There's no excuse for giving it up

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 3/17/2000

CHICAGO - They had a two-goal lead three times. They turned in a dominant performance in the first two periods. They outshot, outplayed, and outworked the Blackhawks for 40 minutes.

But the Bruins, as has too often been the case this year, couldn't finish off the Blackhawks and dropped a 5-4 overtime decision last night at the United Center.

Had Boston been able to hang on, it would've marked the first time since Oct. 30-Nov. 6 that they had won three straight games.

Center Steve Sullivan capped the Blackhawks' comeback with a goal at 1:39 of the extra session.

Coach Pat Burns was clearly upset with the Bruins' lack of execution.

''We lost because we deserved to lose, it's as simple as that,'' said Burns. ''We gave them the game right back on a silver platter. We got fancy, we stopped playing. I thought we played about 10 minutes the whole game, that's it. We thought it was going to be easy. They didn't respect players like [Alexei] Zhamnov and [Tony] Amonte. Those are experienced hockey players. You don't respect guys like that, that's what happened.''

Frustrated goalie Rob Tallas, who played exceptionally well but wasn't rewarded, was near tears after the game.

''We're 13 seconds away from a win and battling so hard,'' said Tallas, who said he felt like screaming. ''My record is not good [3-10-4], I'm trying to work hard and to have it taken away like that is hard.''

It didn't hurt that the Blackhawks had played the night before and were coming off an inspired victory over Toronto. They certainly looked sluggish in the early going as the Bruins skated circles around them.

Boston came close to getting on the board about 31/2 minutes into the action when towering defenseman Hal Gill got a rare breakaway opportunity. Gill charged down the slot and tried to beat goalie Jocelyn Thibault with a forehander, but the goalie made the save at 3:29.

Ken Belanger broke through at 4:39 with his second goal of the season. Belanger, who last had a point Feb. 12 (an assist against Florida) and whose only other goal came Nov. 6 against Atlanta, took advantage of a terrific hit along the boards by Eric Nickulas and beat Thibault with a backhander. Brian Rolston, who has points in three straight games, picked up the other assist.

Sergei Samsonov potted his 18th goal of the season only 41 seconds later. His forehand rebound bid from the slot gave Boston a 2-0 lead and a whopping 9-1 advantage in shots.

Despite their inability to generate much in terms of quantity, the Blackhawks responded with a quality opportunity that cut the Bruins' lead in half. With defenseman Brandon Smith in the penalty box for holding the stick, the Blackhawks made their power play count.

Left wing Michal Grosek, who arrived a little more than a week ago from Buffalo in the Doug Gilmour deal, scored his first goal for Chicago and first since Feb. 17 when he beat Tallas with a backhand shot at 15:01.

In the second period, Boston regained its two-goal lead as the two newest Bruins combined on the score. Rolston carried the puck up ice and dished it from the left point over to Mike Knuble, who was chugging down the slot. Knuble's forehander beat Thibault for the 3-1 advantage at 7:24.

The Blackhawks closed the gap to 3-2 only nine seconds after their power play expired. This time it was center Michael Nylander who made the most of Boston's unlucky play in the defensive zone, as he beat Tallas for his 21st goal of the year.

A few minutes later, the Bruins took their third two-goal advantage.

Samsonov, who had one of his better games in recent memory, took a long lead pass from center Joe Thornton and crisscrossed through center ice. He gained the blue line and headed down the right circle. He fired a shot that Thibault stopped, but it came hard off the goalie's right pad to Thornton in the slot. Thornton rapped it in at 17:56 for his 20th of the year and his 100th NHL point.

In the third, which was dominated by Chicago, Hingham native Amonte pulled the Blackhawks within one when he scored his 38th of the season, taking a pass from Zhamnov and beating Tallas at 12:44.

With Thibault pulled for an extra attacker, defenseman Boris Mironov took a centering pass from Zhamnov and beat Tallas from the edge of the crease with only 13.7 seconds remaining in regulation, setting the stage for overtime.

Tallas said it was no consolation that he played as well as he did.

''It's just so frustrating,'' he said. ''I'm trying to play for the future and play for the team and I have no luck. I don't know what to say. When you look at the scoring chances in the last period, it was tough. All we had to do was keep it simple. That one hurt.''

This story ran on page F05 of the Boston Globe on 3/17/2000.
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