Everybody else in Boston is comparing this season's west coast
road trip to last year's season opening west coast road trip, so
let's not go there. Instead, let's talk about Anson Carter and
Kyle McLaren, whom Pat Burns won't talk about, at least publicly.
It looks like Anson Carter will play for the IHL Utah Grizzlies
instead of signing with the Bruins, and Kyle McLaren may soon
follow Anson into the I. Why isn't being taken seriously,
as a major problem, by Bruins management? It isn't as if these
players are demanding Mario Lemieux numbers. Both were a big
part of the Bruins' turnaround last year, and having them out of
the lineup weakens the team. Given that Jonathan Girard, the
Bruins' first pick in the NHL draft, doesn't seem quite ready for
prime time defensively, and is being sent back to his Junior
team, Laval, you'd think that signing McLaren would be a
priority.
This column last discussed, dispassionately and analytically, the
reasons why Harry Sinden and Mike O'Connell, the Bruins'
financial brain trust, might not be anxious to sign McLaren and
Carter for hefty pay hikes. Now let's talk about the emotional
side, from a fan's perspective. Harry, will ya' just sign the
guys and move on. What you pay them now will look cheap
in two years. If the team keeps losing, you'll be lucky to sell
those new $15 bargain basement season tickets, let alone the
high-priced fancy seats with the gold tickets. Nothing like
coming off of a season-starting road trip with a 3-4-1 record and
major holes in your lineup to keep the fans at home. At least
you had sense enough to sign Jason Allison and Ted Donato at the
last minute, knowing that going into the home opener with four
key players absent would not sit well with the faithful.
Well, at least, that's what all the guys standing around outside
the vacant lot that used to be the Boston Garden are saying, in
between trying to reach under the fence to grab pieces of what
used to be Boston's shrine to hockey, before the rich WASPs built
the FleetCenter to keep out the common man.
Pat Burns, talking about the Bruins in general - but he could
just as well have been talking about the unsigned players, said
"We're going to go out and play hard and hope. If the guys here
can't do it, we'll have to go to Providence and get guys to
replace them."
Burns also said that he had a meeting upcoming with Harry Sinden
and Mike O'Connell, and though the topic is ostensibly the farm
team in Providence, one would hope that Pat would try to impress
upon the bosses the importance of bringing Carter and McLaren
back on to the roster.
In the short term, though, it looks like youngbloods and
retreads, as the Bruins brought up several players from
Providence for the next game in Montreal. Center Marquis
Mathieu, left wing Jay Henderson and defenseman Dennis Vaske were
expected to join the team, while Peter Nordstrom and left
wing Antti Laaksonen were sent to Providence. Defenseman
Jonathan Girard was returned to his junior team in Quebec -
everybody, even his mentor Ray Bourque, agreed that he would be
far better off playing in Quebec rather than collecting splinters
in Boston. Mathieu was just signed, Henderson was a 12th pick
last year, and Vaske has been with the Islanders for ages,
but only played in 19 games last year because of injuries.
Frankly, none of these non-household names is likely to make up
for the absence of Carter and McLaren.
Oh, the season?
The Bruins started the season with a 3-3 comeback tie against the
powerful St. Louis Blues, who still look like a hull of a team
even without the Golden Brett. Jason Allison looked up to his
old form, setting up Steve Heinze for a power-play goal. Sergei
Samsonov had a pretty goal, and the shocker was Ken Baumgartner's
first goal as a Bruin to knot the game. Suffice to say, it was
not a goal-scorer's goal. A Blues defenseman inexplicably passed
the puck back to Fuhr, well out of the crease, who fumbled while
trying to play the puck with Baumgartner bearing down on him.
The Bomber tapped the puck away from Grant Fuhr and backhanded it
home.
Against the Isles, Byron Dafoe was impenetrable, and it was a
good thing, because the former fishsticks were all over the
Bruins. The Isles outshot the Bruins 28-17, and thoroughly
outplayed everyone except Lord Byron. Fortunately, Islander
Tommy Salo was doing his Tommy Salo best, and the Bruins were
able to score early, if not often. Dimitri Khristich started
things off with a power-play goal six minutes into the game, and
Steve Hienze netted his second of the year a little more than a
minute later, and the Bruins coasted the rest of the way. That
was precisely the problem, however, according to Pat Burns.
"It's pretty evident out there to me that our goaltender won the
game, because, if we play that way any other night, we lose the
game. We have to learn not to rely on our goaltender." The
season so far has proved Pat to be more prophetic in saying this
than he could have ever wanted.
You couldn't tell, however, against the hapless Colorado
Avalanche. While it has been rare to see "hapless" and
"Colorado" in the same sentence since the Quebec Nordiques went
west, their season thus far has been a series of rock slides.
With only one win in seven games, they have got to be the flop
of the year so far. Against the Bruins, the Avalanche came
knockin', but Byron Dafoe wouldn't let them in. Dafoe registered
his second straight shutout, while the Bruins got power-play
goals from Ray Bourque and Joe Thornton to bury Colorado.
