Bruins discover finishing touch

[ Game summary ]

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 1/12/2003

here was no third-period collapse this time. No gifts to the opposition, no shocking easy goals against, no maddening breakdowns in their own zone.

For the first time in a long time - since Dec. 28 to be exact - the Bruins came away with a victory. Boston beat the Toronto Maple Leafs at the FleetCenter last night, 6-2, ending the club's miserable losing streak at five games.

It was the Bruins' first win in January and just their third in the past 15 contests (3-11-1-0). It was the most goals the Bruins had scored since a 7-2 win over Calgary Nov. 26.

Is the 400-pound gorilla off their backs? Well, it is for now.

''Every single guy in that room busted themselves tonight,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek. ''The intensity was there, the effort was there, the positioning was there, the simplicity was there, so I would say it was more like [the first two months of the season] than [how they'd played] the last month.''

Indeed, it was. The defense was solid, the goaltending of Steve Shields was steady, and the scoring was spread out. There were six goals and six goal scorers, four in the third period. In all, 12 players - including three defensemen - earned points for the Bruins last night, something that was also present in their early success.

''What time's that parade [today],'' joked forward Mike Knuble, whose second-period goal proved a springboard for Boston's dominant third period. ''We certainly made a step in the right direction and played a solid game all over. It's not like a cure-all. It's just one game but it's a step in the right direction.''

When the team lost to Buffalo Friday night, the journey home was a somber one. The Bruins felt as if their situation couldn't get any worse. They had coughed up a 2-0 third-period lead on the way to a 4-2 loss and were both frustrated and angry.

''I feel like as a group, we were rock bottom on [Friday night and yesterday morning],'' said Knuble. ''We were really tired of feeling the way we feel. We have a big week coming up again with Pittsburgh [tomorrow] and it doesn't get any easier. So it just makes practice a little more enjoyable [today].''

The Bruins scored first last night on left wing P.J. Axelsson's goal at 10:29 of the first. Right wing Michal Grosek had the puck behind the Toronto net, positioned off to the left of goaltender Ed Belfour. With Axelsson coming down the slot, Grosek delivered a hard pass right on his teammate's tape and Axelsson beat Belfour with a one-timer.

The middle period was more of a roller-coaster ride, which the Bruins have been enduring for quite some time. With Knuble in the box for hooking, center Brian Rolston was killing the penalty and was hauled down by Toronto captain Mats Sundin. But neither referee Jay Sharrers nor Stephen Walkom thought it warranted a call and play continued, ending with a Toronto goal.

With only four seconds remaining on the man advantage, Alexander Mogilny scored his first of two power-play tallies in the period at 3:50. His second one came at 5:06, which put the Leafs up, 2-1.

Knuble rallied the Bruins to tie it at 8:27 on his ninth strike of the year. Knuble deked down Belfour and backhanded a shot over him.

In the third, it was all Boston. Lately, the final 20 minutes of games have been nothing short of a nightmare for the Bruins. Instead of folding, though, they erupted for four goals, the first of which was by Glen Murray at 5:44. Defenseman Hal Gill took a shot from the left point that was stopped. The puck bounced into the right corner and forward Andy Hilbert tracked it down. He relayed it to Murray in the slot and Murray's shot deflected off a Toronto stick, a skate, and then the post before finding the back of the net.

Defenseman Nick Boynton gave his team some breathing room, scoring with 5:23 left in regulation, which was his third goal of the year and first in 14 contests. Center Jozef Stumpel took a pass from Murray and beat Belfour on a slapper at 16:10 to make it 5-2 and Rolston sealed it with a shorthanded, empty-netter with 1:12 left.

''We definitely had our work cut out for us,'' said Knuble. ''[Toronto captain] Mats Sundin was back after a long layoff and he's obviously one of the more dangerous guys in the league. We could've rolled over again and died and made more excuses. But we played well. We got down and didn't worry about it. They gave it to us in the third the other night [when they scored three goals in the final period Tuesday] and we kind of did the same tonight.''

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 1/12/2003.
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