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BRUINS 2, CAPITALS 2 [ Game stats ] Team comes from behind to tie Capitals
''We think we're playing well but we're not playing well,'' he said. ''We have to be a little bit more aggressive, especially down near the net area.''
Burns, whose club was winless in two games (0-1-1), figured last night's contest against Washington would be a good test.
The final grade? A so-so 2-2 tie with the Capitals at the MCI Center in which the Bruins showed a definite lack of finish - but they were oh-so fortunate that goalie Byron Dafoe brought his ''A'' game.
After the game, Burns said a point is better than none. ''The Caps came out strong at us and we reacted to that,'' he said. ''We got half a loaf of breaks anyways. It's better than none at all.
''We didn't panic when it was 2-0, we kept on battling, and we got a goal and then we got another one.''
Now the Bruins are winless in three, and in that span Boston has failed to generate more than two goals in any contest.
A day before the game, Capitals coach Ron Wilson said he needed talented wing Richard Zednik to score more. Zednik apparently got the message because he accommodated his coach with two goals in the first period.
Zednik, who had been playing with center Jan Bulis, last night suited up with former Bruin Adam Oates as his pivotman and Steve Konowalchuk, who is normally Zednik's other wing.
Washington, which had beaten Boston at the FleetCenter, 3-0, Nov. 20, got out to a 2-0 lead midway through the opening period.
Dafoe, who made 34 saves, said it was frustrating to have to come from behind again. ''Once again, we did not have a very good start,'' he said. ''Them scoring on the first chance has been a bit of a trend these last five or six games. We talked about it before the game again, and it's just something we have to really address.''
With Bruins forward Anson Carter battling Konowalchuk in the corner, Oates took the puck up the left-wing boards and dished a pass to Zednik, who was perched high above the left circle. Zednik drilled a shot that hit the post and went in past Dafoe for the 1-0 lead at 4:56.
Zednik picked up his second goal of the game and sixth of the season at 11:25. Oates set a pick for Konowalchuk, who relayed a pass down in front for Zednik. Zednik deked Dafoe, skated right to left around the edge of the crease, and beat the downed netminder with a high shot.
Only 46 seconds later, the Bruins cut the deficit in half on a heads-up goal by Joe Thornton, his fifth of the season.
Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar took a pass in the defensive zone that he was unable to handle. Thornton went after the puck and took it away from Gonchar. Thornton then skated in on goalie Olaf Kolzig and scored on a backhander near the right post at 12:11.
Carter pulled the Bruins even, with his eighth tally of the season, at 16:49. Ray Bourque boomed the puck toward the right corner and it took a fortuitous bounce to right wing Mikko Eloranta, who was set up behind the net. He fired a backhand centering pass in front for Carter, whose forehand shot went through Kolzig's legs to make it 2-2.
The second period was scoreless but by no means uneventful. The Capitals had a four-minute power play just five seconds in when right wing Steve Heinze cut Zednik with a high stick.
The Bruins managed to kill it off.
In the final two minutes, the Capitals were all over Boston with Dafoe coming up big. With 20 seconds left, the Capitals came down the ice in a two-on-one break. Oates dished a pass for Zednik but Zednik fluffed on a one-timer attempt. Only a moment later, Zednik got the puck back and drilled a slap shot at Dafoe that the netminder turned back.
One area the Bruins were decidedly lacking was in the faceoff circle. The Capitals absolutely ate them alive in the first two periods.
This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 12/03/99.
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ASHINGTON - Coach Pat Burns told the media in Boston Wednesday, just prior to the Bruins departing for the nation's capital, that he didn't like the way his team was playing.