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BRUINS 1, SABRES 0 [ Game stats ]
Well, at least it wasn't last night as the Bruins eked out a 1-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Goaltender Byron Dafoe, who was called on to stand on his head during parts of the contest, had 25 saves on the way to his 20th career shutout. Coincidentally, Dafoe's last shutout came on Jan. 13 when the Bruins played to a scoreless tie against this same nemesis.
The victory came amid a giant distraction caused by team owner Jeremy Jacobs's critical comments aimed at Pat Burns and his staff in Will McDonough's column in Saturday's Globe.
Home had been treacherous for the Bruins this season. They went into last night's game with an 0-5-4 mark in their previous nine contests at the FleetCenter and were 7-10-8 overall at home. Boston was in the midst of its longest home winless streak since Oct. 14-Nov. 22, 1962 when the team was 0-6-3.
However, the Bruins overall are 3-2-3 in their last eight games and because those losses were in overtime, the club has at least a point in all eight.
''We certainly played with a lot of emotion, which is good, and physical, too,'' said coach Pat Burns. ''We finished our hits and stood up to the nonsense they wanted to throw at us. We've played well in this last stretch.''
The Bruins for much of the season have long lamented their slow starts out of the gate. Too often, they've gotten down early and had to climb their way back. Sometimes they have been able to, sometimes not. Last night the Bruins came out strong in the first period, turning in their best opening 20 minutes in some time, especially in their home rink.
Boston outshot the Sabres, 12-6, in the opening 20 minutes with left wing P.J. Axelsson giving the Bruins all the offense they would need at 11:52.
Center Joe Thornton started the play when he blasted a shot from the top of the left circle that goalie Martin Biron stopped. The puck bounced out into the slot and Biron tried to pokecheck it out of harm's way but Axelsson was there and put the shot over the off-balance goalie. It was Axelsson's eighth goal of season, tying a career high set in his rookie year of 1997-98.
Last night marked the return of left wing Ken Belanger, who missed 34 games with post-concussion syndrome. He only played three shifts over 2:02, but made his presence felt at 12:36 when he leveled a punch to Buffalo right wing Dixon Ward's head. Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik belted Belanger in the back of the head, knocking him to the ice. Belanger and Rob Ray wound up with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties while Zhitnik picked up a roughing minor.
''It was nice to see Kenny back,'' said Burns.
Zhitnik wound up in the box again at 5:44 of the second when he and Thornton squared off after Zhitnik whacked Thornton over the head with his stick. Thornton delivered some punishing blows to the Sabres' pesky defenseman before the two were separated. Zhitnik got a double minor for high sticking and a fighting major, with Thornton getting a roughing minor and fighting major.
''He high-sticked me so I thought we'd better not let him get away with that so I started a little fight,'' said Thornton. ''He likes to use his body and we wanted to make sure he felt something tonight. He's one of the better skilled defensemen they've got and if he's in the box, that's definitely a plus for us.''
The Sabres didn't even manage a shot in the period until the 8:03 mark when they had back-to-back bids by center Brian Holzinger and center Erik Rasmussen, which Dafoe turned back.
Things got a little hairy at 14:22 when the Bruins were shorthanded, but their penalty killing unit, which had killed off the last 10 power plays over these last four games, came through.
''I think we've been playing pretty well of late,'' said Bruins captain Ray Bourque. ''I think we went out and played real hard. It was a big win for us.''
Indeed, any victory at home or any victory at all in this rollercoaster season will be appreciated. But on this night, most questions were aimed at Jacobs's comments regarding Burns's job and the fallout from that.
''We as a team feel Pat is doing everything in his power to make this team win and it's up to the guys in this room to get it done,'' said Dafoe. ''When we believe in the system and we do what he wants, we're usually successful. Unfortunately, they either look to your star players or your coach when things don't go right. If we can pull it together, it will take the pressure off of Pat.''
This story ran on page D02 of the Boston Globe on 1/30/2000.
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o, the FleetCenter isn't the house of horrors after all.