WASHINGTON - Hockey can be a cruel game.
On Thursday, Martin St. Pierre and his fourth-line mates executed a breakout and an offensive rush to score the winning goal against the Islanders. Last night, after a pair of St. Pierre misplays, Washington sniper Alexander Semin hummed a slap shot past Tim Thomas for the deciding goal in the Capitals' 2-1 victory before 18,277 at the
"That's what it's all about," said St. Pierre. "It's all about ups and downs."
For most of last night's game, the undermanned Bruins - down three top-six forwards and a pair of top-four defensemen from their opening night roster - closed ranks, clogged shooting lanes, and gave the explosive Capitals a tight match.
But in the third period, an old friend turned into a nemesis. Milan Jurcina, literally traded away for nothing in 2006-07 - the conditional fourth-round pick the Bruins received went to Calgary when Brad Stuart didn't re-sign with the Flames - broke up St. Pierre's chance and sprang Semin.
"You don't get much out of the two-on-one late in the game and they come back and score the game-winning goal," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "Doesn't take much to differentiate between winning and losing."
The game-changing play started when Shawn Thornton's forecheck forced Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz to cough up the puck, giving the Bruins an odd-man rush against Jurcina. Vladimir Sobotka gained control and dished it to St. Pierre on the left wing. In hindsight, St. Pierre should have let one rip on goalie Jose Theodore.
"I should have shot it right away," said St. Pierre. "Theodore's a small goalie. That's what every goal scorer probably would have done. He would have shot."
Instead, St. Pierre tried to curl around Jurcina and hit Sobotka back door. What St. Pierre didn't realize was the length of Jurcina's reach. As St. Pierre made his move, the 6-foot-4-inch Jurcina hit the deck, flashed out his stick, and poked the puck away.
Then St. Pierre compounded his error. He regained control and drifted back up the wall. He could have sent the puck back down the boards for Sobotka to start the cycle, but instead he tried to chip it off the boards for Mark Stuart. However, the chip handcuffed a flat-footed Stuart, freeing Semin to hurtle through the neutral zone.
As Thomas saw Semin charge toward him, he tried to make himself as big as possible.
"Semin is coming down that wing with speed, and I know he's got a really good shot," Thomas said. "You try to take the angle, butterfly, and take away everything, but he put it in a pretty good place."
That place was over Thomas's glove, planted there after Semin wound up and stepped into a slapper.
"Guy LaFleur-ish," Thomas called it. "There's not many times where a guy has that much time to wind up for a slap shot like that."