Colorado had a goal disallowed because rookie Chris Drury was in
the crease (it doesn't matter how small they make the
crease, forwards will still stand in it). On the other hand,
Jason Allison took full advantage of the extra ice behind the net
to set up a neat wraparound goal against a Patrick Roy left
defenseless by Adam "Slow" Foote(d). Allison's incentive-laden
contract should be a cinch for him to fulfill if he plays up to
his ability, given the extra room behind the cage.
Against the Kings, the Bruins were robbed twice of apparent goals
by the twin zebras, and went on to lose 2-1 in overtime for their
first loss of the year. Rob DiMaio scored early in the second
period but the goal was disallowed because teammate Chris Taylor
had his skate in the crease. Barely. And he was pushed in. But
the replay judge giveth (in Colorado) and taketh away (in LA).
Chris was filling in on DiMaio's line because his brother Tim was
injured against Colorado. Last year in the playoffs, the Bruins
had a goal disallowed because Tim's skate was in the crease.
It's nice to know that NHL talent runs in the Taylor family, but
this is perhaps taking things too far. Pat Burns, thinking of the
flap over the first Taylor non-goal in the playoffs, wisely said
"I'm just going to get myself in trouble, so don't talk to me
about it."
Later in the game, another officiating travesty occurred, showing
that the two-referee system will do little more than double the
number of questionable calls. Jason Allison had the puck alone
in front of the net and backhanded it past goaltender Stephane
Fiset. But the Kings' Steve Duchesne crashed into the net and
referees Kevin Maguire and Bill McCreary ruled it was
intentional, assessing a delay-of-game penalty against Duchesne,
but not counting the goal. The Bruins argued unsuccessfully that
the goal should stand because of Duchesne's action, but Maguire
blew his whistle immediately when the net went off. The Bruins
position was that the penalty should have been delayed until the
offending team gained possession, rather than denying the team
that was fouled a scoring chance. The rulebook in fact says that
the referee can allow a goal even if the net is off in such a
case. But the whistle rules all, and Maguire blew it, in
more ways than one.
Two nights later in San Jose, the Bruins were again fortunate to
have Mr. Maguire as chief arbitrator, but this time they left
little doubt or room for "officiating" by blanking the Sharks
3-0. Robbie Tallas got his 1998 season debut in net, and made
his "What About Rob?" statement by posting a Dafoe-like shutout.
Again, the Bruins were outshot, but plunking two goals past Mike
Vernon in four shots pretty much made up for the lack of numbers.
Vernon was yanked, and the Bruins treated Steve Shields little
better, with Dimitri Khristich scoring a power-play goal in the
second. Tallas and the Bruins withstood a 13-shot Shark attack
in the second, and the Sharks were toothless after that, with
only three shots in the third. No skates in the crease, either.
Against the Coyotes in Phoenix, the Bruins were outshot (is this
a litany or something) and were positively toothless on the power
play, squandering five opportunities. The Bruins can usually
handle Nikolai Khabibulin, but not when they get only three shots
on goal in the first period.
The Bruins were short-handed at the end of the first period and
the start of the second because Rob DiMaio was given a
five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for an elbow to
the head of Dallas Drake. Rob admits that his elbow was a
conscious retaliation because Drake nailed a Bruin from behind.
DiMaio was perhaps a little sensitive because his own surgically
replaced nose was busted up in his first game back this season,
even though he was wearing a shield, by a flagrant hit that was
not called. Rob said "Obviously, the league is concerned with
things that happen to the head and rightfully so." It doesn't
give DiMaio the license to vigilante justice, though, and Rob was
handed a two-game suspension by Sheriff Colin Campbell. Thank
the hockey gods that Drake didn't get a concussion, or we would
never hear the end of it.
The Bruins west coast fall from grace continued with a 3-0
whitewashing at the hands of the Mighty Ducks. Quack! Boston
was a miserable 0-6 on the power play, adding to a dismal stretch
of ineffectiveness that reached 1 for 21 with this game.
Obviously, their even-strength offense was nothing to write home
about, so we won't. Guy Hebert turned aside 26 shots, and the
Ducks got a goal from Paul Kariya on a 5-on-3 advantage in the
second period. The Bruins were outshot again, 30-26. If the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim last for 100 years, and become one of the
storied franchises in NHL history, there will still be something
humiliating about being shut out by a Disney cartoon character.
A return from the left coast didn't help all that much, as the
Bruins went into New Jersey and lost to the Devils 3-1. Chris
Terreri made his first Devils start since Nov. 11, 1995, after
returning from exile in Chicago and San Jose. The Bruins at
least managed to score a goal, and a power-play one at that, when
Sergei Samsonov potted his second of the year, but there was
nothing else happening. Tim Taylor missed his fifth game with an
ankle injury, and despite his brother Chris' efforts, he is
missed by the Bruins' top checking line of Rob DiMaio, P.J.
Axelsson, and a Taylor-to-be-named-later. But clearly, he isn't
all that is missing.
The Bruins are now gearing up to face archrival Montreal
Canadiens on Wednesday, and if the team doesn't get more charged
up for the Canadiens than for Ducks, Devils, and Desert Dogs, the
Canadiens will make short work of them. Reinforcements like
Dennis Vaske won't make the difference by themselves.
