Blue liners in need of additional help

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The Boston blue line is now officially the Boston HELP! line. It is painfully obvious, after back-to-back losses, that the back end of the Bruins attack is challenged to survive on a nightly basis.

Is help on the way?

''That's a question you'd have to ask Mike O'Connell, said coach Mike Sullivan. The GM did make the trip here.

Asked if he felt the club needed to acquire help for the blue line, the ever-stoic Sullivan said, ''I am trying to coach the team and make it the best we can be. We believe in these guys, and we'll stand behind them."

While the blue liners all but melt into the ice, , no one among the forwards steps up to seize the moment. Sullivan went out of his way to credit Joe Thornton after the 5-2 loss here (Sullivan: ''I think Joe is playing his heart out."). It's understandable that Sullivan takes that approach, because Thornton is the captain, freshly signed to a three-year $20 million deal. But no one, Thornton included, has stepped up and made the kind of physical statement the club has so clearly needed the first five-plus weeks of the new season.

''For me," said Sullivan, ''it's a 20- or 25-man effort. Everyone has to do the job."

Power play gassed

Not sure if viewers at home, especially in Lexington, could hear it, but the PA announcer introduced a first-period Islander power play by bellowing, ''Another Keyspan power play!" Hope that one doesn't make it down the gas line to Causeway Street, at least not for a while . . . Hal Gill, a minor penalty waiting to happen these days, added to his team-high penalty minutes with a pair of minors (the first of which led to an Islander power-play goal). Gill now owns 36 PIMs, a pace that would shatter the career high 99 he posted in 2003-'04 . . . No one was busier beating a path to the penalty box than Islander blue liner Janne Niinimaa, who was called for a total of four minors. He is now first in faux pas for the Isles with 42 PIMs . . . Glen Murray had the worst plus/minus show of the night, turning in a glaring minus-3. Thornton and Jiri Slegr were next, each with minus-2. Five Isles, including ex-Bruin Shawn Bates, all logged plus-3 on the night....Murray led the Boston shot attack, landing five on Rick DiPietro . . . The Bruins since Brian Leetch left the lineup: 2-2-2.

Isbister back on ice

With Brad Isbister back in the lineup, Sullivan was torn between scratching Tom Fitzgerald or Colton Orr. The final decision had Orr dressing, an insurance move in case the Isles attempted to get rough. All in all it was a tame affair, and Orr finished with only 49 seconds of ice time, on two shifts. It was the veteran Fitzgerald's first night in street clothes this season . . . The Bruins were 11 seconds into a power play in the third period when a shot off the Boston point shattered a pane of glass behind DiPietro.

Youth movement?

Samsonov and fellow Russian Alexei Zhamnov both expressed surprise over their homeland's recent decision to make Pavel Bure the general manager of the Olympic team. ''Very surprised," said Samsonov. ''It came out of nowhere. And I would have thought there were some older guys who were in line for the job." . . . Zhamnov, who played for his country in the '92, '98, and '02 Games, and Samsonov, who suited up for Mother Russia at Salt Lake ('02), were noncommital about their participation in Turin 2006. In part, that's because they haven't formally been asked to play. Prior to the naming of Bure as GM, they were both notified by the Russian Hockey Federation that they were on the ''watch" list as candidates. ''We'll see what happens," said the 35-year-old Zhamnov, noting that he has played in three Games and that it could be time for the new guard to carry Russia's international mission. ''I'm not saying it's good, and I'm not saying it's bad. My focus isn't on that right now. It's here [with the Bruins]."