Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Power Play Comes Out Of Hibernation, B's Take Series Lead Against Montreal; Red Sox Back to .500 After Texas Series

All in all, not a bad weekend despite the Red Sox nearly getting no-hit on Friday night.

BOSTON BRUINS- With Thursday night's game-winning goal, Matt Frasier made a little bit of history by becoming the first player to score OT goals in both the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs in the same postseason. On April 25th, Frasier tallied the OT goal in Game 2 of the series against the Springfield Falcons [the Columbus Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate- NANESB!] and Providence would go on to win that series 3 games to two. The Providence Bruins are now knotted at 1-1 in their series against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins ['SWB Pens or 'Baby Pens' as they're sometimes referred to- NANESB!], Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate.



Meanwhile, just up the I-95 at the Garden, Saturday's contest at the TD Garden got underway with the series knotted at 2-2. The Bruins got on the board first thanks to a goal from Carl Soderberg [who was fed by a brilliant pass from Bartkowski to Loui Eriksson behind the net- NANESB!] giving Boston the early 1-0 lead. Interestingly, despite the strong showing by the Habs power play throughout the series, Montreal was shut out in the first half, despite three opportunities that seemed poised to kill whatever momentum the Bruins had gained.

However, Montreal's Tomas Plekanec would get sent to the sin bin for goaltender interference with less than 20 seconds to go in the first. Although the Bruins had some power play opportunities of their own in the first, they went 0-3 prior to the interference call against Plekanec, which carried over into the second period. With 40 seconds to go on the power play and just 1:04 into the second, Reilly Smith put the Bruins up 2-0 with a power play goal.

Less than 30 seconds later, Plekanec would head back to the sin bin on a high-sticking penalty and Montreal would pay as Torey Krug passed to Iginla who was in front of the Montreal net all by himself and buried the puck past price to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

However, with 5:20 remaining in the second, the Habs would get on the board thanks to a Brendan Gallagher power play goal to make it a 3-1 Boston lead heading into the 2nd intermission [it easily could've been a 1-goal game if Tukka Rask didn't block a David Desharnais breakaway shot on goal with 2:40 to go in the period- NANESB!].

With the proverbial 'dreaded' two goal lead, the Bruins were able to get some insurance thanks to Loui Eriksson shooting the puck past a sprawling Carey Price with just over 5 minutes remaining in regulation to make it a 4-1 Boston lead. The Habs would get a goal back on a PK Subban power play tally with 2:30 left in regulation, but Boston goes on to win Game 5 by a 4-2 final and takes a 3-2 series lead- their first lead in this best of seven series against Montreal.

Tukka Rask stopped 29 of 31 shots faced while Montreal's Price allowed 4 goals on 30 shots faced. Montreal's two goals came on the power play where they went 2 for 5 with the mad advantage while the Bruins were no longer shutout against the Habs on the power play- they went two for 4 with both goals coming in the second.

The Bruins can close the series out tonight in Montreal. Game 6 is scheduled for 7:30 ET from the Bell Centre and the game will be televised on NBC Sports Network and the CBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- In the other Eastern Conference semifinal matchup, the New York Rangers have managed to stave off elimination after Pittsburgh won three straight games. On Friday, New York beat Pittsburgh by a 5-1 final and on Sunday night, they managed to tie the series up at 3-3 after the Blueshirts 3-1 win over the Pens.

Out in California, the Ducks and Kings have managed to even up their I-5 series with at 2-2 with each team winning on the road. Game 5 is set for Monday night from Anaheim and will be shown on NBC sports after the conclusion of the Bruins/Habs contest. Also out west, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks have taken a 3-2 series lead over the Minnesota Wild.

BOSTON RED SOX- After narrowly avoiding being no-hit by Texas' Yu Darvish, the Red Sox bounced back behind Lester and Lackey on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Lester got some early run support as the Red Sox jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first 4 innings, although the Rangers got two runs back in the bottom of the 4th thanks to a Prince Fielder sac Fly and an Alex Rios RBI triple to make it 6-2. In the bottom of the 5th, Elvas Andrus belted an RBI double off of Lester to cut the Red Sox lead in half, but in the 8th the Red Sox would get two more runs thanks to a Pedroia RBI single and a Victorino sac fly that plated Jackie Bradley Jr to make it 8-3.

