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BRUINS 2, CANADIENS 2 [ Game stats ]
The Bruins, battling to get out of their midseason doldrums, came back on a Steve Heinze goal late in the third period to earn a 2-2 tie with the Canadiens last night at the Molson Centre. That follows a 0-0 tie Thursday night at home against the Sabres.
''Any points you can pick up on the road [are good],'' said Bruins coach Pat Burns. ''It's still not a win, of course we'll hear about that. It's still not a loss.''
The Bruins get back at it tomorrow afternoon against the Atlanta Thrashers at the FleetCenter. Then they kick off a three-game trip in Atlanta on Wednesday.
In this one, they had the lead early and had a great chance with a five-minute power play late when Scott Thornton was called for checking Andre Savage from behind. But they could only get one shot on Montreal's Jose Theodore.
They'll take the tie and go home happy.
''We've had one win in our last what, 10, 12 games,'' said goalie Byron Dafoe, who kept the Bruins in it and finished with 30 saves. ''We're desperately looking for victories now. But we'll take the point. Especially coming back and stealing the point like that. But we need some victories.''
The Bruins are 0-3-2 in their last five and 1-8-4 in their last 13.
Heinze had a bunch of chances Thursday night against Buffalo and had a bunch more last night playing with the two Joes - Thornton and Murphy.
''That is our line,'' said Burns, who is missing Jason Allison for the season and Dave Andreychuk and Sergei Samsonov for the time being. ''That's our line. Heinzie's playing a lot better now. He's like that, a streaky guy.''
Heinze had a goal against Toronto Tuesday and last night took advantage of a good bounce to get the tying goal with 5:47 left.
Don Sweeney took a nice pass from Murphy, moved in, and got a shot on Theodore. The Montreal goalie stopped the shot, but the puck hit a defenseman's skate as it was bouncing away and headed toward the crease. Heinze pounced on it and popped it into the open net.
''Every goal-scorer I've ever talked to says don't worry as long as you're getting your chances,'' said Heinze, who snapped a long drought with Tuesday's goal. ''I'm getting my chances and fortunately one went in for me tonight.''
The tie held off the Canadiens, who have been creeping up on the Bruins. Boston is 14-19-12 and Montreal 14-24-5.
The Bruins broke on top in the first on P.J. Axelsson's sixth goal at 9:01. But the Canadiens went in front, 2-1, scoring on their first two power-play chances. Patrice Brisebois had the first with 1:30 left in the opening period. The Canadiens went on top on Karl Dykhuis's goal at 8:25 of the second.
At the end, the Bruins had a power play for the last 2:21 of regulation and into overtime.
They put some pressure on, but could not score. Both teams had chances at the end but Dafoe and Theodore stood their ground.
Seconds after Heinze tied it, Theodore made a huge stop on Thornton in close.
''I had a lot of time in front,'' Thornton said. ''I didn't think I'd have that much time and the puck was up on edge. I should have buried it.''
The Bruins had won their last three games here and now have a 5-0-3 streak going against Montreal.
Montreal, which had the league's 14th best power play coming in, was perfect on its first two chances and that was the difference early.
Dafoe had to make a series of saves early in the third period to keep it at 2-1 and give his team a chance.
The Bruins had a great opportunity with 9:40 left. They were shorthanded and Rob DiMaio broke in on Theodore. The goalie made the save, but the rebound went back to DiMaio, who hit the post.
Soon, Heinze, who had hit the post earlier, got his goal and the Bruins had their tie.
This story ran on page D02 of the Boston Globe on 1/16/1999.
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ONTREAL - Two games, two ties. They sure beat losses.