Bruins excel at stand-up

Team in no mood for funny business

STEVE OTTDidn't drop gloves

On a night when he went low on Bruins Stephane Yelle and Milan Lucic, and ultimately punched out his time card with 18 penalty minutes, the Stars' Steve Ott achieved a feat that few have managed to accomplish.

He made Sean Avery look like a stand-up player.

At 4:54 of the third period Saturday night, seconds after Andrew Ference wiped out Ott with an open-ice belt, Avery sprinted after the Boston defenseman and got in his face. Ference responded, and both players dropped their gloves in a toe-to-toe fight - something Ott declined to engage in repeatedly during Boston's 5-1 win at TD Banknorth Garden.

"He is a good player," Ference said of Avery. "He's a guy that does his job very well. On the ice, he's fierce and an agitator. He was just sticking up for his teammate there."

Avery has the leaguewide reputation of a wingnut - think of last year's controversy when he planted himself in Martin Brodeur's personal space and screened the New Jersey goalie - who drives opponents batty with his reckless style.

But Saturday night, Ott took his under-the-skin game to new lows by appearing to target the knees of Yelle and Lucic, then refusing to answer the bell for his questionable tactics. After Ott went low on Yelle, Shawn Thornton tried to retaliate but was instead tagged with a four-minute roughing double minor. Later in the game, Shane Hnidy and Lucic tried to fight Ott but couldn't get approval.

When Thornton was asked if Ott's hit on Yelle was dirty, he said, "I thought so. You've seen me for a year and a half now. I don't come in and [fight] for no reason too often. Or ever, I guess. Then there was Looch over by the penalty box and he did the same thing - came in and tried to get him at the knees."

After the victory, the Bruins acknowledged that Avery and Ott were doing their jobs. They were trying to agitate the Bruins, lure them into retaliatory penalties, and put the Stars on the power play.

But there's a line between old-fashioned agitating - a slash to the legs when the referees aren't looking, a face wash in a scrum, insults about players and their families - and cheap shots. Saturday night, Ott crossed that line, and his teammates had to pay the price.

"Tonight it seemed to be idiotic," said Stars alternate captain Mike Modano of his team's identity. "It's stupid. It's one of the more embarrassing things I have seen, on the ice and involved with the fans. In 20 years, I haven't seen anything like it. If that's what we're going for, maybe I need to find myself an office job."

Neither Yelle nor Lucic was injured by Ott, who was ultimately tagged with a 10-minute misconduct by referee Chris Rooney at 11:37 of the third period.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said he wasn't concerned with whether the league disciplines Ott.

"I'm not going to whine," said Julien. "We can stand up for ourselves. We can play those types of games. It's not an issue. I don't care. You won't hear me complain. I think the fans enjoyed the show and we got ourselves a win. That's all that counts."

Ott and Avery (the latter sparked the biggest rumble when he tagged Lucic from behind in the third period) showed that when they take their game too far, it can backfire. In the third period, with Boston holding a 3-1 lead, Ference gave his club some juice when he blasted Ott at center ice, then went at it with Avery. Later in the period, when Avery had the puck in the offensive zone, Krystofer Barch had to drop the gloves with Thornton.

Then after Avery cranked Lucic into the boards, the rest of the Bruins flew to the winger's defense. Marc Savard connected with several glove-on rights to Avery's head. Hnidy pummeled defenseman Matt Niskanen, who had jumped into the pile. Even goalie Tim Thomas saw that counterpart Marty Turco had left his crease and was heading in the melee's direction, so he departed his net to make sure nothing happened.

"He looked at me like he was going to jump into the pile," Thomas said.

Truth is, the Bruins needed such a spark to lift their game. Yes, they were coming off a four-point Western Canada trip, but one that ended with a disappointing 3-2 loss to Calgary. They were only 1-1-1 at the Garden. They don't play again until Thursday against Toronto at home, when they hope to redeem a dud of a 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs Oct. 23.

"In the third, we came out, played hard, popped in some goals, and [were hit with] a couple cheap shots," said Hnidy. "It's unfortunate. That's the game. But as a team, we're going to stick up for each other. That's part of the identity we want here as a Bruins club. Things happen."

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.