Bruins get act together

It's taken practice, but they look good

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 02/26/2000

WASHINGTON - Don't bother reaching for your tattered copy of "Hockey for Dummies" in hopes that that maybe Chapter 87 - "Miscellaneous Weird Stuff" - will explain what happened here last night between the Bruins and the Capitals.

If you're a Bruins fan, just savor the moment: a 3-0 win by the Black 'n Gold, over one of hottest, most opportunistic clubs in the NHL. Just when you thought it was time to toss in the towel - something Washington coach Ron Wilson actually did in the third period - the Bruins took one giant step out of the bowels of a very, very, very bad season.

"This could be a turning point for us," said Boston defenseman Kyle McLaren. "We got some all-around big efforts out there, like John Grahame standing on his head a couple of times."

Grahame, with 21 stops for his second shutout this season, was undeniably the key to the Bruins recording only their 19th victory this season, their first in seven games (1-4-2) since the All-Star Game. While the Bruins were peppering Washington goalies with 49 shots, Grahame was turning back seven or eight testers, on a night when the Bruins needed more than 36 minutes to get a couple by starting netminder Olaf Kolzig.

"Goaltending . . . goaltending . . . " said Boston coach Pat Burns, asked to identify the key to the win. "I'll repeat: the goaltending."

Nonetheless, there were other significant factors. 1) 60 minutes of uptempo skating, best implemented on the forecheck (a lost art for the first half of the season); 2) eyes wide open at the offensive end, where Sergei Samsonov and P.J. Axelsson delivered the 2-0 lead and Ray Bourque later ripped home an empty-netter for the 3-0 final.

For one night, anyway, the Bruins proved they could fulfill the basics of the game - skate, shoot, and pressure the puck in the offensive end, retreat with the same determination when necessary and prevent follow-up shots on the rookie Grahame.

"We kept talking, `Pressure . . . pressure . . . pressure,' " said Bourque. "And we always had that third man back [forward high in the zone] in good shape.

"Hey, we've got nothing to lose. We've got to win games, and the best way to win is constant pressure. It's do or die for us now."

The Capitals, meanwhile, had their 10-game winning streak on home ice - best in the NHL this season - come to an end. Late in the third period, Wilson, who also coached the US Olympic team in Nagano, was so frustrated with the officiating that he hoisted a blue-and-white towel on a stick and waved it high over his head. Referee Scott Zelkin easily could have tossed him out, but only tagged him with a two-minute minor (abuse of the official).

Ex-Bruin Joe Murphy, claimed on waivers recently after the Bruins discharged him for dissing Burns, landed two shots, playing on a line with ex-Bruin Adam Oates and Chris Simon most of the night.

The Bruins will be in Pittsburgh tonight, with a chance to win two in a row for only the second time since late November.

"Do or die,"said McLaren, reflecting on the remarks of his captain. "Those words are right on."

Add Rob DiMaio to the ever-expanding list of Bruins dealt a bad hand. DiMaio, who returned to Boston Thursday night for an MRI, learned yesterday that he has a partial tear of a ligament in his left hand, between the wrist and index finger. "It happened about three weeks ago," said DiMaio, who was back in uniform here last night. "I've been playing with it, but it was getting worse." . . . Neither Anson Carter (shoulder) nor No. 1 goalie Byron Dafoe (knee) is expected to join the Bruins for tonight's game in Pittsburgh. They both underwent MRIs this week in Boston, but the exams showed no significant damage. Dafoe has a frayed bit of cartilage that sometimes causes the knee to lock.