BRUINS: The second half of the Bruins 2011-2012 campaign got underway at the Garden Tuesday night when they played host to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night.
Despite a 3-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break, the Senators had closed to within a few points of the Bruins in the Northeastern conference standings, raising the stakes for the B's home game against a divisional opponent.
This was also Tim Thomas' first start in net since opting out of a team visit to the White House before the All-Star break- Tukka Rask was between the pipes for their 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals in the last game before the All-Star break.
Former Senator Zdeno Chara looked every bit the Fastest Shot winner from the All Star skills competition when he drilled the puck past goalie Craig Anderson and into the back of the net all the way from the blue line to give Boston the 1-0 lead on a power play goal at the 8:02 mark in the first.
The Senators' Colin Greening would get the equalizer with 1:20 remaining in the first to send both teams into their locker rooms with the game tied 1-1 at the 1st intermission.
The Bruins would have some chances early in the second, but fail to capitalize. As the period went on, the Senators were successfully able to pressure the Bruins and keep the puck on the B's end of the ice. This resulted in the Sens taking a 3-1 lead on goals from Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris before the Bruins were able to make it a 1-goal game thanks to a Milan Lucic goal in the final minute of the 2nd period.
A little over 2 minutes into the 3rd, Brad Marchand would get the game-tying goal to make it 3-3 on another Boston power play. Then, not to be outdone by Chara's early goal from the blueline, 7 minutes into the 3rd Dennis Seidenberg shot the puck towards the Ottawa net from center ice. While it lacked Chara's velocity, it seemed to have the movement of a Tim Wakefield knuckleball and got by Craig Anderson to make it 4-3 Boston.
Lucic had a glorious opportunity to pad the Boston lead at a little over 10 minutes into the 3rd period, but Anderson was able to get a glove on Lucic's breakaway shot from near point-blank range [perhaps if Lucic had attempted the shot from center ice or the blue line....just sayin' -NANESB!].
Boston hangs on to win their first game afer the All-Star break by a 4-3 final, putting some distance between themselves and 2nd place Ottawa in the process. Tim Thomas had 30 saves on 33 shots faced while Craig Anderson allowed 4 goals out of the 30 shots he faced. There were no power-play opportunities for the Senators, meaning all of their goal Tuesday night were even-strength. The Bruins, however, scored twice on their 4 power play opportunities Tuesday night.
The B's will next play host to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. The game gets underway at 7:00 PM ET and will be televised on the NHL Network/
OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Montreal Gazette has retracted a column in which writer Jack Todd accused the Bruins goalie of being motivated by racism in his decision to opt out of the White House luncheon for the team.
“What’s worse, you know Thomas would not have done this with the liberal Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House,” Todd wrote. “Truth is, he felt free to dis Barack Obama, because Obama is black.”[Wow! That's highly original and groundbreaking! Accusing somebody who doesn't like President Obama's policies of raaaaacism- I don't think I've heard of somebody doing that since....whaat time is it? I guess...noon-ish NANESB!]
Perhaps I wasn't paying attention, but last I heard not even Thomas' harshest critics in the USA decided to venture down that particular path of cheap-shottery. Memo to petulant, Vietnam-era draft-dodger Jack Todd- giving President Barack Hussein Obama a pass on his numerous and collossal fuck-ups simply because of his skin color is about as racist as planting a burning cross in somebody's yard [only not as overtly racist- NANESB!].
The Montreal Gazette eventually pulled that one sentence from Todd's column after determining Todd offered zero evidence to back up such an incendiary claim [of course, that never stopped a progressive journalist before. Or perhaps I'm being paranoid; I mean it's not like there's a history of liberal journalists getting together to coordinate how to present progressive politicians and policies in the best possible light while colluding on how best to assail conservatives or anything- NANESB!].
CELTICS: The Boston Celtics are now a .500 team after Tuesday night's road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although unlike their collapse at the Garden on Sunday where they allowed 12 unanswered points towards the end of the 4th quarter, the C's managed to survive another late rally from the Cavs. In the 4th quarter on Tuesday night, Cleveland managed to trim a 22 point deficit to just 2 points- although Boston would hang on to win by a final of 93-90.
Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass had 13 points each [with Bass coming off the bench with and getting 6 rebounds as well- NANESB!] while Paul Pierce had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists on the night.
After Tuesday night's game, the C's will travel home to take on the 7-15 Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. Game gets underway at 7:30 PM ET and will be televised on Comcast Sports New England.
RED SOX: The Red Sox have signed free-agent pitchers Vincente Padilla and John Maine to minor league contracts.
Padilla most recently pitched in the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen and had a 4.15 ERA with 5 holds in 2011. Maine's most recent MLB experience was with the 2010 Mets where he went 9-9 with a 4.35 ERA. In 2011 he signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies and went 1-3 with a 7.43 ERA in 11 starts while playing for the Rockie's AAA affiiate in Colorado Springs.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Detroit Tigers have signed one of the marquee free agents of the offseason. Former Milwaukee Brewers 1B Prince Fielder has finalized a 9-year $214 million contract with the Tigers and was introduced in a press conference this week.
During the Brewers 2011 campaign, Fielder batted .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBI. A number of teams, including the Marlins, Rangers and Nationals, considered themselves in the running to sign the power-hitting son of 1B/DH Cecil Fielder, who's big league career spanned the mid-1980s to late 1990s and included six seasons in Detroit.
SOCCER: More than 70 people were reported dead in a riot that broke out after a soccer game in Port Said, Egypt.
Fans of the home Al-Masry club swarmed the field after their upset 3-1 win over the top-ranked Egytian team, Al-Ahly. A melee broke out where Al-Masry fans began throwing rocks and sticks at the players and fans of the Al-Alhy club, Many of the dead were said to have been caught up in the ensuing stampeded as Al-Alhy fans made their way towards the exit.
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