Bruins falter again

Team's 0-3 Start Worst Since '65

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 10/08/99

KANATA, Ontario -- The Bruins this morning should send a big thank you note to the Red Sox. After that, they should spend a few minutes dashing off a note to the Patriots, expressing gratitude for that club's 4-0 start.

If it weren't for the Sox' shocking self-destruction in the first two playoff games against Cleveland and the Patriots' unblemished record, the spotlight would be shining brightly on the Bruins' woeful 0-3-0 start.

The Bruins started well last night, but coughed up a 3-1 lead on the way to a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators at the Corel Centre. It is the team's worst start since the 1965-66 season, and only the seventh time the Bruins have begun with three losses.

The start has been particularly tough on goalie Rob Tallas, who said Wednesday he would do everything within his power to stand on his head. Unfortunately for him, he was left helpless too many times.

"That was a frustrating game,'' said Tallas (22 saves). "We were in it, but there wasn't any of that extra stuff you need to win games. When we're up going into the third period, we need to win. There's no doubt about it.

"To have an opportunity to get the first win of the season and get everybody excited, there was no excitement out there. I thought I saw a lot of quick shots and I had to kick my legs out. That's not our style of hockey. We were up, 3-1, and you've got to have that hunger, to put a team down and keep putting them down. To let them creep back in, it was wrong.

"Last year, I remember if we were up, they'd be lucky to see 10 shots for the rest of the game, we'd slow it right down. We didn't do that at all.''

The Bruins came out red-hot in the opening 12 minutes, scoring three goals, which is two more than they had in the season's first 120 minutes.

Center Joe Thornton, who started out on the defensive line with left wing P.J. Axelsson and right wing Rob DiMaio, made the most of a DiMaio blast from the right side, chipping in the rebound at the 14-second mark. At 5:18, DiMaio and Thornton combined again, this time with DiMaio beating Patrick Lalime for the 2-0 advantage.

The Senators, one of the league's best skating teams, closed to 2-1 during a power play when center Radek Bonk buried a rebound at 7:43.

The Bruins took advantage of their own power play at 11:35 when left wing Steve Heinze fed the puck from the slot over to big left wing Dave Andreychuk, who put it home. After giving up three goals on seven shots, Lalime was pulled at 11:35 by coach Jacques Martin. In came Ron Tugnutt, one of the league's stingiest netminders last season.

From there, it fell apart for the Bruins.

Daniel Alfredsson's goal at 16:23 of the first started the slide as the Senators pulled to within 3-2.

After the scoreless second, the Senators took over. They tied the game at 1:25 on a power-play goal by Alfredsson. At 11:30, the penalty-prone Bruins again surrendered a power-play goal and that was that.

On the winner, Alfredsson picked Ray Bourque, preventing him from reaching Marian Hossa. In turn, Hossa, one of the NHL's most talented and exciting players, went flying behind the net and buried a wraparound at the left post.

"I was trying to get to [Hossa],'' said Bourque. "Alfredsson stepped right in front of me and kind of interfered and I couldn't get to him. It allowed [Hossa] to get to the back of the net where he came around and wrapped it in.''

The upshot is the Bruins played much better than they had in their first two games. But there were too many mistakes, too many bad decisions, too many breakdowns.

"We just made too many mistakes, that's all it is,'' said Andreychuk.

Through the disappointment, coach Pat Burns remained upbeat, saying his club showed some grit and executed better at times.

"Things are looking up,'' he said. "There are still a lot of guys who have to get settled in. There are a lot of new faces and they have to learn.''