Moral Victory

After a pair of losses which saw the Boston Bruins more than doubled up on in scoring, the Bruins took their road act to the Pacific Northwest to visit the Vancouver Canucks. Looking to reverse course and right the sinking ship before it took on too much water, the Bruins could only hope for a victory.

It would not be. John Grahame was forced into goal, as Andrew Raycroft showed lingering injuries from the assault from nearly a week ago at the hands of the New York Islanders. "We're quite concerned about Andrew," GM Joshua Anderson said. "This may now be a mental issue, which we're not sure we are equipped to handle in the short time frame before the playoffs begin. And that scares the piss out of me..."

To demonstrate why this fear is justified, Grahame gave up an easy goal to Scott Walker, only his sixth of the year, less than five minutes into the game. The goal came just as Lee Goren's elbowing minor ended, so while it was ruled an even strength goal, that is not truly indicative of the balance of players on the ice.

Nine minutes later, the Bruins evened the score as Martin Havlat netted his twenty-fourth goal of the year. Goren found himself back in the penalty box just over two minutes later, but the Bruins effectively killed the penalty to keep the game tied at one as the period ended.

Amazingly, Sean Brown returned to his black-and-bruising ways just into the second period as he was whistled for roughing. Again, the Bruins managed to kill the penalty, keeping the game at one until Havlat scored to hit the quarter-century mark for the year nine and a half minutes into the second period.

The lead would be shortlived, as Jason Arnott retied the game at 12:28 as Ruslan Salei set him up perfectly for the glove side score.

Lee Goren's aggressiveness was once again a difference maker, as in the third he was AGAIN whistled for a penalty, which set up Richard Zednik's power play goal at 01:50 of the period. Jochan Hecht scored number twenty-nine on a breakaway, but with four minutes to go, Zednik again did the "In Your Face" dance as he beat Grahame for the game winner.

John Grahame fell to 4-10-0 on the year in front of 18,422 Vancouver fans who all went home happy. The Bruins have two days off before hosting the Devils.