Reentry receives rave reviews

Granted, less than two weeks into the new-and-improved NHL is probably a little early to label the entire venture a boffo success.

But, man, what a compelling, energized start.

Baseball came back to life with a bang, too, after the two sides did everything in their power to commit sporticide in the 1990s. Next thing we knew, Sammy Sosa's bat was juiced with hypocrisy. Then everyone, from the batboy on up, fell under steroid suspicion. The great game of baseball now all looks like too much, too soon, and too dirty.

The point is, here in the critiquing business, we all write with yellow flags attached to our wrists when the occasion comes to herald a new day. Who knows, by the time your cup of coffee has stained the top of this page this morning, we could find that the referees have been bought, the net size has been expanded, the goalies have been blindfolded, and even the puck has been jacked with a cocktail of growth hormones.

All we can go on so far is what we see, and thus far the view from beyond ice level is delightful. A few thoughts on what's gone on here the first few days:

They're skating again. Above all, that's the greatest change. Strip the game to its core, and both its athleticism and artistry are based on movement. The best of the best -- we are talking positional players here, obviously -- are those who skate the fastest while at the same time experiencing little, if any, drop in skill level. Thanks to the on-ice officials finally enforcing the rulebook, and penalizing all forms of interference, skill is not only winning out, it's jumping out -- first and foremost because of skating speed.

A two-goal lead is good, but it doesn't signal the end of the game. Witness: the Bruins, down by two goals in Pittsburgh in the third period, roaring back for a 7-6 win. Most nights under the old rules, a team with a one-goal lead midway through the second period, if not the first, could clutch, grab, and hogtie the rest of the night and all but put a choke-hold on a W. Not any more. If you were watching that Bruins-Penguins tilt, it was almost impossible to run to the fridge in the third period.

Case in point: Ottawa, with Dominik Hasek in net, held a 4-2 lead over Toronto in the third period last week. The Senators won, 6-5, but needed goals by Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson in the shootout. Hasek after the win: ''To go up two goals in the third period doesn't mean you're going to win the game. Two years ago maybe -- but not with the new rules." The vote here is that the Dominator's quote run as a crawl at the bottom of every Jumbotron in the Original 30.

A bit of fine-tuning is in order. All in all, the referees have done a superb job, to the point of nearly calling a minor penalty on the guy in Loge 3, Row 2, for impeding the path of the popcorn vendor. They're on that whistle from start to finish. Great. But they're not allowing one very important shade of gray. When two players are in a chase for the puck, more often than not they assess a minor on one of them when the two collide at the point of possession. That collision, that struggle, has to remain part of the game. Otherwise, it turns into women's hockey -- a fine sport, but not one that will get folks to spend $100 to be in the lower bowl. Hockey without hitting is one hand clapping.

Too much diving and way too much yakking. OK, the players all know the rules now, and it's time for the refs to call them on it when they embellish the hook, hold, and trip. Enough. No more cheese, please. Also, what other sport tolerates its officials being subjected to an incessant earful of complaints from players, especially when they're making their way to the penalty box? Too much baiting, berating, and bellyaching. It could all end in about one week if the refs began stinging the offenders with minors for unsportsmanlike conduct.

All in all, there is real hop back in the product. It's faster, with more goals, loads more scoring chances, and it has all added up to greater suspense and entertainment.

Oh, and there's still even the occasional fight, a point that the purists and the politically correct can debate from now until the cows come home. But right now, the general feel here is that the entire game has come home, after being lost for nearly 10 years in trapping schemes, ridiculously oversized goalie equipment, and perhaps above all, an institution's dread fear of change.

The Lords of the Boards finally stopped living their ''If it ain't broke, don't fix it" fantasy. All it took was the near-annihilation of the sport.

Memo to baseball: There is no known vaccine to ward off the ravages of stupidity. The NHL has proven that preventative maintenance, picking up on the cues before they turn catastrophic, is a far better way to proceed.

Mironov is on Bruins' radar

In the day or two leading up to Nick Boynton finally settling his contract differences with the Bruins Thursday, one rumor making the rounds was that Boston was interested in acquiring veteran blue liner Bo Mironov, last seen working for the Rangers in 2003-04.

In the hours following the finalization of Boynton's deal, Boston general manager Mike O'Connell confirmed that the Bruins inquired about the 33-year-old Mironov, who was originally a Winnipeg draft pick.

''We've had discussions, but nothing further at this point," said O'Connell, who also said there has been interest of late from other NHL clubs in Andy Hilbert, the 24-year-old forward who asked to be traded out of the Boston organization over the summer.

Mironov, a two-time Olympian with Team Russia, is big (6 feet 3 inches, 225 pounds) and talented, and often logged 25 minutes a night during his better years with Chicago (during Alexei Zhamnov's run there). A former standout with Red Army (just prior to Sergei Samsonov's tour with CSKA), he has skated somewhat below his potential in the NHL, collecting 307 points in 716 games.

