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Senators bury Bruins 5-1
Posted: Tuesday March 07, 2000 10:12 AM
BOSTON (AP) -- Even with a big game at hand, it was hard for the Ottawa Senators not to get caught up in the Ray Bourque trade. Overshadowed by Boston's trade of the 18-time All-Star to the Colorado Avalanche, Shawn McEachern scored a pair of goals 45 seconds apart early in the third period as the Senators beat the Bruins 5-1 on Monday night. "It's huge," said McEachern, a Massachusetts native, who played for Boston University. "I grew up watching Ray. To see him go has to be kind of hard for the fans. You could feel it in the stands." Bourque, who was not in uniform and not seen in the building, was traded following the game. In his nearly 21 years with the Bruins, Bourque has never been on a Stanley Cup winner. Ottawa extended its unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2). The Senators entered the game three points behind first-place Toronto in the Northeast Division. "It's a huge game for us," McEachern said. "We're trying to catch Toronto in the East." Vaclav Prospal had a third-period goal, the first of three Senators scores in a 1:40 span that broke it open. Sami Salo and Patrick Traverse had the other two goals. Joe Thornton scored for Boston, which took 26 shots at Ottawa goalie Ron Tugnutt. "We knew when he wasn't playing that there was something going on, but that was the extent of it," Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips said. "Certainly it has to be tough losing a player of his magnitude. It has to be tough, especially for a team that's been struggling." The Senators, 4-0-1 this season against the Bruins, made it 1-0 when Salo's wrist shot from the left point got through the pads of Robbie Tallas. Boston is just 1-4-1 in six games as its playoff hopes continue to fade -- something that prompted Bourque's trade request. The 39-year-old defenseman was traded along with forward Dave Andreychuk for forward Brian Rolston, defenseman Martin Grenier, center Sami Pahlsson and Boston's choice of a first-round pick in either 2000 or 2001. "That's part of the process of losing," Thornton said. "We kept reading it and we knew it would happen pretty soon." Andreychuk was also scratched from the Bruins lineup. Prospal scored off his own rebound when he pushed a one-handed shot under Tallas' right pad at 3:38, making it 2-0. McEachern then scored twice, the first on a slap shot inside the left post. His second came on a shot from the right circle that deflected off Tallas' stick. Following the Senators' fourth goal, a water bottle came flying towards the Bruins bench as a large number of the 15,836 fans chanted "We want Ray." As for what Boston's players can do now, defenseman Don Sweeney said its up to others to pick up the slack to make a run for the playoffs. "We need to play mistake-free," he said. "Everybody needs to step into situations they haven't seen." Tugnutt has had past success against the Bruins, stopping 70 shots in a 3-3 tie at the Boston Garden on March 21, 1991. Bourque was saluted by a few fans carrying signs, and after the Senators first goal some behind the Bruins goal chanted "We want Raymond."
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