Bruins Win a Real Fight to the Finish

It was a game that had six fights and 270 minutes in penalties. It was also a game that featured a great finish after an ugly start.

The Boston Bruins surrendered a 3-0 lead, but pulled out a win in the last 30 seconds of overtime as Jason Allison scored his second goal of the night to beat the Washington Capitals, 5-4, on Saturday at Boston.

12 players were ejected from the game at the same time and 44 penalties were called.

“I suppose if you go strictly by the rules the ejections were proper,” said Harry Sinden, the Bruins’ president and general manager. “But suppose you have the same thing happen the next period, do you call off the game? The officials have to use some common sense.”

Ten Bruins and six Capitals were sent to the penalty box in the first period as 264 minutes in penalties were handed out. That included a fight at 11:42 of the opening period that involved every player on the ice and saw all of them ejected, including goaltenders Byron Dafoe of the Bruins and Washington’s Olaf Kolzig.

Kolzig and Dafoe are best friends and Kolzig said, “It’s tough fighting your best friend. You can joke about it all you want, but when you’re out there it’s tough to throw a punch at him [Dafoe].”

The NHL record for most penalty minutes is 406 in a game between the Minnesota North Stars and Bruins on Feb. 26, 1981.

Detroit 4, Vancouver 2--Norm Maracle made 28 saves at Vancouver and Brendan Shanahan scored his 10th goal for the Red Wings.

Maracle was stellar in his first start in goal, replacing the injured Chris Osgood, who was out because of a hip flexor.

The Canucks, meanwhile, not only lost the game but also their second leading scorer. Right wing Alex Mogilny went down four minutes into the first period when he suffered an injury to his right knee in a collision. Mogilny will be evaluated today but isn’t expected to make Vancouver’s upcoming four-game East Coast trip. He had four goals and 13 assists in 18 games this season.

Phoenix 3, Edmonton 2--Rick Tocchet scored on a slap shot high in the slot with 52 seconds left in overtime to give the surging Coyotes the victory at Phoenix.

The victory, Phoenix’s NHL-high fifth in a row and second in a row in overtime, moved the Coyotes past Dallas for first place in the Pacific Division.

Dallas 3, St. Louis 3--Pierre Turgeon scored with less than 13 minutes remaining as the Blues overcame a three-goal deficit at St. Louis.

The Stars were without former Blues star Brett Hull, who suffered a bruised kidney Friday night and did not make the trip to St. Louis.

New York Islanders 6, Nashville 3--Robert Reichel had a goal and two assists at Nashville, as the Islanders ended a three-game losing streak.

Toronto 2, Buffalo 1--Mike Johnson and Igor Korolev scored in the second period to lift the Maple Leafs at Toronto, ending Buffalo’s nine-game unbeaten streak.

Colorado 3, Montreal 2--Valeri Kamensky scored 3:06 into the third period to lift the Avalanche at Montreal.

Ottawa 4, Calgary 1--Alexei Yashin produced his first two-goal game of the season at Kanata, Canada.

Pittsburgh 5, Tampa Bay 2--Martin Straka scored twice at Pittsburgh as the Penguins extended the Lightning’s losing streak to five games.

Penguin goaltender Tom Barrasso left the game after one period. The team said he aggravated a back injury and was held out as a precaution. Barrasso sat out 10 games this season because of a groin injury.

Florida 3, New Jersey 3--Rob Niedermayer scored the tying goal to cap a six-goal second period at East Rutherford, N.J.

San Jose 2, New York Rangers 2--Jarrod Skalde got his first goal of the season at San Jose, but the Sharks remained winless in 14 games against the Rangers.