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head coach: Pat Burns

roster: C - Anson Carter, Dimitri Khristich, Joe Thornton, Ted Donato, Tim Taylor. LW - Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Sergei Samsonov, Jason Allison, Mike Sullivan. RW - Steve Heinze, Landon Wilson, Per Johan Axelsson, Jean Yves Roy. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Dean Chynoweth, Mattias Timander, Dean Malkoc, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas.

injuries: Don Sweeney, d (broken shoulder blade, out for season).

transactions: None.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
x-Pittsburgh 76  37  22  17    91  209  175  
Boston       74  34  27  13    81  198  175  
Buffalo      75  33  27  15    81  192  170  
Montreal     75  35  30  10    80  219  190 
Ottawa       75  30  31  14    74  175  184  
Carolina     74  31  35   8    70  183  196  
x - Clinched playoff spot

game results:

3/26 Philadelphia  W 4-2
3/28 Florida       L 3-2 OT
3/30 Colorado      W 4-1
4/01  at Rangers   W 4-2
4/03  at Buffalo   L 5-4
4/06  Carolina     L 3-0

team news:

by Matt Brown, Boston Correspondent

It seems like old times again. Just not old enough. Rather than playing like the gritty Boston teams of yesteryear, the Bruins played their last two games like they were nearing the end of the 96-97 season, mired in last, rather than contending for home ice in this year's playoffs.

The Bruins entered the home stretch by daring their fans to dream of third place by having their way with the Flyers on Fox. Granted, most of the work for the Bruins was done by a shaky Flyer defense and a rather unsettled Sean Burke, who was donning his third different sweater since last he played for the Whalers. Pit stops in Carolina and Vancouver, and back spasms practically the minute he got off the plane in Philly, have not made him seem quite the goaltending savior Bobby Clarke might have intended. He certainly didn't look that way against the Bruins, coughing up a couple that even the oft-maligned Ron Hextall might have stopped.

The checking line of Rob DiMaio, P.J. Axelsson, and stand-in Mike Sullivan (for the banged up Tim Taylor) scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. DiMaio's dekes had Burke flopping after 33 seconds when he scored on the game's first shot.

At this point, the Bruins were a scant few points behind the Flyers, and had moved two points up on both Washington and Montreal. They were hot. However, they are also young and inconsistent. So when they faced their second ex-Canuck goaltender in a row, with Kirk McLean leading the Panthers into the FleetCenter, it was letdown time.

It didn't matter that the Panthers had gone 14 of the last 14 games without a win. The Bruins took a 2-1 lead with eight minutes to go in the third period on Jason Allison's 30th goal. Allison was the first Bruin to score 30 since Eddie Shore. (Doh! That was Cam Neely who had 50 in 1993-94, but it seems so long ago. Then again, even Adam Oates had 32 that year.)

The Bruins held on to that lead until there were only 18 seconds left, but Scott Mellanby poked one in with the Florida net empty, and the teams were bound for overtime, where the Bruins hadn't lost all year.

Well guess what. No more stress worrying about that streak. Bill Lindsay saw to that by flipping a shot over goalie Rob Tallas' shoulder three minutes into the overtime to ruin Tallas' day and the Bruins unblemished record in the extra frames.

After losing to a loser, the Bruins rebounded with a very strong game against a winner. Once more they were helped by goaltender fumble-itis, as Patrick Roy had one of his worst days as a pro, with his defenseman Uwe Krupp whistling a clearing pass off the post and into the net on what should have been a routine play. Then Tim Taylor, skating short-handed, scaled a puck in at Patrick and skated to the bench. The puck took a wacky bounce, deflected off St. Patrick's glove, and into the net as Taylor turned around and sat down on the bench, not seeing his goal, and scarcely believing it when told. All in all, Patrick had a tough time handling the biscuit, losing it behind the net a couple of times, muffing passes to his defensemen, and otherwise not looking very spiffy. It was most amusing to hear the FleetCenter fans doing an impersonation of a Boston Garden crowd chanting "Paaaatrrriiiicckk. Paaaatrrricccckkkk." But in truth it was a pale imitation, since Patrick no longer plays for the hated Habs, and this was not a playoff game.