In the bottom of the 8th, Tazawa came on in relief of Lester and immediately gave up a leadoff single to Andrus, but it quickly became two out and nobody on when Adrian Beltre grounded into a double play. Tazawa then got Prince Fielder to strike out looking. Burke Badenhop then came out of the Boston bullpen in the bottom of the 9th and got the first two batters he faced out before giving up a single to Leonys Martin and Rougned Odor before Andrew Miller came out of the pen to strike out Sardiñas for the final out of Saturday's game.

On Sunday, the Red Sox bats once again got their starter some early run support thanks to a Mike Napoli RBI double and a 2-RBI AJ Pierzynski single to give Boston an early 3-0 lead in Arlington on Sunday. In the 2nd inning, JBJ would come home after Shane Victorino grounded into a fielder's choice to give Boston a 4-0 edge.

Meanwhile, Lackey was cruising through the first three innings before giving up a solo homer to Shin Soo-Choo to lead off the 4th. Although Lackey got Beltre and Andrus out with no problem, Fielder and Rios would then single [Fielder reaching 3rd on Rios's single- NANESB!] but with a run 90 feet away, Lackey got Mitch Moreland to strike out and end the Rangers threat.

In the top of the 7th, the Red Sox would add to their lead with a 2-out Dustin Pedroia solo homer to make it a 5-1 Boston lead. In the bottom half of the 7th frame, Mitch Moreland hit a 1-out RBI double to make it a 5-2 game.

Miller would come on in relief of Lackey in the bottom of the 8th and start off by striking Shin Soo-Choo out before hitting Andrus with a pitch. However, Miller would get around that by striking out Beltre and getting Fielder to fly out to deep center. Koji would come on in the bottom of the 9th and get Alex Rios to ground out before striking out Mitch Moreland and Michael Choice to preserve Boston's 5-2 win.

So Boston goes into Arlington and takes two out of three from the Rangers a little over a month after hosing the Rangers at Fenway with the same outcome. This not only wraps up the season series with Texas, but brings the Red Sox over the .500 mark for the first time since the season opening series at Baltimore. Despite what some see as a lackluster start, the Red Sox are only two games behind the Orioles for the AL East lead.

The Red Sox will travel to Minnesota next to take on the Twins on Tuesday night. Felix Doubront [1-3; 5.09 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against Minnesota's Ricky Nolaso [2-3; 5.64 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

Feeling Minnesota (and long overdue) Sports Chowdah Update- Target In Sight as Sox Sweep Minnesota; Ranger Danger- The Kids Are All Right As Bruins Jump Out to 2-0 Series Lead vs Blueshirts

Genevieve Ross- AP

BOSTON RED SOX- After a lackluster start to the month of May that included getting swept by Texas and dropping three out of four to the Minnesota Twins at Fenway, the Red Sox seemed to get some of their mojo back, winning five out of their last six games- including a 3-game sweep of Minnesota at Target Field over the weekend.

Boston came into the weekend series taking two out of three from the Tampa Bay Rays- including a dramatic rally in the bottom of the 9th when the Red Sox down to their last strike when Will Middlebrooks belted a walkoff bases clearing double to give the Sox a 4-3 win. Like the Twins/Red Sox series opener at Fenway, Friday night's game 1 of the weekend series at Target Field required extra innings, but Boston ultimately prevailed on a Johnny Gomes RBI sac fly in the top of the 10th and Uehara got all three Twins batters he faced out to close out a 3-2 win.

For Saturday night, the Red Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to 3-run homer from former Twin Big Papi. Although starter Ryan Dempster didn't even make it the full five innings and the Twins would chip away at the Red Sox lead, Boston would go on to win by a 12-5 final.

