Panthers break the silence

Bruins done in by Florida spurt in the third

By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 03/24/2000

It was there for the taking. For two periods, the Bruins had the Florida Panthers scoreless and quiet.

But as has been the case so often this season, the Bruins have lost games in small spans of time.

Last night, after bottling up the Panthers for better than 45 minutes, Boston gave up a pair of third-period strikes 2 minutes 51 seconds apart and fell to Florida, 3-1, at the FleetCenter.

The effort, the defense, and the execution were there. In the end, though, a couple of great plays by Florida and little breakdowns by Boston led to big trouble.

"I don't say it very often, but I honestly feel we deserved probably a better fate," said Don Sweeney. "It's certainly disheartening. I felt the game was there for us."

That was true largely because of the conservative, tight game plan the Bruins played to near perfection in the first two periods.

"It's easy to have a game plan like that and to go out and do it," said coach Pat Burns. "But sooner or later, the other team - they were starting to figure it out. They were trying to get behind our defense. We were keeping the gap closed. They look at us and think they should be able to have a little fun. All of a sudden, they realize they're in a game. But then it's the errors that cost you the game. That makes the difference over an 82-game schedule."

Boston's objective was to contain superstar Pavel Bure, maximize their opportunities on veteran goalie Mike Vernon, and try not to give anything away.

It certainly didn't hurt that goalie John Grahame, who was rocked in his last start by Philadelphia last Sunday, turned in a strong performance with 25 saves.

One of his biggest stops came at 17:27 of the middle period when right wing Scott Mellanby worked his way toward the net. Center Rob Niedermayer centered a pass in front to Mellanby, but his one-timer from the slot was turned aside.

The Bruins finally broke through at 4:12 of the third when Cameron Mann, who had been denied earlier, made his chance count.

Andre Savage moved the puck to Mann and he took off up the right side. He beat defenseman Todd Simpson to the inside of the right circle, and then beat Vernon with a deft backhand shot between the netminder's pads.

The Bruins' elation certainly didn't last long, less than two minutes.

Florida center Viktor Kozlov beat defenseman Brandon Smith behind the Boston cage, skated out to the left circle, and flipped a shot at the net. Grahame made the save but couldn't contain the rebound. Right wing Mark Parrish was there, beating Grahame with a forehand shot at 5:57 to tie it at 1-1. It ended the Bruins' shutout streak at 106 minutes 26 seconds.

The Panthers scored the winner less than three minutes later on a goal by former Bruin Cam Stewart. At 8:48, Mellanby fed a perfect pass across the slot to Stewart, who shoveled it past Grahame for the 2-1 margin at 8:48.

Boston had an excellent opportunity to pull even at 10:05 during a power play. But Sergei Samsonov was robbed by the left arm of Vernon. Then Mann came even closer with 3:48 left but after taking a pass from Mikko Eloranta, his shot rattled off the right post.

With Grahame on his way to the bench for an extra attacker, Bure sealed it at 18:58 when he fired the puck into the empty cage for his 52d goal.

"We were close," said Grahame, "but close wasn't good enough."