 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
Breaking out Bruins pelt Denis with 45 shots in 7-2 rout of Blue JacketsPosted: Saturday January 18, 2003 9:41 PMUpdated: Saturday January 18, 2003 10:55 PM BOSTON (AP) -- An easy win and a rare goal by P.J. Stock made for a happy Boston Bruins dressing room. Glen Murray, Jonathan Girard and P.J. Axelsson scored 2:48 apart in the second period Saturday night and the struggling Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2. "It was one of those nights when everything was going well," said a beaming Stock, who scored Boston's final goal with 5.7 seconds left. It was his first score after going 112 games without one. "The drought's over," Boston center Joe Thornton said. Just as easily, Thornton could have been talking about the Bruins' play of late, but he was referring to Stock's first regular-season goal since Feb. 15, 2001. Stock had a goal in Game 4 of the Bruins' first-round playoff series against Montreal last year, but he didn't score for Boston in the regular season until Saturday. "It was a great ending for him and for the team, too," Thornton said. "We've been struggling as a team -- no doubt about that." The Bruins won for just the fourth time in 19 games (4-14-1) after opening the season 19-4-3-1. Thornton, Mike Knuble and Bryan Berard scored Boston's other goals. Andrew Cassels and Jaroslav Spacek had Columbus' goals. "As the game progressed, they just got better and better," Columbus left wing Geoff Sanderson said. "We just gave them too many opportunities." Boston was 3-for-6 on the power play. "That was the deciding factor," Sanderson said. "Our special teams have been better than that." The Bruins took the lead for good when Murray one-timed a shot past goalie Marc Denis from the slot after taking a pass from Thornton from behind the net 6:45 into the second period. Murray's team-leading 24th goal made it 2-1. Girard finished off a 2-on-1 break by slipping a short wrist shot between Denis' left side and the right post at 8:37. Just 56 seconds later, Axelsson converted another 2-on-1 break by flipping in a short backhand shot to make it 4-1. Spacek fired a slap shot between Steve Shields' pads for a power-play goal with 2:24 left in the period to bring Columbus within 4-2. Knuble scored midway into the third period. Berard's and Stock's power-play goals completed the scoring. "We were doing that the first part of the year," Thornton said. "We just kept pouring more goals in." Boston took a 1-0 lead on Thornton's goal 3:55 in. Thornton, who missed five games with an infected elbow before returning Friday in Atlanta, converted Murray's pass from the bottom of the right circle. Columbus tied it 1-1 when Shields missed an attempted clearing pass and the puck caromed in off Cassels' skate. But the Bruins took over early in the second period after Murray's goal. "It's an important thing for us to more forward," Boston coach Robbie Ftorek said. "Having lost as many games as we have, we were fragile. It was nice for us to get that goal and move on." Notes: Stock's previous regular-season goal was scored with
Philadelphia. ... Thornton's goal was his 300th NHL point. ...
Columbus interim coach Doug MacLean, who took over on Jan. 7 after
Dave King was fired, fell to 3-3. ... The Blue Jackets entered with
the league's best penalty-killing unit. ... Boston RW Martin
Lapointe injured his groin and didn't play the third period.
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
