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BRUINS 5 PREDATORS 2 [ Game stats ]
Last night, in the land of country music, cowboy boots, and chewing tobacco, Boston improved its record in this month to 7-2-1 with a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Five players scored goals for the Bruins and goalie Byron Dafoe improved his record to 5-2-0.
In their last seven games, the Bruins are 5-1-1.
The Predators of the 1999-2000 season are a far cry from the club's inaugural season when the Bruins outscored them, 13-3, in a pair of games. Last year, Nashville finished 28-47-7, which is actually much better than anyone would have predicted for an expansion club.
This season, the team is getting some steady play from its veterans, while its young players are beginning to develop. The club, which demolished the Montreal Canadiens, 6-1, on Nov. 18, brought its 7-11-1 record into last night's game against a hot Bruins' club.
''We responded well,'' said Bruins coach Pat Burns. ''We didn't do anything fancy, but we put the puck at the net and got some good shots. I thought that everybody had a good effort.''
The opening period was pretty even, despite the Predators jumping out to a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
That score came on a power play. With forward Steve Heinze off for hooking down Predators right wing Scott Walker, center Cliff Ronning skated the puck in from the right circle. He moved through the slot and then flipped a high shot over Dafoe at 11:21.
The Bruins nearly tied it with two minutes left in the period. Right wing Mikko Eloranta had been called for hooking, but the Bruins got a shorthanded bid when Jason Allison tried to beat goalie Mike Dunham with a forehander but the goalie gloved it.
Boston cashed in during the second period, taking a 2-1 lead on a pair of goals scored less than three minutes apart. With the Bruins on the power play, captain Ray Bourque teed up a slapper from the far right circle that rattled off the post and in to tie the game at 1 at 4:24.
Left wing Sergei Samsonov put Boston ahead briefly at the seven-minute mark. Samsonov, whose minutes were reduced by Burns in Monday's game against Carolina because of the physical nature of play that doesn't favor Samsonov, scored his sixth goal of the year when he beat Dunham with a forehander from the right circle that beat Dunham to the near side.
That lead lasted less than three minutes though.
Center Randy Robitaille, who was dealt to Atlanta in June and then shipped to Nashville two months later, camped out behind the Bruins' net with the puck for several seconds and waited for help. That came in the form of defenseman Craig Millar, who banged in a shot from deep in the right circle past Dafoe at 9:57. The other assist went to former University of New Hampshire standout Mark Mowers.
The Bruins went back on top, 3-2, at 15:17 thanks to the steady hands of left wing Dave Andreychuk, when he scored his 15th of the season to equal last season's output. It took 23 games for him to reach that plateau where last year, he had 15 goals in 52 games in New Jersey.
Andreychuk made it happen by stealing the puck from Ronning and then fired a backhander from the slot that sailed past Dunham's glove.
Boston increased the lead to 4-2 at 17:25 when the checking line chipped in. Left wing P.J. Axelsson gave the puck to Eloranta in the left circle and he beat Dunham for his fourth goal of the year.
In the third, the Bruins continued to take the play to the Predators.
Nashville did have some opportunities, particularly on an excellent power play midway through when David Legwand and Robitaille tested Dafoe, but the netminder turned them back and shut the door.
Joe Hulbig closed out the offense with his first of the year at 14:34, scoring on his own rebound.
This story ran on page C01 of the Boston Globe on 11/25/99.
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ASHVILLE - If October was a roller-coaster month, November has been a straight and steady ride for the Bruins.