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LIGHTNING 5, BRUINS 2 Advantage goes to Lightning [ Game summary ] By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 2/16/2003
Knuble was whistled off for taking down former Bruin Dave Andreychuk at 13:30, which led to one of seven Tampa Bay power plays. No one felt worse than Knuble, although there were plenty of areas of improvement needed off this subpar performance that lifted the Lightning to within three points of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference. ''I hate to have a negative influence on a game like that,'' said Knuble, who a night earlier in Florida set an NHL record for the fastest two goals scored at the start of a game by the same player when he potted a pair in 27 seconds. ''As much as things were positive [Friday], I just feel like I had a real negative influence on the game. It's kind of frustrating like that, to be productive the day before and shoot us in the foot [last night]. My penalty cost us the game. I kind of had a gut feeling getting into the box that that might be it. They may get one. It came true. It's never one guy's fault, but when you're sitting in the box it feels like that.'' Knuble wasn't alone in feeling distraught. Goaltender Steve Shields, who stopped 29 shots and played well for the majority of the night, was very upset, especially given his part-time status since Jeff Hackett was acquired. ''I take losses personally,'' said Shields, making his first start in five games. ''I don't [expletive] start [expletive] laughing after the game. I don't like to lose. When I only get a chance to play every other week, it's difficult for me to handle.'' The Bruins got into trouble right off the bat when forward Krzysztof Oliwa was assessed a double minor for boarding and roughing only 2:33 in. The Bruins did a good job killing off the first and came within 16 seconds of nullifying the second but the Lightning took advantage and went up, 1-0, at 6:17. Right wing Nikita Alexeev potted his third of the season when he beat Shields. The Bruins tied it on an even-strength tally at 7:48. Defenseman Nick Boynton, at the right point, relayed a pass to Sean Brown. Brown teed up a slapper from the left point that nicked off center Jozef Stumpel and past goalie Nikolai Khabibulin to pull Boston even. Center Vincent Lecavalier scored the only goal of the second period, putting the Lightning back up, 2-1, with his 22d of the season at 16:36. Early in the third, Boston got back on track, tying it at 2:37. When defenseman Sean O'Donnell and then Hal Gill were lost to injury, some of the Bruins were talking about the importance of others taking up the slack. Defenseman Zdenek Kutlak answered the call. The 23-year-old Kutlak, who was playing just his 12th NHL game, was a healthy scratch against Florida but got the nod in place of Gill, who suffered a broken left ring finger Friday. Rolston threw the puck over toward Kutlak, who was along the left-wing boards. The puck bounced off the boards and caromed to the young blue liner, who flung a shot at the net. Khabibulin, who normally would have turned it into a routine save, watched it nick off his glove and over his shoulder into the net. Then, the sky fell in. Boyle scored and Ben Clymer's tally sealed it with 3:19 left. Boyle then added an empty-netter with 51.5 seconds remaining. The Bruins have 25 games left in the regular season, and at this rate their playoff chances will go down to the wire. ''That's what's killer about this trip,'' said Knuble. ''If we don't pull out a few more wins, it's going to be day-to-day in here, where it's in [the playoffs] one day and out the next.'' Shields said it was frustrating in that it was a game for the taking. ''Apart from the penalties, we played really well,'' he said. ''We had a chance to win the game at the end. Good teams stay five-on-five at the end of the game when it's on the line.''
This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 2/16/2003.
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AMPA - One night the hero, the next one the goat. That's how Bruins left wing Mike Knuble felt last night when he watched helplessly from the penalty box as the Tampa Bay Lightning scored on Dan Boyle's power-play goal at 14:23 of the third period, and it held up as the winner in a 5-2 decision over Boston.