TORONTO - Chastised by their owner, the Boston Bruins responded.
Glen Murray scored twice to help Boston end its longest losing streak in eight years with a 5-1 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
Patrice Bergeron, Shawn McEachern and Sergei Samsonov also scored for the Bruins, who snapped a six-game slide -- their longest since a seven-game skid from March 17 to April 3, 1997.
Owner Jeremy Jacobs called the slump very disappointing and questioned his team's desire and worth ethic in a Boston newspaper. The Bruins answered, outshooting the Maple Leafs 37-20 to end Toronto's season-best four-game winning streak.
Asked if there was a feeling of urgency going into the game, goalie Andrew Raycroft said: "That's the understatement of the century. It hasn't been too much fun. And not that one win makes it a country club around here, but it gets the monkey off our back."
Raycroft said the whole team knew about Jacob's rant.
"We knew we were on the hot seat," he said.
Darcy Tucker scored for the Maple Leafs, who were booed off the ice.
Toronto goalie Ed Belfour played perhaps his worst game of the season. After skating far out of his net to clear a puck in the second period, he fanned on the pass and ended up sending it right to a Boston player. Bergeron followed with a shot past a crouched Toronto defenseman.
Belfour was later jeered by the home fans when he successfully left his net to clear a puck.
Murray scored twice on the power play in the first as Boston outshot Toronto 18-4 in the period.
"I think teams right now take us for granted," Bruins captain Joe Thornton said. "We came out hard and scored a couple of goals on the power play. They were on their heels."
Standing in front of the net, Murray batted the puck out of the air and put it between Belfour's legs at 3:03 of the first. He scored his 12th goal of season at 8:16 with a shot from in front.
Bergeron made it 3-0 at 4:21 of the second after Belfour's miscue.
After a Toronto turnover, McEachern made it 4-0 at 6:08 of the second by skating in on a 2-on-1 and beating Belfour with a high wrist shot.
Fans booed the Maple Leafs off the ice at the end of the second period and after the final buzzer.
"That wasn't one of our best efforts of the year, that's for sure, and the score shows it," Toronto's Matt Stajan said.
Tucker cut it to 4-1 with his eighth goal at 2:39 of the third, but Samsonov made it 5-1 at 11:57 after skating in on a 2-on-1 after a Toronto turnover.
A minute later, Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi and Boston's Andrew Alberts tussled.
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| Goalie Andrew Raycroft denies Mats Sundin's shot for one of his 20 saves of the contest. (Getty Images) |
| Scoreboard | |||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Boston (8-10-5) « | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| Toronto (12-8-2) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Three Stars | ||
| G. Murray BOS Goals: 2 Assist(s): 0 | P. Bergeron BOS Goals: 1 Assist(s): 1 | N. Boynton BOS Goals: 0 Assist(s): 0 |
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| Scoring Summary | ||
| 1ST PERIOD | ||
| 03:03 | Power Play - Glen Murray (11), Tip-In - Assists: Patrice Bergeron and Jiri Slegr | |
| 08:16 | Power Play - Glen Murray (12), Wrist Shot - Assists: Alex Zhamnov and Joe Thornton | |
| 2ND PERIOD | ||
| 04:21 | Patrice Bergeron (6), Slap Shot - Assists: P.J. Axelsson and Travis Green | |
| 06:08 | Shawn McEachern (2), Wrist Shot - Assists: Tom Fitzgerald and Eric Nickulas | |
| 3RD PERIOD | ||
| 02:39 | Darcy Tucker (8), Slap Shot - Assists: Matt Stajan and Kyle Wellwood | |
| 11:57 | Sergei Samsonov (10), Slap Shot - Assists: Brad Boyes and Alex Zhamnov | |
| Penalty Summary | ||
| 1ST PERIOD | ||
| 01:15 | Kilger: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 07:53 | Khavanov: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 14:15 | Nickulas: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 17:23 | Berg: Tripping - 2 min. | |
| 18:30 | Slegr: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 2ND PERIOD | ||
| 08:53 | Lindros: Cross Check - 2 min. | |
| 15:43 | Jurcina: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 18:58 | Tucker: Roughing - 2 min. | |
| 20:00 | Boyes: Hooking - 2 min. | |
| 3RD PERIOD | ||
| 04:42 | Fitzgerald: Tripping - 2 min. | |
| 13:00 | Alberts: Fighting - 5 min. | |
| 13:00 | Domi: Fighting - 5 min. | |
| 14:03 | Kronwall: Roughing - 2 min. | |
| 17:45 | McEachern: Tripping - 2 min. | |
| SHOTS ON GOAL | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
| Boston | 18 | 15 | 4 | 37 | |
| Toronto | 4 | 8 | 9 | 21 | |
| GAME INFORMATION |
| Attendance - 19403 |
| Game Time - 60:00 |
| Referees - Tom Kowal, Bill McCreary |
| Line Judges - Scott Driscoll, Brad Kovachik |
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