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BRUINS 6, OILERS 1
Bruins' act draws acclaim

Attacking style scores another hit in rout

[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 11/12/2002

elcome to the Unbridled Enthusiasm Dept. Please take a seat. Once the painted spoked-B's have dried on their chests, Mickey and Minnie will be by any moment with your pennants, refreshments, and Black-and-Gold foam puckheads.

A few things you should know about your 2002-03 Bruins:

First and foremost, yes, they are that good. They slapped around the once-mighty Edmonton Oilers, 6-1, in a FleetCenter matinee yesterday before a sparse crowd of 11,123. The thrashing was slightly reminiscent of the days when the Oilers ran roughshod over whatever hapless bunch of stuffed sweaters and double-runners came across their icy patch.

In case you've lost count amid the hourly Red Sox general manager watch, the hometown NHL entry now stands 9-2-2-1 through 14 games, good for 21 points, tied for most in the Eastern Conference.

If you haven't already, you can chalk up Boston's 5-1 opening-night loss in Minnesota a month ago as first-night jitters or stage fright. It has proven to be an anomaly. Just as Minnesota has proven to be a pretty good squad.

Preseason prognostications? Well, uh, you know, like ... junk 'em! Who knew that the way to love and happiness here in the Hub of Hockey was to kick ''Days Gone'' Byron Dafoe to the curb, kiss Bill Guerin goodbye, and pinch Kyle McLaren's nose between the sides of Jeremy Jacobs's wallet. Less has proven to be more - much, much more. These guys are good. One can imagine how good they'd be if they got rid of Joe Thornton, Glen Murray, and Brian Rolston, too.

They play to win. Perhaps you gave up watching 3-4 years ago when the nightly theme on Causeway Street was to keep every game close - a strategy that allowed every opponent (good, bad, or brutal) to hang around with a chance to win. Now, under Robbie Ftorek's advanced game of pond hockey (attention e-mailers: it's the ultimate compliment, OK?), everyone on the ice thinks he can score. Not everyone can score, but there is a whopping benefit to having a dozen forwards and a half-dozen defensemen at least thinking they can. Witness: The Bruins have 51 goals, but no one with more than the seven by Rolston, who picked up a pair against the Oil. At this pace, they'll have five, maybe six guys with 20 goals this season.

''It's really nice when everyone is hungry and aggressive and attacking the net,'' said Ftorek.

He could have added ''... the way most everyone grew up playing - or at least watching - the game.''

When opponents show up here on shaky legs, like the Senators Saturday night (a 7-1 Boston win) or the Oilers yesterday, then why not try to run the front end of the freight train right up their collective caboose? Play to win. An old idea has become new again here in the infancy of the new millennium.

''We're playing well,'' confirmed Rolston, who connected at both even strength and on the power play. ''There's a lot of confidence in here. You can always improve, but I think getting our power play going has been a big thing.''

The Boston man-advantage, among the league's worst last year, and still foul for much of the first month this season, went an impressive 3 for 6 vs. Edmonton. On Saturday, it clicked at a 3-for-8 pace. Six power-play goals in two games.

All last year on the power play, with the defensemen sometimes looking afraid to participate, the Bruins scored only 39 times in 82 games - less than half a goal per game. They already have 12 this season. Overall, Boston defensemen picked up 4 points yesterday, including power-play strikes by Bryan Berard and Jonathan Girard.

''We've been winning,'' said Rolston, ''but we weren't scoring on the power play.''

As he noted, that wasn't going to last. More than ever - especially this season, with on-ice officials upholding obstruction calls - special teams could be the difference between making and not making the playoffs.

It was Rolston's power-play strike, bumping the Bruins to a 4-1 lead late in the second period, that put win No. 9 in the bank. With help from Jozef Stumpel and Murray, he teed up and drove home a 55-foot slapper, with blue liner Janne Niinimaa blocking the view of goalie Jussi Markkanen (the Edmonton roster turns all spell-check applications upside-down).

''Right there,'' said Ftorek, of Rolston's second goal, ''you said, `Oooh, they're not going to come back.'''

Indeed they did not. Maybe the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier-Jari Kurri Oilers could have rallied, but not the Dan Cleary-Anson Carter-Ethan Moreau edition. The Oilers are now 4-7-3-1 and look in need of a shakeup. Time for them to dump some of their best players, strip down, and move up the standings. It's working here.

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