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BOX SCORE
BOSTON (AP) – John Grahame may have played well enough in his
audition to keep it going a little longer.
With starting goaltender Byron Dafoe on the verge of returning
from a hamstring injury, Grahame made 26 saves to earn his third
consecutive win on Saturday and help the Boston Bruins beat the San
Jose Sharks 3-2.
|  | | Stephane Matteau, right, says hello to Boston's Eric Weinrich, but the Bruins did have the last laugh. |
"With John playing as well as he has, the urgency of (Dafoe)
coming back is not quite as intense," Bruins coach Mike Keenan
said. "But he did practice very hard today for the first time, so
I would say he is very close to returning."
Grahame became the Bruins' top goaltender when Dafoe injured his
hamstring on Feb. 10 and then backup Peter Skudra lost four
consecutive games. Dafoe is expected to practice with the team on
Sunday and he could be back in the nets Monday night against
Philadelphia.
"I've got enough to worry about with myself trying to play
well," said Grahame, who stopped the Sharks on a 5-on-3 and a
6-on-4. "I'm not really sure what's going on with him. I know he's
getting healthy, which is only going to make the team better."
Sergei Samsonov had a goal and an assist to lead Boston to its
fifth consecutive home victory.
Marco Sturm and Mike Ricci scored for San Jose, and Evgeni
Nabokov stopped 25 shots. The Sharks, who are one point behind
first-place Dallas in the Pacific Division, have allowed 20 goals
while losing their last four games, and Boston remains one of three
cities where they have never won.
"Two fairly good games out of four on the road trip is not
acceptable," forward Scott Thornton said. "Lately we have not
been executing the way we did for the first 50 games."
San Jose had a chance to tie it in the final 67 seconds when
they pulled the goalie and Kyle McLaren was sent off for
cross-checking. But Grahame stopped three shots in a flurry of
activity in front of the net to protect the victory.
Joe Thornton, who had an assist to extend his point streak to 10
consecutive games, shot wide on the empty net in the final minute
and saw his five-game goal-scoring streak snapped. Jason Allison
had an assist for his 299th career point.
Boston scored just 52 seconds into the game when Samsonov passed
it to Bill Guerin in front of the crease, and he tipped it across
to Allison.
Grahame made his biggest mistake of the game when he let the
rebound of Sturm's shot fall in front of the net. Grahame went onto
his back in an attempt to cover the puck, but it just sat there in
the crease for two seconds before Sturm swept it into the net to
make it 1-1.
The Bruins made it 2-1 when Samsonov put it between the
Nabokov's legs with 46 seconds left to play in the second.
In the third, Brian Rolston's shot from the left circle bounced
off Nabokov into the air, a line drive that Mike Knuble swung at
and hit into the net like he was a slap-hitter trying to advance
the baserunner.
But only 28 seconds later, Ricci scored his 13th of the season
when he picked up a loose puck in front of the net and put it past
Grahame to trim the lead back to one goal.
Game notes
The Sharks are 2-11-4 against the Bruins. ... The last
Bruin to score in six consecutive games was Cam Neely in 1990. ...
Sharks' captain Owen Nolan was held pointless in his second game
back from an 11-game suspension.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
San Jose Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 3
San Jose 2
Buffalo 3
Colorado 2
Florida 2
Atlanta 2
Montreal 3
Philadelphia 1
Tampa Bay 6
NY Islanders 0
Ottawa 3
Toronto 2
Washington 4
Pittsburgh 3
Calgary 3
St. Louis 2
Los Angeles 6
Detroit 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Goaltender John Grahame thinks he has the puck covered, but Marco Sturm is there to knock it in.
avi: 730 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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