On Sunday afternoon, the Twins were looking to avoid the sweep while Boston starter John Lackey was looking for just his second win of the season. Will Middlebrooks led off the scoring for Boston in the top of the second with a two out solo homer to right center. Another run came home with one away in the top of the third when Twins 3B David Plouffe threw away a Dustin Pedroia groundball with a pair of runners on base to make it 2-0 Red Sox. With storm clouds moving in over the Twin Cities, Pedroia and Big Papi each had one out singles before Napoli belted an RBI single to give Boston the 3-0 lead.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the 5th when Chris Parmalee came home on a Pedro Ciriaco throwing error in the bottom of the 5th. By the end of the 6th inning, the Target Field grounds crew put out the tarp as heavy rainstorms moved into the area. The rain delay of more than three hours was more than enough to show the 1993 movie The Sandlot in its entirety and since there had been enough innings played to make the game official, the dwindling crowd was left to wonder whether or not they'd try and get the complete game in. Since it was only a two run game before the delay, the Twins figured they had a shot at avoiding the sweep.

Instead, Catcher Joe Mauer struck out with the bases loaded to end a Minnesota threat in the bottom of the eighth. That's as close as the Twins would get as Dustin Pedroia hit a two run homer that clanged off of the wrist of Twins outfielder Josh Willmingham before clearing the fence in left field in the top of the 9th and after allowing back to back leadoff singles, Junichi Tazawa struck out the next two batters and got Chris Parmalee to ground out to second, ending the ballgame and completing the sweep of the weekend series.

The Red Sox will head further down the I-94 on Monday to take on the Chicago White Sox on the south side Monday night. Jon Lester [6-0; 2.72 ERA] is slated to get the start against Chicago's Dylan Axelrod [1-3; 4.27 ERA]- first pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

BOSTON BRUINS- After the Maple Leafs jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Boston in the 3rd period of Game 7, the Bruins would score four unanswered goals to give them the series win. Patrice Bergeron scored both the goal that forced OT with 51 seconds left in regulation and the game winner just over 6 minutes into OT.

The Bruins opened up their second round series against the New York Rangers with a 3-2 win over the blueshirts on Thursday and this time they had some company- defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Torey Krug were called up from Providence. Interestingly, Providence is in a playoff contest of their own- they're currently playing the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Penguins, the AHL affiliate of Pittsburgh.

After the Bruins took game 1 against the Rangers, the recent callups from Providence made an immediate impact with Krug getting Boston on the board first on Sunday afternoon. Less than three minutes later, the Rangers would tie the game up on Ryan Callahan's unassisted tally. After the Bruins and Rangers swapped goals early in the second, Boston took the lead on a Johnny Boychuck goal with just under eight minutes to go in the second period. Early in the third, Brad Marchand wasted no time in padding the Bruins lead with a goal 26 seconds in. Milan Lucic added a goal of his own to give the Bruins a 5-2 lead.

Boston goes on to win by a 5-2 final- interestingly, neither team scored on the power play. The Bruins went 0-1 while the Rangers were 0-5 with the man adavantage.

The two teams will be back at it on Tuesday night from Madison Square Garden at 7:30 ET. The game will be televised on the NBC Sports network.

Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Gary Carter, 1954-2012; Wakefield Announces Retirement; B's No Longer Singing Blues, C's Thunderstuck

MLB- Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter passed away last week at a W. Palm Beach, FL hospice last week at the age of 57. Carter, who bookended his 19 year big league career with the Montreal Expos [now the Washington Nationals- NANESB!], was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. Although Carter both started and finished his career with the Expos, the 11 time All Star also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and most memorably was the New York Mets catcher during their improbable 1986 come-from-behind World Series win over the Boston Red Sox.

Carter, sometimes known as 'Kid' for his ebullient demeanor, had a career batting average of .262 with 324 HR and 1225 RBI. He began his MLB career with the Expos in 1974 and endeared himself to the primarily French speaking Quebecois fans when he attempted to learn the language [some 30 years before Rosetta Stone was even invented, no less!- NANESB] taking lessons from batboy and Montreal native Daniel Plamondon.

Carter returned to Montreal in 1992 for what would be his final season. Eleven years later, the Expos retired Carter's #8 the same year he was voted into the Baseball hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Since retiring from his playing days, Carter had been active in coaching and philanthropy in Florida. Interetingly, when the Expos moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, banners bearing Carter's number along with the retired numbers of other Expos players Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub and Tim Raines were moved across town and hung in the rafters of the Bell Centre, home arena for the Montreal Canadiens.

