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COYOTES 2, BRUINS 1 Bruins' efforts spoiled On first stop of trip, they can't get anywhere [ Game summary ] By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff, 3/19/2003
The Bruins, on the other hand, are trying to improve their position in the Eastern Conference standings and are still hoping to move up to sixth. They came up short on a number of fronts last night as they fell to the Phoenix Coyotes, 2-1, at America West Arena. ''We turned the puck over all over the place in the neutral zone and the defensive zone in the first period,'' said coach Robbie Ftorek. ''And it cost us on one of the goals. We're supposed to be playing simple, get it in and work it down low, and we just didn't do it very well tonight.'' The Bruins showed a different l ook, as they added a player behind the blue line and moved a blue liner up to forward. It marked the Boston debut for defenseman Dan McGillis, who was paired with veteran Don Sweeney. Bryan Berard, meanwhile, who had spent his entire career as a defenseman, got a shot at forward on a line with Jozef Stumpel and Mike Knuble. The game was more wide open than either coach expected. The Coyotes took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on a goal by defenseman Teppo Numminen. Left wing Ladislav Nagy, who was a scoring threat the entire game, set up Numminen, whose one-timer from just inside the blue line beat Boston goaltender Andrew Raycroft through a screen at 11:13. The Bruins outshot Phoenix, 11-7, in the period but couldn't get anything past Sean Burke. Both Brian Rolston and Glen Murray put three shots apiece on Burke - with two of Murray's coming on back-to-back point-blankers - but the veteran turned them back. The Coyotes doubled their lead at the 19-second mark of the second period. With the Boston defense standing still, defenseman Ossi Vaananen got the puck to Nagy in the slot and he blasted a shot past Raycroft for his 21st. The Bruins kept up the pressure in the second period and finally got on the board during their third power play, a man-advantage they were awarded when Marty Lapointe was kneed by Brian Savage at 16:55. Rolston, behind the net, centered a pass to Knuble, whose shot from the right side of the slot eluded Burke for his 24th goal of the year at 18:20 to make it 2-1. The Bruins had other chances in the period, including Stumpel with a couple of bids outside the left post about 81/2 minutes in. Rob Zamuner, who was back after missing three games because of a groin strain, tried to sweep a shot past Burke from the right circle at 13:28 but couldn't find any daylight. The Bruins got themselves into a bit of penalty trouble in the third period. McGillis was whistled for interference at 2:40 and Sweeney was called for interference at 9:19. Later in the period, Burke came up big when Murray made a bid to tie things up. Murray teed up a slapper from the left circle at 14:17, and although the shot had plenty on it, the goalie snagged it. The game turned ugly at 17:18 when Nagy and center Joe Thornton got into a battle. Thornton hooked Nagy but there was no call. Nagy got up and hooked Thornton, and Thornton turned around and whacked Nagy. Burke came out of the net after Thornton and the two sparred briefly. Then Jonathan Girard and Daymond Langkow squared off. The result was offsetting penalties, and Thornton was off to the dressing room as a result of a double roughing call. ''[Nagy] hit me in the arm so I went back,'' said Thornton. ''I thought Burke was going to come hit me, so I hit him first, and it was one of those things where you just kind of reacted.'' The Bruins made a last-ditch effort to tie it when Raycroft went to the bench with about a minute left, but his teammates couldn't convert with the extra attacker. ''Razor made some big saves for us and kept us in the game,'' said Ftorek. ''We had good penalty killing and we got a power-play goal, but we just didn't play smart enough to win.''
This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 3/19/2003.
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HOENIX - In the three games on this Western trip, the Bruins are facing clubs that are all but eliminated from the postseason. They're playing for jobs, playing for pride, and playing to be spoilers.