[ Game summary ]

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff, 12/19/2002

UFFALO - The steely gray skies of Buffalo, rarely welcoming to anyone not born of the Buff, turned downright horrifying last night for the struggling Bruins.

Paced by Chris Gratton's goal and three assists, the sad-sack Sabres pinned a 4-2 loss on the Bruins, extending the Black 'n' Gold's losing streak to a season-high four games.

Perhaps even worse news for the Bruins, though, was the tone of resignation in star winger Sergei Samsonov's voice after the loss, played before a sparse crowd of 11,896 at HSBC Arena. The Magical Muscovite, despite scoring a goal in what was only his third game in two months, was disappointed in how his cracked right wrist felt under game pressure and gave added weight to the possibility he soon could be headed for surgery.

''You're missing so much,'' said Samsonov, frustrated by how the painful wrist prevented him from fighting for pucks in the corners and along the boards. ''You look forward to it getting better, and it's a little disappointing that it didn't.

''I'll make a decision in the next week or so ... and it's a tough decision to make. There's still time to get in [to the hospital], get it done, and be back for April. It's not an easy choice.''

Meanwhile, much of the rest of the Boston lineup is playing like it, too, is ailing. For the fourth straight game, the Bruins played poorly in all three zones, often making mistakes that even the talent-challenged Sabres - tied for last yesterday in the overall league standings - turned into sparkling scoring chances. By the end of the night, Gratton, one of the game's mediocre and overpaid talents, looked like a dominating All-Star.

''It's getting to be frustrating,'' said center Brian Rolston. ''Joe's [Thornton] line is the only one producing, and that's especially frustrating for me. We just aren't playing our game right now.''

For the first two months, the Bruins surprisingly put a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference. They could do no wrong. Now it seems they can do no right, scuffling along in the manner many predicted over the summer after they failed to sign veterans Bill Guerin and Byron Dafoe, and after veteran backliner Kyle McLaren turned down their offer of nearly $2 million a year.

When the Bruins weren't bungling the puck, they were doing little, if anything, with the chances that did fall into their hands. Witness: late in the second period, the Sabres holding a 3-1 lead, the Bruins were awarded a 5-on-3 power play for 58 seconds. They failed to put one shot on net during the two-man edge, and then mustered only one shot with the runover 1:02. No way to make a game of it.

''Personally, I don't think we are working hard enough,'' said a candid Jumbo Joe Thornton. ''We got outworked by Buffalo. We are just letting up, letting the other team dictate the way the game's played - that's why we are losing.''

When they weren't chopping up the puck and handing the Sabres juicy chances, the Bruins weren't doing much to threaten Sabre goalie Martin Biron. Martin Lapointe put up two shots in the first period and nothing the rest of the night. Jozef Stumpel did not land a shot. After two periods, the Sabres held a 21-14 lead, and then the Bruins came out and ran up a 11-1 shot lead in the first few minutes of the third, even closing to within a goal when Samsonov popped in a nice feed from Thornton at 0:18 of the third.

In position to steal a point, maybe even a win, the Bruins then handed it over for good when rambunctious P.J. Stock was tagged with a roughing minor with 6:15 to go in regulation. Less than a minute later, Stu Barnes popped in a power-play goal for the 4-2 final.

Asked if it was frustrating to see Stock get the penalty, coach Robbie Ftorek said, ''Uh ... no ... no.'' He didn't want to elaborate. Perhaps he was mad at Stock, or madder at himself, for having Stock, a penalty magnet, out there at such a crucial time.

The Bruins twice last year suffered through four-game skids and still won the conference. If this were October, and they hadn't stockpiled points, confidence, and good will, they would be held up as the pinatas everyone over the summer expected them to be in 2002-03. They have shown they aren't that bad, but four straight losses brings the obvious question: were they playing over their heads? Fittingly, Game 32 is tonight in Washington, where straight answers are always difficult to find.

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 12/19/2002.
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