However, if the Bruins were to go with a regular No. 1 pairing of Boynton and Brian Leetch (a Zhamnov teammate in New York), Mironov could be very valuable on a No. 2 pairing, and provide great relief at the power-play point.

Mironov did not play at all last year during the lockout, and when it came time to vote on the new CBA, he recently told Russian Hockey Digest, he voted against ratification.

''We lost everything that was possible to lose," he said.

Blast from past still taking aim in Europe

When the first wave of Russians made their way to North America, the Bruins enjoyed some initial riches after selecting Dmitri Kvartalnov with the 16th pick in the 1992 draft.

But after a promising rookie season of 30 goals and 72 points in 1992-93, the skilled left winger quickly faded the following season, wilting under the defensive demands of coach Brian Sutter. Almost overnight, the magic vanished from the line he shared with Adam Oates and Joe Juneau. He finished up the season in Providence and then headed permanently for a wide-ranging tour of Europe -- including stops in Switzerland, Russia, Austria, Germany, and Finland.

Kvartalnov, who will turn 40 in March, is still kicking his way down the wing. He played in Russia the last five seasons, much of the time with Ak Bars Kazan (home to Boston prospect Sergei Zinovjev), and this season has dropped down a level to the Soviet Wings in Moscow. The Wings, who play in the High League, are hoping a strong season will bump them up to the Super League.

Headed into this season, Kvartalnov's numbers in more than a decade back in Europe: 260 games, 250 goals, and 267 assists. Who knows how it would have converted over here? But even at 50 cents on the dollar, that's about a point per game.

Oates and Juneau, both now multimillionaires, are retired. But a little piece of the Bonanza Line lives on in the Russian High League.

Checking out the figures
Pontificating on the game's reacquired virtues certainly will bring claims that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Fair enough. Although numbers also can always be held up to scrutiny and interpretation, there is no denying that the math supports the claim that the game has changed significantly for the better.

A look at some key areas, comparing the first 65 games this season (through Thursday night) vs. the first 65 games of the 2003-04 season:

Let's back up a little
Upon witnessing Joe Thornton exit the Boston lineup with back woes, it was somewhat haunting to recall his remarks to TSN in November 2003, not long after a 3-2 overtime loss to Pittsburgh:

''I look back at it with thoughts that this might be my last year. It's not worth the pain. My back is killing me and things like that -- it's just not worth the ordeal."

The important thing was context. Jumbo Joe was frustrated after a particularly grueling game, with spotty officiating, at the Igloo. Just a guy blowing off steam. Now, with his back forcing the $6.66 million-a-year franchise player to the sideline, his history of back pain must raise an eyebrow or two in Black-and-Gold country.

Thornton's play in the four games prior to his hiatus was painfully indifferent -- much of it, if not all, no doubt related to his bad back (pain running into his legs, according to what he told the Globe). He has rarely been a physical force during his career, relying more on skill and finesse, but it was clear in the four games that he had no interest in engaging in physical play.

Particularly telling, too, was Thornton's inability to land shots on net. He has never been a big shooter, averaging about 2.4 shots per game the last three seasons. But in his first four games, Thornton landed only four shots on net, a dropoff of nearly 60 percent from his average.

Flickering on penalty kill
The Calgary Flames, off to a horrendous start after coming within one victory of the Stanley Cup in the spring of 2004, attempted to shore up a leaky backline (20 goals-against in four games) with last week's acquisition of Bryan Marchment. An often-punishing (read: dirty) hitter, the 36-year-old Marchment returned to Toronto as an invitee in September in hopes of catching on again with the Leafs. He lasted until just days before the season opener before the Leafs cut him loose.

Meanwhile, the fast-paced NHL is causing some real penalty-killing fits for the Flames, owners of possibly the ugliest stat here in the early going: In their first four games, they were an abysmal 14 for 25 (58 percent efficiency) in killing shorthanded situations.

GM/coach Darryl Sutter on his club's 1-3 record headed into weekend play: ''We are being totally dominated."

Capital punishment It's sure looking like a long season in Washington, where the Capitals, 2-4 in their first six games, have very little in the way of offense or defense (outscored, 31-15, into weekend play). They did rub out the Rangers, 3-2, at home last Monday, before a humble holiday gathering of 10,760 (some 7,500 below capacity).

Starting from zero
Ex-Brown netminder Yann Danis moved into the Canadiens' net for a start against Atlanta Wednesday (Ilya Kovalchuk's season debut with the Thrashers) and turned back 32 shots in a 2-0 victory. It was only the third time in Habs history that a goalie debuted with a shutout. The others: Wayne Thomas in 1973 and Bob Perreault in 1955. Later to become a Bruin, Perreault won only seven more times in the NHL. Thomas cracked 100 wins (103), finishing with the Rangers in 1980-81.

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.