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PANTHERS 4, BRUINS 3 Tough Panthers earn victory in OT
Last night was such a contest for the Bruins, who turned in a pretty creditable performance but fell short in overtime, 4-3, to the Florida Panthers at the National Rental Car Center.
Right wing Pavel Bure beat goalie Byron Dafoe at the right post on a rebound of a Viktor Kozlov wraparound try, giving the Panthers the win at 1:31 of the extra session.
Coach Pat Burns was pleased with the way his team battled, especially since they will go home with five of a possible six points garnered in this three-game road trip. ''We played well and we played hard,'' said Burns. ''The guys played really hard. We had some excellent scoring opportunities and we limited them as much as we could. I'm not sure how much better we can play. We're very satisfied.''
Boston was unbeaten in the five previous games (2-0-3) but although the points in the standings were certainly precious as the club finds itself in a battle to make the postseason, the points came against teams who were a combined 48 games below .500 (and that's only counting Atlanta once, even though the Bruins played them twice in that span).
Burns said he thought his team was in for a battle and they got one from the talented Panthers, who have the second best record in the Eastern Conference. But the Bruins did a decent job of matching them.
The game featured a lot of up-and-down action, particularly the second period, which was highlighted by four goals (three by Boston) in a span of 2:09.
The Panthers struck the first blow when they converted a two-on-one break at 16:12 of the first. Bure took off with the puck up the right side with center Ray Whitney darting down the left. Ray Bourque, the only Bruin back to defend, tried to block the pass from Bure to Whitney but Whitney shoveled it into the net for his 20th goal.
The Bruins rallied to tie it in the middle period with defenseman Marty McSorley, who scored his first goal as a Bruin Thursday against Tampa Bay, wristing the puck at the net from the right point that beat goalie Mike Vernon at 2:45. The goal was originally credited to center Joe Thornton but later changed.
Just over a minute later, Bure gave Florida the lead back with his 300th career goal and in doing so, set a Panthers' mark with his 33d of the season.
With Bure unchecked off to Dafoe's left, Kozlov dished a pass to Bure that he swept into the net for the 2-1 advantage at 3:47. Instead of sagging, though, the Bruins made it 2-2 only 32 seconds later.
Right wing Joe Murphy, who returned after missing one game because of an abdominal strain, relayed a pass to left wing Steve Heinze. Heinze, in the left circle, beat Vernon for his ninth tally.
The Bruins went up, 3-2, only a few seconds after tying it. Left wing Sergei Samsonov, deep in the right circle, made a nice feed to right wing Landon Wilson in front. Wilson banged in the shot at 4:54 for his first goal of the year.
The Panthers came back to tie it at 12:19 on a goal by right wing Mark Parrish.
The Bruins came about a quarter of an inch from going ahead again at 14:12. Dave Andreychuk teed up a shot from the right circle that hit Vernon and flew up in the air and over the netminder's shoulder. It fell onto the goal line but Vernon fell back on it before it had completely crossed the goal line and referee Paul Stewart blew the whistle. Video replay officials ruled that the puck didn't make it all the way across.
Stewart said later that Vernon had control of the puck before it crossed the goal line.
The Bruins had an opportunity to win it late in regulation when Thornton was high-sticked in the face by defenseman Robert Svehla but they couldn't cash in on the power play.
Then came Bure's goal in the overtime. The Bruins felt they deserved a better fate.
''We outshot this team, I think we outchanced this team, we didn't get rewarded the way we wanted to at the end and our team is disappointed,'' said McSorley. ''But at the same time, we know we're elevating our game right now. We want to be disappointed, but with our heads held high and with confidence in our game going home right now.''
This story ran on page E01 of the Boston Globe on 1/23/2000.
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UNRISE, Fla. - Every now and then in the course of a season, a game comes along that can really allow a team to gauge where it is and potentially where it's going.