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BRUINS 3 LIGHTNING 1 Thornton shows Tampa the trick up his sleeve [ Game summary ]
But scrapbook moments are for the future. More important, for the present, is for the Bruins to avoid another season on the NHL scrapheap.
The victory, their second in as many games, kept Boston in a lockstep tie with the Carolina Hurricanes (3-1 winners over the Islanders) for the eighth - and final - playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. After falling behind by a goal early in the second period, the Bruins dumped the ever-struggling Bolts (16-39-6-3), riding the wave of Thornton's three goals (Nos. 24, 25, and 26) and some steady netminding from John Grahame.
For the record, it took Thornton 271 games, nearly four full seasons, to connect for the hat trick.
''That doesn't matter,'' said Jumbo Joe, the No. 1 pick in the '97 draft - the Bruins' grand prize for finishing dead last in the 1996-97 season. ''I'll take it whenever it comes.''
In truth, much of Thornton's good fortune was a product of the continued sensational play of Sergei Samsonov. The Russian mini-magician set up Thornton's first strike, tying the game at 1, the center popping in a doorstep backhander after Samsonov did some mesmerizing stickhandling out of the right corner. Thornton's second goal came on a power play, Samsonov unloading a bomb from the high slot for Thornton to tip by Kevin Weekes. Finally, Thornton helped set up No. 3, dishing a pass into the slot before moving to the top of the crease for a tip of Eric Weinrich's blast.
Unlike 48 hours before, when they went on a scoring binge (7-4 victory) with the Coyotes in town, the Bruins once more showed little jump when faced with one of the league's less-than-elite entries. They didn't hit with authority. Their skating lacked zip. Like so many games this season, they skated down to the level of competition.
''A slow start for us,'' said coach Mike Keenan.
Slow, and almost deadly. When the Bruins bollixed a line change at the start of the second period, it opened a Logan-like runway for Vincent Lecavalier to strafe into the Boston end and pick up a dead puck on the right-wing halfboard. Without a single black-and-gold sweater in his path, the talented Lecavalier raced in on Grahame and muscled in his own rebound after the Boston goalie first foiled his short-range backhander.
''I had it,'' said Grahame, who turned in his second straight win, and undoubtedly will get the start in tomorrow's matinee with the San Jose Sharks. ''But all I could do was lay there after I stopped it. I was stretched out. He kept hacking at it and basically pushed it over with my pads.''
Otherwise, Grahame turned away Tampa's 18 shots, few of them testers. For a goaltender, it was more a night of mental acrobatics than a test of agility or reflex. The Bolts didn't generate more than three good scoring chances, and Grahame's greatest strength was that he remained alert, upright, and on the puck.
''An excellent game,'' said Keenan, lauding the young goalie, the fifth netminder to suit up for Boston this season. ''Very consistent. Very solid.''
Thornton's first goal came more than 12 minutes after Lecavalier connected and it brought the two sides to the second intermission tied, 1-1.
Keenan finally placed Samsonov on the No. 1 power-play unit midway through the third period, placing him at the point - a spot Samsonov played at times earlier under Keenan. Only seconds into the new strategy, Samsonov took a pass from Bill Guerin and ripped off a 50-foot slapper. His back to the net, Thornton made the deflection.
On the final goal, Thornton appeared to be trying to feed linemate Cameron Mann with a pass out from the side of the net. When the dish missed its mark, Thornton continued to roll to the top of the crease, dropping his blade to the ice just in time to get a piece of Weinrich's blast.
Hats came on the ice. The Vault sound system blared. Jumbo Joe had his trick, his rocking chair memory, and the Bruins kept their stool next to the 'Canes in the conference's Last Chance Saloon.
This story ran on page 01 of the Boston Globe on 3/2/2001.
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ears from now, teetering in a rocking chair on the porch of a summer cottage somewhere in Ontario, Joe Thornton will remember last night. The Bruins' franchise-center-in-waiting (and waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting) connected for his first career hat trick, leading Boston to a 3-1 dismissal of the Tampa Bay Lightning.