Bourque Traded to the Avalanche

Ray Bourque, the longtime leader of the Boston Bruins who won five Norris Trophies but never a Stanley Cup, got his wish for one more chance at a championship when he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.

The trade was announced after the Bruins’ 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Boston.

“We limited ourselves to teams where Raymond Bourque would have a chance to win the Stanley Cup,” Bruin General Manager Harry Sinden.

The 39-year-old defenseman was traded along with forward Dave Andreychuk for forward Brian Rolston, defenseman Martin Grenier, center Sami Pahlsson and Boston’s choice of a first-round pick in either 2000 or 2001.

“With this acquisition, we’ve brought in the greatest defenseman of all time . . . “ Avalanche General Manager Pierre Lacroix said. “With his presence and charisma, as a person he’s going to bring a lot to this team.”

Both Andreychuk and Bourque are expected to play for Colorado at Calgary tonight.

In Monday night’s game, Shawn McEachern scored two goals and earlier in the day, McEachern, who would have become an unrestricted free agent July 1, signed a new three-year contract with the Senators.

In other games: Trevor Linden scored the winning goal with just under five minutes left as Montreal defeated visiting Atlanta, 3-2. . . . Mike Ricci scored both goals, including the second with 45 seconds remaining, to lift San Jose over the visiting New York Rangers, 2-1. . . . Mats Sundin scored with 1:47 left in overtime as visiting Toronto defeated Vancouver, 6-5, despite a game-tying goal with 41 seconds left in regulation by Markus Naslund that had brought the Canucks back from a four-goal deficit.

Notes

Calgary acquired veteran center Marc Bureau from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for left wing Travis Brigley and a sixth-round pick in the 2001 draft. . . . Buffalo Sabre captain Michael Peca will be out four to six weeks because of a dislocated left shoulder sustained in a loss to Washington on Sunday.