In 2010, Carter began his stint as head coach of the NCAA Div II Palm Beach Atlantic Univeristy Sailfish. It was in May 2011 that Carter recieved news he had an inoperable brain tumor. In January, Carter's daughter Kimmy Bloemers announced that another MRI had shown additional tumors. Although suffering from multiple inoperable tumors, Carter was able to attend the Sailfish home opener at the beginning of this month.

Although the Expos have been absent for nearly 7 years, the Montreal Canadiens paid tribute to Carter at Sunday's home game against the New Jersey Devils by wearing #8 Carter jerseys during the pregame warmups and donning throwback Expos hats before the start of the anthems.


RED SOX- Boston's versatile and durable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield called it a career in an announcement from Florida on Friday.

Drafted as a first baseman in 1988 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield developed his knuckleball while with the Salem Buccaneers of the Carolina League. He was called up to Pittsburgh in 1992 and even won Games 3 and 6 of the 1992 NLCS (both starts against Billerica, MA native Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves).

He struggled the following season and was released by Pittsburgh in 1995 during the lockout. The Red Sox picked him up a few days later and he saw service in Pawtucket and then Boston, filling in for an ailing Roger Clemens.

In 2003, the season ended in extra innings of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium when the Yankee's Aaron Boone launched a solo homer off of Wakefield. The following season, in a rematch with the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, Wakefield would get a measure of revenge in Game 5 at Fenway when he pitched three shutout innings in long relief. Despite some tense moments and passed balls with Varitek (who wasn't Wakefield's normal catcher despite being on the team almost as long as the knuckleballer), Wakefield got credit for the win that night thanks to a walk-off bloop single from DH David Ortiz.

On July 24, 2011, Time Wakefield recorded career win #199 against the Seattle Mariners. Thanks to an unfortunate series of lackluster starts on his part or the bullpen imploding in close games, the knuckleballer was stuck at #199 for more than 7 weeks.

After a series of events reminiscent of Groundhog Day, Wakefield earned career win #200 on September 14, 2011 during an 18-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Wakefield's milestone- the first pitcher in Boston's 111-year history to notch career win #200 in a Red Sox uniform- was undoubtedly the highlight of a September that was marred by a collapse that saw the Red Sox eliminated from postseason contention in the final game of the regular season.

At the end of the 2011 season, Wakefield was 6 wins shy of breaking the Red Sox team record of 192 wins (tied by Roger Clemens and Cy Young).

Wakefield made his announcement from the Spring Training facility in Ft. Meyers, FL

Standing in left field, with a replica Green Monster looming behind him, Wakefield said retirement was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” which was saying something considering nothing in baseball ever came easy to him. “There is nothing that I want more than for this team to win, and it’s hard sometimes to take yourself out of the decision process,” Wakefield said, eyes watering and voice shaking. “But in my heart, I feel that by retiring I’m giving them a better chance to do that.”

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The 45-year old Wakefield's announcement comes at the same time as a great deal of uncertainty over the status of veteran Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek.

Although Varitek recieved a minor-league offer from the Red Sox, his options right now appear to be either serve as a backup to Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Kelly Shoppach [who the Sox reacquired via free-agency in December- NANESB!] or join fellow catcher Jorge Posada in retirement.

After coming up through the Seattle Mariners minor-league system, Varitek and former Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe were acquired from Seattle in exchange for Heath Slocombe in 1997. Varitek had been Boston's starting catcher since the late 1990s.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- In a move to free up money for free agents, the New York Yankees have sent starting pitcher AJ Burnett and $20 million in cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for RHP Diego Moreno [2-4 with a 3.21 ERA with the AA Altoona Curve last year] and OF Exicardo Cayones who split time between the Gulf Coast League and State College of the New York-Penn League last season.

The trade greatly benefits the Pirates- who have not finished above .500 for 19 consecutive seasons. However, some Red Sox fans have expressed a preference that struggling Boston starter John Lackey would have been dealt to the Pirates in a similar transaction to free up additional funds to pursue a trade with Roy Oswalt without going over the salary cap.


BOSTON BRUINS- Two streaks came to an end at St Louis' Scottrade Center on Wednesday night.

After a hard-fought shootout win against Montreal that left the Bruins banged up last week, the Bruins then dropped a road game against the Jets before getting shut out by the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Sunday.

