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 Facing elimination History against desperate Bruins, down 3-1 to Sabres
Posted: Saturday May 15, 1999 06:22 PM
BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Bruins, trailing Buffalo 3-1 in their best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff, need a win Sunday to stay alive. But many Boston players were obviously discouraged after Friday night's 3-0 loss. "It was an embarrassing game," said Bruins forward Jason Allison, his head sunk low after practice Saturday. "We outplayed them in Game 1 and Game 3, but I couldn't tell you what happened last night." "Things will hopefully work out," Allison added. But if history has anything to do with it, the Bruins chances for success are slim. In each of the 18 previous series the Bruins trailed 3-1, they never came back to win. Only three times in those situations has Boston managed to win a second game and the Bruins have never come back to tie any of the series. Part of the problem in this series stems from the Bruins lack of offense, which was most evident in Game 4. The Sabres launched 39 shots to the Bruins' 24 -- including Buffalo's 16 to Boston's four in the first period. By all accounts, Bruins goalie Byron Dafoe played an outstanding game. But Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek was better. "We have got to know that the goaltender can't do it all himself," Bruins defenseman Kyle McLaren said. "We have to have a balance of offense and defense." So how do the Bruins correct the problem? "We need to put the puck in the net," Bruins coach Pat Burns said simply. "Obviously, we have to play better than we did last night," Dafoe said. "Hopefully, we can get the first goal. Scoring the first goal in a hockey game changes everything -- not to mention this Hasek Mystery we've had the past five periods." Hasek has not allowed a goal in the past five periods and recorded a team-record fifth playoff shutout of his career on Friday. And while many Bruins players said they need to put Friday night's game behind them, Hasek said the win was likely Buffalo's best game in the playoffs, his easiest and definitely one performance he wants the Sabres to repeat. "We outplayed them, outskated them, outshot them," Hasek said. "I don't know if we can get better." Buffalo forward Dixon Ward agreed. "We have to try to put together the same kind of effort for Sunday," Ward said. But no playoff victory on the road is easy, and the Sabres expect to meet a strong Bruins team with home-ice advantage on Sunday. "They always say the fourth win is the toughest to get," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "[But] you would expect them to give it everything they've got in their own building." Bruins forward Joe Thornton -- who will play Sunday despite missing much of Friday's game after being hit in the head -- said Boston will pull out all the stops on Sunday. "We're just desperate right now," Thornton said. "We got to do anything we can." McLaren agreed, adding that he was not ready for summer vacation to begin. "I don't want to be home on Monday saying we could've, should've," McLaren said. "I want to be on a plane to Buffalo."
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