Keenan Wins in Bruin Debut

Coach Mike Keenan of the Boston Bruins gave a lovey-dovey postgame talk about how well his new players supported each other. Coach Ron Wilson of the Washington Capitals was doing a fair impersonation of his usually volatile counterpart.

“You guys shouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, the way you played,” Wilson could be heard yelling at his team through the door to the locker room Thursday night after the Bruins defeated the Capitals, 4-1, at Boston in Keenan’s Bruin debut.

Jason Allison scored two goals and Andrew Raycroft stopped 27 shots for the Bruins, who ended a four-game losing streak that cost coach Pat Burns his job. P.J. Axelsson and Mikko Eloranta also scored for the Bruins.

“He [Keenan] has been calm, cool and collected,” Raycroft said. “It’s a little bit easier to be like that when you’re up 2-0 and you get a 4-1 victory.”

Craig Billington stopped 39 shots for Washington.

Keenan, whose combustibility in five previous NHL coaching jobs earned him the nickname “Iron Mike,” inherited a team that didn’t respond to Burns--himself no slouch as a motivator. The Bruins fired Burns on Wednesday--only eight games into his fourth season with the team--after they faltered following a 3-0-1 start.

Asked if the team was trying to impress the new boss, Keenan said, “I hope so. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing.”

Colorado 2, Chicago 0--David Aebischer, filling in for resting starter Patrick Roy at Chicago, became the fourth backup goaltender to defeat the Blackhawks as the Avalanche remained unbeaten through 10 games.

In only his second NHL start, Aebischer recorded his first shutout, stopping 18 shots.

Milan Hejduk scored from the slot five minutes in as Chicago goalie Jocelyn Thibault was screened by teammate Kevin Dean. Alex Tanguay’s power play goal less than two minutes into the second period put the Avalanche (8-0-2) up, 2-0.

Philadelphia 3, New York Rangers 0--Michal Sykora scored his first goal in two years and Brian Boucher made 32 saves for the Flyers at Philadelphia.

It was the Flyers’ second victory over the Rangers in three days. The Flyers ended a seven-game winless streak Tuesday with a 5-4 victory over the Rangers.

St. Louis 4, Calgary 3--Scott Young scored two goals to become the first player to reach the 10-goal mark and Chris Pronger celebrated his new contract extension with a goal and two assists to lead the Blues at St. Louis.