The St Louis Blues, on the other hand, had managed to snag at least one point in 21 straight home games at the Scottrade Center. However, things got off to a frenetic start in the 1st period with the Bruins getting off to a 2-0 start thanks to goals from Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic before Blues RWs Chris Stewart and Ryan Reaves would each get a goal to knot the contest up at 2-2. With 40 seconds to go in the opening period, Chris Kelly put the Bruins back on top before the game headed to its first intermission.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Marchand would give Boston a little bit more breathing room with another tally midway through the 3rd to give Boston the 4-2 lead and ultimately the win. Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 32 shots faced while St Louis' Brain Elliott allowed 4 goals on 19 shots faced.

All six goals scored on Wednesday night were even-strength, with each team only getting one power-play opportunity.

The win snaps a two-game losing streak that felt alot longer than it really was owing to the three day layoff after Sunday's shutout.

The Bruins road trip will bring them back to the Northeast conference where they will face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. This will be Boston's first game at the First Niagara Center since getting run out of the building after an embarassing and lopsided 6-0 shutout. The game gets underway at 7:30 ET and will be televised on both NESN and MSG networks.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Boston Bruins called up Forward Carter Camper from their AHL affiliate in Providence this week. The former Miami of Ohio Redhawk and Hobey Baker Award finalist had 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 53 games played with the Providence Bruins this season.

BOSTON CELTICS- The Celtics head into the NBA's All Star Break losing five straight games, including the first 4 games of their 5-game road trip.

On Wednesday night, the C's fell to the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder by a 104-119 final. Although Boston came up short on the road, head coach Doc Rivers and Forward Paul Piece said in postgame comments that their ability to rally may pay dividends in the second half of the abbreviated NBA season.

It's also worth noting that current Atlantic Division leader- the Philadelphia 76ers- has also been suffering through a 5-game skid heading into the All Star Break as well.

Hot and Cold Sports Chowdah Update- Black and Bleu at the Garden; Lakers Drain Celtics; Stirring the Beanpot

Two Boston sports institutions going up against arch rivals in the regular season, but with buzz- both before and after- more reminiscent of the postseason.

Did I already mention how fortunate I consider myself to be a New England sports fan at this point in history?

The undercard

NHL: If there was only one B's game to be nationally broadcast this whole season, Wednesday night's home game against arch rival Montreal would've been the one.
Apparently last week's game against Dallas was just a warm-up. Nothing like some Original 6 brawling- and not just figuratively- to get the blood going, huh?

With Montreal starting to close the gap in the Northeast division, the folks over at VS network thought Wendesday night's game was important enough to be boradcast on their network coast-to-coast (even though they were just carrying the TSN feed).

And man oh man was I glad I was able to tune in.

A good chunk of the first period seemed to feature the Bruins spending a disproportionate amount of time in Montreal's end of the ice, but with Montreal getting the better shots on goal (however infrequent). My perceptions changed somewhat after the 13 minute mark in the 1st when Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg each scored 22 seconds apart (Seidenberg's tally coming off of a high bounce that the Montreal defener tried to corrall by swatting at with a stick). So Boston heads into the 1st intermission with a 2-0 lead.

Now on most nights, you'd be in pretty good shape if you could manage to get two by Montreal's Carey Price- especially if your own backstop is shutting them out. Not so on Wednesday night. The following video clips say it much better than I could-


For those of you who want to jump straight into the fisticuffs, hockeyfights.com was thoughtful enough to archive the melee towards the very end of the 3rd.


Most teams have every reason to expect to come out on top in a contest where they get six past Tim Thomas, but not Wednesday night. Both teams combined for 14 goals and 182 penalty minutes- nearly twice what was assessed in last week's game vs Dallas. As you can see from the video evidence, it's no exaggeration when I say that Boston absolutely beat the Habs down by a final of 8-5. The brawl at the end was simply the exclamation point.

The save percentages of both Price and Thomas also took a beating, with the Montreal backstop stopping 26 of 34 shots faces and Thomas stopping 27 of 33 shots faced. Micheal Ryder had two goals (one of them on the power play) and Milan Lucic had two goals (one of them shorthanded) and an assist on the night while Marchand, Seidenberg, Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid also had tallies for the B's.

