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HURRICANES 7, BRUINS 3 [ Game stats ]
They're a no-show at the FleetCenter
There was no defense for the way the Bruins played last night against the Carolina Hurricanes at the FleetCenter.
There was no defense, literally, played at any time. There was no defense for the turnovers, the hideous passing, the missed coverage. There was nothing redeemable about this contest.
The Bruins stunk out the joint, folks. They only lost, 7-3, but it was every bit as disgraceful as the 9-3 loss to Chicago Dec. 4.
After an ugly but convincing win over the Islanders Tuesday, the Bruins said all the right things about trying to build on it after the victory ended a seven-game winless streak.
So much for that.
''From the drop of the puck there was no emotion from this club at all,'' said coach Pat Burns. ''Why, I don't know. Three goals used to win us hockey games. It's not the question of winning or losing hockey games, it's the way you're losing. It just sickens your stomach. They were all over us. They were completely all over us. We looked like we were standing still.''
The Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Martin Gelinas at 5:59 of the first. After stoning the Bruins at the other end, Carolina made it 2-0 at 13:05 on a strike by right wing Sami Kapanen.
As shaky as the Bruins looked in their end, they stormed back to tie it on goals six seconds apart. Team personnel couldn't confirm if it was a club record, but the league record for back-to-back goals is four seconds, shared by four teams.
Joe Murphy pulled the Bruins to within 2-1 with a power-play goal at 17:32. Anson Carter tied it with an unassisted goal when he lost the faceoff, got the puck back, and beat Arturs Irbe for his 16th tally of the season.
Instead of building on that momentum and hunkering down on defense, the Bruins got even worse in their zone, which didn't seem possible.
''I thought that would carry right over,'' said Burns. ''It was a hell of a goal. We bust down the ice and put ourselves back in the game. But our second periods have just been hideous, awful.''
Only 36 seconds into the middle period, left wing Gary Roberts worked a give-and-go with center Jeff O'Neill. O'Neill, in the left circle, relayed the puck to Roberts and the confused Bruins defense stood there while Roberts just tapped it in for the 3-2 lead.
Boston rallied to tie it at 3:36 on Kyle McLaren's fourth of the year. Center Marquis Mathieu, just called up from Providence because of an injury to Joe Hulbig, beat Robert Kron in the right circle. Antti Laaksonen got the puck and relayed it back to McLaren at the right point. McLaren's shot pinballed its way into the net.
At 14:18, the Hurricanes went ahead for good on Paul Ranheim's first of two goals.
With the teams skating four on four, Kron scored at 1:49 of the third and Ranheim picked up his second at 3:48, making it 6-3. Defenseman Glen Wesley, a former Bruin, added insult to injury with an unassisted power-play goal at 13:00.
McLaren said it was difficult to put his finger on the problem.
''I'm at a loss for words,'' said McLaren. ''It's frustrating, to say the least.''
Burns, trying to keep a stiff upper lip amid the chaos and turmoil, said he wasn't devastated by the outcome, just unhappy. If this keeps up, devastated likely isn't far behind.
''Our home games have been horrendous. We are not masters of our own building,'' said the coach. ''We let other teams take advantage of us, we let other teams outhit us, other teams come in here and are comfortable. When the opposing team comes in and feels fine about playing in the FleetCenter, that's not a good sign.''
There aren't many good signs anywhere at the moment.
This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 1/7/2000.
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o defense.