Fall continues as Sabres' Barnes scores in OT

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 3/9/2000

BUFFALO - The season is now just a backended training camp, a place for wouldbes and wannabes to show their stuff. The Bruins these days look like an ambitious American Hockey League squad, parts broken and borrowed, kids who want to prove they have a thirst for the game, a place in The Show.

Last night, it really wasn't much of a show here from either side. The Sabres, still in the hunt for a playoff spot, struck for the sudden-death winner with 3:06 left in overtime - Stu Barnes finishing a Vaclav Varada feed in front - and inched closer to the No. 8 playoff berth with a 2-1 victory over the Ray Bourque-less Bruins.

''Nothing to lose there, we have to try to score a goal,'' said Bruins coach Pat Burns, his club now 1-9-3 since the All-Star break. ''A tie's not going to help us right now. The guys played hard.''

Without a goal in the first two periods, the Bruins rallied for the tie at 9:48 of the third when Antti Laaksonen connected for his first career goal.

It wasn't a bad first period for the Bruins. No one was traded. No one was charged with assault - simple, aggravated, or otherwise. No one got injured or so much as scheduled an MRI.

Does is get any better than that? Probably not. But getting through 20 minutes with the same lineup these days is a major accomplishment for the Hub's heartbroken hockey team.

Status quo on the health chart didn't pay off on the scoreboard, however. The Sabres, struggling badly themselves these days, potted the only goal in the first 20 minutes. The strike came on a power play with 4:45 gone, Jason Woolley connecting from the right point with Varada providing a screen in front of Boston netminder John Grahame.

Now with only 15 games left in the 1999-2000 season (''Mercy'', as Ned Martin would say), the Bruins will be in Raleigh, N.C., for game No. 69 tomorrow night, with the March 14 trade deadline fast approaching. Will the Bruins make a deal? Not likely. The only candidate could be the underperforming Sergei Samsonov, but he's far more likely to remain and be asked back for a fresh start in October.

Brian Rolston, playing his first game with the Bruins, skated between P.J. Axelsson and Mikko Eloranta. Samsonov had Joe Thornton as his pivot, with Cameron Mann on the opposite wing. Another trio had Shawn Bates working between Ken Belanger and Laaksonen.

There was no scoring in the middle period. The Bruins, who held a 12-6 shot advantage in the first, had a 7-6 advantage in the second.

Dominik Hasek went down in a heap when he was clobbered by a crease-crossing Thornton with 1:48 left in the second. The Sabres didn't put up much of a fuss. After all, Thornton wouldn't have touched Hasek if it hadn't been for Buffalo defenseman Alexei Zhitnik shoving Jumbo Joe into the unsuspecting superstar.

One of the better punchfests of the season was staged with 38.1 seconds left when Darren Van Impe stepped in for Eloranta and traded heavy shots with the towering Erik Rasmussen. Van Impe had the better of the early going, but Rasmussen recovered nicely. That's what it has come to, folks, subplots and punchouts and open auditions for 2000-2001.

This story ran on page C5 of the Boston Globe on 3/9/2000.
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