| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
BOSTON (AP) -- Talking and working with coach Pat Burns paid
off for Boston goalie Byron Dafoe.
|  | | Captains collide when Phoenix's Keith Tkachuk checks Boston's Ray Bourque, left. |
Dafoe, the NHL shutout leader last season with 10, stopped 32
shots for his first this season as the Bruins beat the Phoenix
Coyotes 2-0 Monday night to stop a six-game winless streak.
During practice Sunday, Burns and Dafoe had some time to discuss
things before the pair worked together.
"He came out with me and actually did goalie drills, which was kind of interesting," Dafoe said. "Things he had seen with Patrick Roy in the past."
Dafoe, who missed nearly a month at the start of this campaign
during a contract holdout, was hardly tested. He did, however,
benefit when Juha Ylonen's shot hit the left post and rolled along
the goal line.
Dafoe had allowed 12 goals in the last three games.
Burns, who coached Roy and the Montreal Canadiens from 1988-92,
thought Dafoe just had to work on the mental part of his game.
"We spent a lot of time talking about the things, more verbal
than physical for him," Burns said. "It's normal for the amount
of time he missed."
Dafoe's best save came with just under six minutes left when he
made a right-pad save on Mike Sullivan's wrist shot from alone in
the slot.
The Bruins were 0-3-3 in their last six games. Phoenix lost just
its second away from home in its last six.
Coyotes coach Bob Francis, an assistant with Boston last season,
didn't see anything different in Dafoe's play from last year's
stellar numbers.
"He looked like the old Byron to me," Francis said. "He was
coming out of the net, challenging our shooters and made the big
stops when he needed to."
Phoenix dropped its third straight game, the Coyotes' longest
losing streak of the season. It was also the first time they have
been shut out since April 11 at Anaheim.
Sergei Samsonov scored a first-period goal and Rob DiMaio added
an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left.
Bob Essensa, who made 29 saves for the Coyotes, lost for only
the second time (9-2-1).
Samsonov scored midway into a fairly wide-open first period, in
which Boston outshot Phoenix 13-11. Ray Bourque took a shot from
the blue line that appeared to be heading wide left, but Samsonov,
cutting in front, knocked the puck down from knee-level before slipping a short shot past Essensa.
Both teams had a number of good opportunities in the opening
period. Phoenix had the best chance on Ylonen's shot that Dafoe
controlled after it rolled halfway across the crease.
Boston was held without a shot on goal for the first 11 minutes
in the second.
"It's the mental preparation of a hockey game," Burns said.
"(Byron) wasn't getting into a zone early into the game. But it
looked like he was tonight."
| |
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 2
Phoenix 0
Montreal 1
Washington 0
Ottawa 3
Toronto 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sergei Samsonov scores for Boston.
avi: 810 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
