European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pago 32 the stars and stripes sports wednesday March 3,1993 As by the associated press. Boston a there was a time not so Long ago when. Montreal would win games simply by out checking an opponent. What makes the canadians the Best team in the nil right now says Boston Bruins defens Eman Ray Bourque is that outstanding checking combined with offensive firepower and Patrick roys goal ending. Quot they have some Guys that finish a lot better than they used to Quot he said after Montreal Defeated the Bruins 5-2 monday night. Quot they used to just Check you into the ice and win 3-2.�?� Gilbert Dionne scored twice and Roy stopped 42 shots As the canadians avenged their Only loss since late january. Montreal took advantage of defensive lapses by the Bruins to grab a 4-0 Lead then survived repeated Boston attacks. The Bruins out shot Montreal 44-17, but Roy was magnificent stopping 19 shots in the second period and making three excellent saves on Vladimir Ruzicka. It was roys 28th win of the season. The Victory avenged a 5-2 Boston win in Montreal on feb. 17, the Only loss for the canadians in their last 13 games. Gary Leeman John Leclair and Vincent am Nousse also scored for Montreal. Joe Juneau and Bourque had the Boston goals. Quot we had the Early Lead and we re a Tough team to beat when we get a Lead a Roy said. Canadians defens Eman can Jacques Daigneault who injured his right ankle when he was checked into the boards by Steve Leach Early in the second period was sent Back to Montreal and will not travel with the team to Tampa Bay on wednesday. A rays showed there was no fracture. P jul Bostons Glen Featherstone suffered a bruised left thigh and missed the last half of the game after being tripped by Todd when and Darin Kimble of the Bruins missed most of the game with a badly bruised left Eye after losing a fight to Mario Roberge. Roberge was thrown out of the game following the fight when referee Terry Gregson found tape on the player s fingers. He is automatically suspended pending review by nil officials. In mondays Only other game canucks 5, Sabrea 2 Hamilton Ontario a Vancouver right Wing Pavel Bure scored his 50th and 5lst goals in the canucks Victory Over the sabres in a Neutral site game. Bure overshadowed league leading scorer Alexander Moglin of Buffalo in the individual matchup of the leagues two hot russian stars. Mogiln the nil Leader with 63 goals failed to score. Trevor Linden Dixon Ward and Cliff Ronning added goals in their team s third consecutive Victory the canucks leaders in the smythe division completed a sweep of their three games with Buffalo this season and improved to amp la against Adams division teams. The sabres had lost 6-4 Friday and 8-4 saturday to Montreal and when they fell behind 5-0 against Vancouver they clearly were a demoralized beaten team. Power play goals in the third period by Pat Lafontaine and Dale Hawer Chuk made the score More respectable. Ticket sales totalled 17,098. It was the largest crowd for a Neutral site game this season. It was Buffalo s Choice of venue but the majority of fans favored Vancouver which sponsors Hamilton s american hockey league team. Buffalo s Doug Bodger pins vancouver1 Jim Sandlak to boards in monday night s  still sound but blues need Center Lack of feeding is starving Brett Hull s scoring. By Larry Wigge the sporting news what Sall the Hullabaloo we suggested last summer that Brett Hull was Happy and healthy and a candidate to score 100 goals in the 1992-93 season a if the St. Louis blues went out and got him a decent play making Center. Sixty six games into the season Hull has Only 45 goals. That s far off the 50 goats in 50 games Pace Hull had the past two seasons. With Hull seeking a new six year contract for $20 million and wondering what the club s plans Are for him after his contract runs out after the 1993-94 season the blues got tired of waiting for Hull to produce. They actually came close to trading him earlier this month to the los Angeles Kings for Center Tony Gra nato right Wing Marty Mcsorley and defens Eman Rob Blake. But the Kings refused to include Blake in the package. The idea of trading a Star player for three or four lesser parts rarely works unless the Premier player is on a downward spiral. That s hardly the Case with Hull even though he will not reach 72, 86 or 70 goals As he did the past three seasons. Just because the Quebec Nordi ques became a contender when they traded Eric Lindros to Philadelphia for six players two first round draft choices and $15 million does no to mean trading a Cornerstone player for four five or six easy pieces is going to work every time. Are the Edmonton oilers better now after trading Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier of course not. To argue that Hull s career was dependent on Clever Center Adam Oates who was traded to Boston last season is silly. Hull scored when Gilmour was his Center. He scored when Peter Zezel was his Center. But the blues fumbled the puck when they went 57 games into this season before they promised to work out a new contract with Hull and try to find a Center for him before the March 20 trading deadline. Hull 28, is far from finished. He is Worth $3 million or More per season. But putting him with centers such As Ron Sutter Igor Korolev Ron Wilson Bob Bassen and Kevin Miller is like putting Mario Lemieux with Jay Caufield and Troy Loney. You have to complement your stars and take advantage of their Talent. Instead of trading for a play maker such As Brian Bradley before the season when Tampa Bay would have gladly taken two or three prospects or acquiring John Cullen from Hartford for a second round draft Choice the blues ignored the problem and stumbled out of the Box. Quot if you re winning the game is fun but ttys been one of those years where we re not winning Hull says. Quot losing makes everything look so much grayer and who do they Point the finder at when we re losing me. Which makes it even worse. Quot people say of he a not even  Well what do they mean in a not trying i am  Hull talks about missing Oates. He talks about their Friendship the fact they used to do everything together. They will be friends forever but enough is enough. Quot geez i m starting to sound like a baby a Hull says. Quot its not like i hate coming to the rink but there s a certain enjoyment you should get and it s not quite there right now _ what the blues forget is that Hull helped raise their season ticket base from 8,000 to 13,000. He did no to come Back and ask to renegotiate his four year $7.2 million contract which runs through the 1993-94 season As Oates did with his contract. More importantly the blues forget they have 60 luxury boxes to fill in the new Kiel Center in 1994-95. Hull will help fill those seats. Quot in a not going anywhere Quot Hull says. Quot i done to want to bail out on the people of St. Louis. They re going to have to kick me out before 1 leave. I want to stay Here bad enough that something can be worked