minors in the period, both on Bryan Berard. "They made some good plays and executed well off of some of our mistakes, and you end up losing when that happens."

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 12/28/2002.
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