Fortunes frown upon Bruins

Two-goal lead lost along with hope

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 02/24/2000

EDMONTON, Alberta - The last few days have been very dark ones for the Bruins. In the wake of the Marty McSorley suspension that brought disgrace to the franchise and to the league, and the loss of their No. 1 goalie (Byron Dafoe) and their leading scorer (Anson Carter) to injuries, the Bruins tried to do something, anything to salvage some hope out of these last 23 games.

But using a hybrid lineup that was as much American Hockey League as National Hockey League, their fortunes only grew darker and more desperate as they dropped a 4-2 decision last night to the Edmonton Oilers at Skyreach Centre.

The Bruins had a 2-0 lead, but gave up four unanswered goals including a pair 27 seconds apart in the third period and are now eight games below .500.

Disaster struck at 8:07 of the third when defenseman Sean Brown, a former 21st pick overall by Boston in the 1995 draft, gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead with a slap shot from the point.

At 8:34, Bill Guerin sealed it with his second goal of the night, burying a feed from center Doug Weight.

"We played a good first period and in the second period they outshot us pretty bad," said coach Pat Burns, referring to the 14-6 differential. "Bad penalties cost us. One faceoff and we lost the puck along the boards and the game is over. That's been a little bit of the history of us. We lose the game in such a small period of time. We seem to crumble after a little bit. Our confidence is so fragile, it seems to hurt us."

Unlike Monday night when the Bruins were down by four goals only nine minutes into the game against Vancouver, Boston got off to a very good start, taking a 2-0 lead midway through the first period.

Defenseman Don Sweeney started it off with his first goal of the season. Right wing Rob DiMaio skated down the left circle and dropped a pass back for Sweeney, who ripped a shot from atop the circle that beat goalie Bill Ranford at 5:44.

Forward Mikko Eloranta made it a two-goal advantage at 11:06 with his fifth tally of the year. Eloranta was camped behind the Oilers' net and was looking for someone to pass to. No lanes opened up, though, so he skated the puck out to the right circle and flipped a shot into the top of the net past the glove of Ranford.

The Oilers cut the lead in half at 17:08 during a power play on Guerin's 20th goal of the season.

They pulled even at 14:40 of the second period on a strike by left wing Ethan Moreau, who is playing with a dislocated shoulder. Right wing Mike Grier chipped the puck up to center Todd Marchant and Marchant raced up the right side. From the right circle he dished a pass to Moreau in the left and he finished the play, beating goalie John Grahame for his 14th goal of the season.