Next came the Rangers, and the Bruins avoided a letdown rerun against the Broadway boobs, who really played without a shred of inspiration, looking for the world like a bus full of death row inmates being transferred to Florida. The meanest thing you could say about this team is that the Rangers and Kevin Stevens deserve each other. The Rangers were in particularly tough shape for this game, without Ulf Samuelsson and Jeff Beukeboom, forwards Tim Sweeney, Harry York, and Pat LaFontaine, all of whom are injured. Goaltender Mike Richter truly is living his personal season from hell, after leading the USA team to the World Cup victory just a year ago. The Bruins' Dimitri Khristich took advantage, scoring his 28th goal of the season, while dishing out two assists. Byron Dafoe earned vacation pay, facing only 19 shots.

The Bruins next faced the Dominator in Buffalo. Now, when you score four goals against Dominik Hasek, you are probably having a very good might. You are probably going to get at least a tie, right? Guess again, especially if you let in four goals in the second period, in a most uncharacteristic display of defensive bungling that showed eerie similarity to last year's worst defense. Buffalo scored three goals in 68 seconds, including a deflection off Dave Ellett's stick, and a bouncing puck batted down lacrosse style by Buffalo's Vaclav Varada (too bad Buffalo can't find a couple of other Czechs with funny names to put together a "Day the Earth Stood Still" line - Klaatu - Varada - Nikto. Yeah, yeah, it was "barada". But that line is too funny to pass up.)

As if this game wasn't bad enough, next the Bruins ran into a hot goaltender - Carolina's Trevor Kidd, of all people. Yes, the guy the Carolina Hurricanes kept was ridding a two-game shutout streak, and his teammates were out to ensure that he set the team record with a third consecutive shutout. The Bruins seemed all too eager to accommodate, by sleepwalking to a 3-0 loss to their former rivals. The Bruins were 0-for-4 on the power play, and Jason Allison and his linemates were stymied by Carolina's defense and Kidd's poise.

The Bruins get no rest, though. They have seven games remaining, starting Tuesday night in Ottawa against a Senators team fighting to make the playoffs for the second straight year, and doing a pretty enviable job of it. They are unbeaten in their last four games, including a tie with the Penguins, a win over the Devils and Buffalo, and a tie with the Sharks.

So at a time when the Bruins should be peaking for the playoffs, they are showing their inexperience. The truth is that not many of these guys know what the road to the playoffs is all about. Of the current roster, only Ray Bourque, Rob DiMaio, Ted Donato, Steve Heinze, and Kyle McLaren have been with a Bruins playoff team before. To the rest of the guys, this is all new stuff. Wait until the real pressure starts.

The only bright spot of the Carolina game was the return of Kyle McLaren. Boy, those young bones heal quickly. McLaren was zinged in the skate by a wicked slap shot against the Blackhawks, and initial reports voiced concern that he would be out until the playoffs. But Kyle was lucky in that while he had a broken bone in his foot, it wasn't quite as serious as initially thought, and he was able to play, with some rust, against the Hurricanes.

Sergei Samsonov is now tied with Toronto's Mike Johnson in the rookie scoring race, but he has several statistical advantages over his rival. Samsonov has 18 goals to Johnson's 13, tying him for the rookie lead in that category with New Jersey's Patrik Elias. Sergei also has a +6 +/- rating, better than Johnson's -2, but not as good as Elias' +15. But Elias plays for a top contender in the Devils, while Samsonov is one of the major reasons that Boston has rebounded from last year's depths. New Jersey would have been a league leader without Elias, though his six game-winning goals is an impressive stat for a rookie, but Boston would not have been the same without Sergei. You can't possibly hold it against Mike Johnson that the Leafs suck even with him, but being on a non-playoff team doesn't help win the Calder.

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