'95-96 November Road Trip

November 17th, 1995

Wrapping up a little road trip that started in St. Louis, the boys travel to take on two of the hottest Eastern Conference teams. First up are the Atlantic division leading Washington Capitals, currently the second seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins showed no signs of slowing down netting 4 quick goals in the first period including two from Kevin Stevens, one each from Steve Heinze and Adam Oates. The second period kicked started slow, but the Bruins continue the thrashing in an insulting manner with a John Gruden tally. Nine seconds later Marc Potvin destroys D-Bag of the month Dale Hunter. Potvin is now 3-0, not Stevens level of thug, but nicely done for the amount of ice time he sees. Michal Pivonka then puts the Caps on the board halfway through the second. The Bruins storm right back with a pair of goals from Ted Donato and Heinze (his second of the night). The third period opened with what looked like the start of a little comeback for the Caps. Ok, maybe not from a 7-1 deficit, but I had to think that way to keep it slightly exciting. The Caps goal that came from Calle Johansson was quickly answered by Todd Elik. The Caps strike again however this time from the blade of Defenseman Jim Johnson. Steve Heinze ended any dream of a Washington comeback with his 3rd of the night to top it all off. (Now you really know this is fantasy, Steve Heinze Hat Trick. Maybe in High School, maybe. Love you Heinzey!) Three Stars are Mr. Heinze himself, Stevens, and Oates.

November 21st, 1995

3 days off for the boys, and I hope they didn't spend it in lovely......Pittsburgh. The Pens are currently chasing down the B's for first in the Northeast Division and look to put a dent in the 10 point lead the B's have on them. It looks like Kerry Fraser made the trip out for this one folks, no I did not see a moustachioed referee skating around, but damn did we get called out in this one. Super Mario kickd off the scoring 28 seconds into this tilt, assisted by Sergei Zubov. Our resillient B's came right back to make it 1 up as Todd Elik netted the tying goal. Glen Murray then tries to haunt the B's with his chance at a penalty shot. No dice Muzz, Lacher stones him cold. However Luc Robitaille gets one by the ex-Laker Lacher (ooooh that rhymes) to put Pitt up 2-1. In grand B's fashion, Don Sweeney fills the slot on a breakaway and drills home a Kevin Stevens feed for the 2-2 tally. In the second the B's try to pull away with Todd Elik's second of the evening. Minutes later Jon Rohloff tunes up Chris Joseph to pull his record to a clean 4-0. Another penalty shot for the Pens, this time from Ron Francis. Again no results for the home team. After providing the opponents with a scoring opportunity, Mariuz Czerkawski decides one wasn't enough, so he pulls a minor penalty that carries over to the start of the third. On that note, wham, bam, thank you Mariuz, Pittsburgh goal from Tomas Sandstrom evens it up 3-3. Another penalty shot briefly following a Rick Zombo double minor B.S. call from Mr. Fraser, but again Lacher comes up with the save on Mikko Makela. Shorthanded, we needed a hero. I looked for Cam to come up big as he skated alone towards Barrasso. Well Tommy won that battle, but the one that followed he botched as Alexei Kasatonov drilled home Neely's rebound, 4-3 Bruins. Joe Mullen netted an insurance goal 11 seconds later. But Kerry decided, what the hell, might as well send Ted Donato to the box in the last 2:00 to give the Penguins a fighting chance. Luckily it didn't pan out and we closed out a 5-3 win. Stars: Elik, Sweeney, and Bourque.