Patrick McDermott/Getty ImagesBOSTON BRUINS- Monday night's Game 3 of the Stanley Cup quarterfinals series between the Washington Capitols and Boston Bruins was unlike the first two in a number of respects.
Besides being a much more physical contest [at times reminiscent of the fisticuffs seen in the Penguins-Flyers series- NANESB!], Game 3 from Washington DC's Verizon Center also featured more goals than in Games 1 and 2 combined- although given the goaltender performances of both Tim Thomas and Washington's Braden Holtby in those games, that's not saying a whole lot.
The Caps opened up the scoring late in the first with a power play goal by Alexander Semin, only for the Bruins to get the equalizer off the stick of Rich Peverly early in the second. Washington would re-take the lead with an even strength Alexander Ovechkin tally not even 15 seconds later. About midway through the 2nd, Daniel Paille would knot the contest back up for Boston, tying the game at 2-2.
Boston would then get their first lead of the night with a Brian Rolston goal just over a minute into the first. At the time, I was in no way confident that the Bruins could maintain a 1-goal lead for pretty much an entire period, and sure enough- with six minutes remaining in regulation, Brooks Liach buried the puck behind Tim Thomas on a breakaway opportunity.
After both Milan Lucic and Matt Hendricks were sent to the penalty box late in the 3rd, there was some 4 on 4 hockey that the Bruins took advantage of captain took advantage of for Chara to get a shot past Holtby with 1:53 remaining in regulation for the 4-3 lead.
Despite pulling Holtby for an extra attacker, the Bruins held off Washington in the remaining 110 seconds to hold on for the 4-3 win and taking a 2-1 series lead. Tim Thomas had 29 saves on 32 shots faced while the Bruins seemed to have Braden Holtby figured out better than they did the first two games. Holtby turned aside 25 of 29 shots faced on Monday night after turning aside a combined 72 of 74 shots faced in Game 1 and 2. The Caps went 1 for 4 on the power play while Boston went 0-5 on the night.
A curious sidenote before the game was that a number of Washington fans thought they could rattle Tim Thomas by wearing Obama masks or holding up cutouts of President Obama- a reference to his declining an invite to the White House with the team earlier this year. Yes- apparently they thought they could get inside the head of the Vezina, Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup winning goaltender by invoking the image of the biggest dud to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in decades.
So on top of the defending Stanley Cup champions finally figuring out a way past the difficult Braden Holtby and taking a 2-1 series lead, I was also treated to the sight of a bunch of sad, mopey clowns dejectedly hanging on to their Obama cutouts on the way out of the arena. I have to tell you that scene alone filled me with the kind of warmth and joy usually reserved for buxom, flirtatious and uninhibited MILFs who want to buy me a drink.
Game 4 is set to take place on Thursday night from DC's Verizon Center at 7:30 on Thursday night. The Caps will have to play Game 4 without Center Nicklas Backstrom, who received a 1-game suspension for cross-checking Rich Peverly towards the end of Mondya night's Game 3. Backstrom netted the game-winning goal in double overtime against Boston in Game 2 and had an assist in Monday night's game. The game will be televised on NBC sports network and the CBC.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Both the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins- who were sent reeling after quickly finding themselves down 0-3 in theor respective series- live to fight another day after staving off elimination.
The final score of the Penguins-Flyers game was more reminiscent of a Steelers-Eagles contest with Pittsburgh absolutely manhandling Philly by a 10-3 final on Wednesday night. Out on the West coast, the Vancouver Canucks beat the LA Kings by a 3-1 final at the Staples Center.
NCAA WOMEN'S HOOPS- The all-time winningest coach in NCAA Basketball- men's or women's- has announced her retirement due to early-onset dementia.
Tennessee Lady Vol's head coach Pat Summitt announced her retirement as head basketball coach on Wednesday. The University of Tennessee said that Summit will remain with the program as an assistant and development coordinator.
Summitt had a career 1,098-208 record in her 38 years with Tennessee, leading them to 13 title games and eight national titles- including a perfect 39-0 run in the late 1990s. In 2000, Summitt was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA and has garnered NCAA Coach of the year honors seven times.
In recent years, the Tennesee Lady Vols had a longstanding rivalry with the UConn Huskies, meeting four times in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game between 1995 and 2004.
The University of Tennessee announced long-time assistant coach Holly Warlick will be promoted to head coach.
Brian Babineau/Getty ImagesBOSTON CELTICS- Paul Pierce had a busy night against the Orlando Magic with 29 points, 14 assists and 5 rebounds during the Celtic's 102-98 win Wednesday night.
Avery Bradley had 23 points and Brandon Bass scored 21 while Rajon Rondo sat out Wednesday night's game with a sore lower back and Ray Allen missed the contest with a sore right ankle.
The Celtics win was more of an afterthought for the Magic after persistent rumors regarding All Star Center Dwight Howard refusing to play until head coach Stan Van Gundy was fired. Although both Howard and the club denied the rumors, Howard missing time due to a reported lower back injury has only fuelled speculation along those lines.
The Celtics next game will be on the road at Atlanta on Friday night at 7:00 PM and will be televised on ESPN.
RED SOX- After a promising weekend at Fenway, the Boston Red Sox had dropped three straight games at home. The four game series against Tampa Bay wrapped up early on Monday for the Patriot's day game in which Daniel Bard was outdueled by Rays starter James Shields in a 1-0 loss.
Tuesday night's game was pretty much a demolition derby when the defending AL Champion Texas Rangers shelled the Red Sox pitching staff by an 18-3 final. On Wednesday night, the Red Sox lost their 3rd straight game when the Rangers beat them by a 6-3 final.
With Thursday off, the Red Sox will host the New York
OTHER MLB NEWS-
COLORADO ROCKIES- 49 year old Colorado Rockies starter Jamie Moyer became the oldest MLB pitcher to win a game after Tuesday night's 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Coors Field. Moyer went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits before the bullpen took over to close out the contest. The previous record was held by Jack Quinn of the Brooklyn Dodgers who beat the St Louis Cardinals by a 6-5 final on September 13, 1932.
Quinn was 49 years and 70 days when he became the oldest pitcher to notch a win in the majors while Moyer was 49 years and 150 days.
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