The win gives Boston a little bit more breathing room against the Canadiens (still the next closest team in the Northeast standings), and the Bruins lead over Montreal in the Division standings after Thursday night was 3 points after Montreal lost in a shootout to the NY Islanders but still got the 1 point.

The original 6 mania will continue this weekend when the Bruins have a home-and-away series against the Detroit Red Wings, with the first half taking place in the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night at 7PM ET and be broadcast on NESN and the NHL Network.

The second half of the weekend series will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon, 12:30 PM ET- this game will be nationally televised on Comcast's NBC network.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Marc Savard is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a concussion. Savard had been sidelined with another concussion after being hit by former teammate Matt Hunwick in the Jan 22nd game against Colorado.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Eureka! I think the Nashville Predators have devised one of the most devious and effective methods of luring NHL talent to Music City- it's even more effective than the Underpants gnomes' business model!

Phase one would be to send out fetching starlets along the lines of Carrie Underwood to romance forwards like....oh...I dunno....Mike Fisher. Then, after the wedding, honeymoon, and a few atrocious seasons in the division's basement playing in the Canadian capital, you're hot, popular and musically talented spouse gets it in your head that perhaps you would be better off elsewhere- maybe somewhere closer to where she spends a good deal of the year. Like....oh...say Nashville, TN. And since your team is dead last in the conference, and Nashville happens to have a team that's doing pretty good this season (trailing the Red Wings by 5 points for #2 in the Central divison and 5th overall in the Western conference) it sounds like to good a deal to pass up.

Well played, Predators.....well played. [Now all that's left is to convince them that Nashville is in dire need of lazy, talentless bloggers and I'm sure a stampede of country music starlets will be stampeeding a path to my doorway- NANESB!]

The Predators acquired Mike Fisher in a trade that will send a 1st round draft pick and a conditional pick to Ottawa. Fischer was tied for the lead in scoring for the Sens with 14 goals and 10 assists in 55 games this season, and the Predators are hoping he'll be ready in time for Friday night's game against Colorado.


NBA: I have to confess, I was intentionally holding off on doing another sports update until after Thursday night's Lakers/Celtics game- a move that didn't pay off despite getting off to a promising start.

Most noteworthy was Ray Allen surpassing Reggie Miller to become the NBA's all time career leader in 3 pointers, with 2,561 on Thursday night (see above). After hat, it was kinda downhill for the C's.

Although Boston took a 53-45 lead into halftime, Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as LA rallied to come from behind after trailing by as many as 15 points in 1st. Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers while the only player in green on Thursday to score more than 15 points was Ray Allen- with 20.

The lack of offense in the 2nd paved the way for a 92-86 Lakers win at the Garden. This is Boston's 2nd loss in a row after losing 94-89 at Charlotte on Monday night. The Celtics will next host the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon at the Garden, 1 PM ET on ABC. The C's and the Heat are tied for first place overall in the Eastern conference.

NCAA HOCKEY: The 2011 Beanpot got underway on Monday, with Northeastern making their presence felt in a 4-0 thumping of Harvard in the opening game.

This was immediately followed by the BC Eagles getting by the BU Terriers in OT thanks to Eagle's Junior Tommy Cross scoring the game winner 3:17 into the extra period.

The games Monday set up a BC/Northeastern final for the 2011 Beanpot on Valentine's Day.

AHL HOCKEY: Following the lead of the NHL and the Syracuse Crunch, the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Wolfpack- the NY Ranger's AHL affiliate) has set up an outdoor rink at UConn's Rentschler Field in E. Hartford, CT. The rink will be used for outdoor junior and high school games as well as a Whalers/Bruins alumni game leading up to the Feb 19th game where the Whale will host the Providence Bruins.

OTHER AHL NEWS: A Connecticut judge has ordered an East Hartford man to apologize and 10 days of community service after he tackled and punched Pucky, the Whale mascot.

MLB: Never mind that rodent in Pennsylvania! Truck Day was this week, which means that Spring was right around the corner. The 'official' Red Sox truck (which, unsurprisingly, has a corporate sponsor) carrying the team's equipment left Fenway for Ft, Meyers, FL on Tuesday.


NCAA FOOTBALL: This video of UConn reserve quarterback Johnny McEntee has been circulating around the web. Heavily edited showboating or an appeal to get more playing time- what's your call?