head coach: Pat Burns

roster: C - Anson Carter, Dimitri Khristich, Joe Thornton, Ted Donato, Tim Taylor. LW - Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Sergei Samsonov, Jason Allison, Mike Sullivan. RW - Steve Heinze, Landon Wilson, Per Johan Axelsson, Jean Yves Roy. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Dean Chynoweth, Mattias Timander, Dean Malkoc, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas, John Grahame.

injuries: Rob Tallas, g (hamstring, two weeks).

transactions: John Grahame, g, called up from Providence (AHL).

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Pittsburgh   50  26  15   9    61  138  114
Montreal     51  26  18   7    59  153  124
Boston       49  21  19   9    51  122  121
Ottawa       50  20  22   8    48  116  121
Buffalo      48  19  21   8    46  117  122
Carolina     51  19  26   6    44  127  144

game results:

1/14 Pittsburgh    W 5-2
1/21 at Montreal   L 4-2
1/24 at Pittsburgh L 4-2
1/25 at Washington L 4-1

team news:

by Matt Brown, Boston Correspondent

After putting together a string of seven games without a loss, suddenly the Bruins can't buy a win. They have lost three straight games, mostly attributable to a lack of offense, at least at first glance. But the truth is that the team is young, inexperienced, and overmatched by the likes of Montreal, Pittsburgh, and Washington. When the Bruins open up their play even a little to try to put more goals on the board, other teams are able to take advantage.

In the three losses, Ray Bourque was a combined -6, and most of that imbalance occurred either because Ray was pinching in to try to generate offense, or Bruins forwards were over committed to the attack, creating odd-man rushes. Against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, for example, Bourque was caught up ice, leaving rookie defenseman Hal Gill alone to defend a two-on-one break with Jaromir Jagr and Stu Barnes. Needless to say, Jagr froze big Hal and dished to Barnes for the score. Oh, by the way, that turned out to be the winning goal.

Now the point is not to bash the Captain, or to disparage young Hal. The fact of life is that the Bruins defensive posture is not a strangulation tactic, it is a survival mechanism. When the team plays the game within its capabilities, they are in every game. When they forget the basics, or try to do to much, especially on an individual basis, the opposition takes them to school.

On the positive side of the ledger, if you want a one line summary to define the difference between last year's Bruins and the current edition, try this on: the 97-98 Bruins conceded their first short-handed goal of the season against the Montreal Canadiens on January 21, in their 47th game of the season. That is a far cry from last year, and pretty remarkable even without the comparison to last year's Team Debacle.

This year's defensive scheme uses primarily one forechecker, and you rarely see three Bruins behind the opposition net at once. We all saw what happened last year when the forwards were more free-wheeling and less inclined to get back and help on defense.

Unfortunately, not much else of that caliber came out of the Montreal game. The Canadiens used their speed to come at the Bruins in waves, outshooting the Bs by 33-19.

Against the Penguins, goaltender Robbie Tallas not only suffered his first loss after starting out 2-0-2, but he also suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out for at least two weeks. His injury happened when he dropped wrong, and heard his hamstring pop when he got back up. He had to leave the game, and could not dress the next night.

So the call went out for John Grahame. What, no Jim Carey, you ask? Well, it turns out that Carey has what is described as a slight shoulder dislocation that may require surgery and some serious rehab. Grahame played for Providence against Kentucky (what is the AHL coming to?), was called up for the Washington game, and ended up wearing a Jim Carey number 30 sweater with "GRAHAME" velcroed to its back because his own sweater didn't arrive in time.

Against Washington, Joe Thornton registered his first assist and power-play point as he dished a beauty to Anson Carter for the Bruins' first goal. Goes to show the difference that ice time, and power-play chances, and linemates with soft hands can make. Then again, if Thornton had started out on the first line instead of under the very obvious protection of Ken Baumgartner, he might have had several fewer teeth (remember that Joe Juneau three broken jaws in one year). So maybe it all balances out.

On a contrasting note, Sergei Samsonov had a year in the IHL to get his bearings, and he is humming along to the tune of 20 points and people are starting to gush about his chances for the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Despite being considerably smaller than Joe, Samsonov has been able to use his speed to get out of jams, and he hasn't really gotten tagged. If people keep talking about the Calder, rest assured that he will start to become a target.

The real surprise of the year might well turn our to Per-Johann Axellson, or PJ for short. Axelsson has used his speed and skating ability to become a regular on the checking line and serve as a first class pest to other team's first line. Axelsson has not earned many points but he is becoming a crowd favorite and he could possibly become Seventh Player Award winner on a team where rookie leader was supposed to mean Samsonov or Thornton.

It is tempting for a coach to let his star players off the hook for a tough game. After all, they win more for the team than they lose. But letting it go is ultimately destructive to the team. If the leaders mail in a game here and there, and the coach overlooks it, the malaise is contagious, human nature being what it is. Other players will take a game off here and there, and bad habits will form.

There doesn't seem to be much risk of that on this year's Bruins. Jason Allison and Dimitri Khristich didn't produce much in the first two periods against the Capitals (each player's ex-team) and for the third period, they each got an 18-minute parking ticket from ex-cop Pat Burns. Burns gave them less than two minutes of ice time in the third, sending his makeshift line of Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, and Anson Carter out for much of the spare ice time. Burns said afterwards that he wasn't very happy with the accomplishments of his team leading scorers that night, so he parked them. The team did not win that game, but perhaps the lesson was driven home.

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