A Not-So-Titanic Sports Chowdah Update- Fireworks at the Fens Continues; Capital Deadlock- Bruins, Caps Series Tied at 1-1

AP Photo

RED SOX- After a pair of big 8th innings on Friday and Saturday's wins, the Red Sox got off to a fairly quick start on Sunday at Fenway Park when Kevin Youkilis led off the top of the 2nd with a single followed by a double from DH David Ortiz to put two on with nobody out and OF Cody Ross in the Batter's Box. Long story short, Ross got all of Matt Moore's pitch and simply belted it over the Monster Seats to make it a 3-0 ballgame as the ball bounced around somewhere on the Mass Turnpike [not much of an exaggeration, by the way- NANESB!].

A day after his logging his first-ever stolen [and a trainwreck of a slide at that- NANESB!] C Kelly Shoppach belted an RBI double to make it a 4-0 game. However, the Rays would get to starter Felix Doubront in the top of the 5th to make it a 1-run game before a 6th inning Luke Scott solo homer tied the contest up at 4-4.

However, in the bottom half of the 6th, the Red Sox would re-take the lead on an RBI double by Big Papi. Sox SS Mike Aviles led off the bottom of the 7th with a solo homer to make it a 6-4 game.

Valentine would have to go to his bullpen early, but the pen managed to preserve the 6-4 lead thanks to a 1-2-3 top od the 9th from Alfrdo Aceves. Red Sox take the first three games of this weekend's 4-game series.

Tomorrow's Patiots Day game gets underway at 11:05 AM with Daniel Bard getting the start against James Shields. The game will be televised on NESN.



BOSTON BRUINS- The 1st round of the playoffs for the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins are heading to Washington DC's Verizon Center with the series tied at 1 game each thanks to a tie-breaking tally from Niklas Backstrom less than 3 minutes into a second overtime on Saturday afternoon.

The Caps got on the board first with a goal from RW Troy Brouwer late in the second before the Bruins were able to figure out a way past Washington's Braden Holtby midway through the 3rd, with Benoit Pouliot knotting up the contest at 1-1. The first OT passed without any scoring before Backstrom netted the game-winning goal easly in 2 OT.

Niether team scored on the power play on Saturday- Boston had 2, the Caps had 3. Tim Thomas turned aside 37 of 39 shots faced while Braden Holtby stopped all but one of the 44 shots he faced.

Game three will take place Monday night at 7:30 PM ET and will be televised on the NBC Sports network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS- A pair of teams with a strong regular-season showing now find themselves on the brink of elimination Sunday night.

The Phildelphia Flyers roughed up the Pittsburg Penguins, winning by an 8-4 final in a game that saw 72 total penalty minutes assesed. To add insult to injury, Penguins wingers Aaron Asham and Craig Adams face automatic suspensions from the league for cross-checking and instigating fights with Flyers Scott Hartnell and Braden Schenn.

Over on the West Coast- back-to-back President's Trophy winners Vancouver were shut out by the Los Angeles Kings at LA's Staples Center after the Kings won two games in Vancouver- including two shorthanded goals from Dustin Brown in Friday Night's Game 2.

Brown also accounted for the only goal in Game 3, beating Marblehead, MA native Cory Schnieder who was between the pipes for Roberto Luongo late in the 3rd on Sunday night.

NBA- The Celtics went 2-1 on a 3-game 3-night road trip to Toronto, New Jersey and Charlotte over the weekend.

After a 94-82 win against the Nets Saturday night, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were given Sunday night off and didn't even make the trip to Charlotte. Even without the C's Big 3, they were still able to handle the Bobcats fairly easily with Rajon Rondo having 20 points and 16 assists on the night. Curiously, the C's beat the Bobcats by the exact same score they beat the Nets on Sunday night- 94-82.

Guard Mickael Pietrus returned to the C's lineup on Friday night after suffering a concussion when he fell and hit his head on the floor in Philadelphia back in late March. Pietrus had 11 points and 6 rebounds in Sunday night's game against the Bobcats.

Sports Chowdah Update- B's Drop Montreal Like A Bad Habitant; C's Neutered by Bobcats

Wow- what can I say? There's no other word for it aside from 'Le Spank'.


A couple of thoughts regarding Thursday night's Bruins/Canadiens game at the Garden:

1) That was fun!
2) I'd like to see that more often
All this talk of revenge and Zdeno Chara being persona non grata in Montreal was for naught as the Bruins delivered perhaps the most staggeringly one-sided beatdown of the regular season Thursday night against arch rival Montreal.

It was actually fairly close up until the 3rd period- not that 3-0 is anybody's idea of 'close', but squandering a 3 goal lead isn't unheard of either. Johnny Boychuck scored about a minute into the game, followed by an even strength tally by Gregory Campbell 13:43 into the first and a power play goal from Nathan Horton with just over 2 and a half minutes left in the first.

Carey Price would actually manage to keep the Bruins off the board altogether in the 2nd, but the back-breakers would just after the 4 minute mark in the 3rd on tallies from Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid- only 26 seconds apart- to make it a 5-0 game and give Price the hook and replaced with Alex Auld. At the 11:27 mark, Auld would give up an even strength goal to Tomas Kaberle (his 1st as a Bruin) before Campbell would put the exclamation point on Thursday's game with a shorthanded goal at the 13:35 mark- did I mention that the Canadiens had a 2-man advantage at the time?

The Bruins simply beat down Montreal by a 7-0 final. Tim Thomas faced 24 shots from the Canadiens in his shutout while Price stopped 28 of 33 shots he faced and Auld stopped 2 of 8 shots faced. Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton had 2 goals each while Zdeno Chara and David Krejci each had 3 assists.

Boston's next game will be at home against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM ET before making the relatively short trip to Philadelphia on Sunday night to take on the Flyers at 7 PM ET. Both games will be broadcast on NESN.

NBA: The Celtics failed to stave off a late rally by the Bobcats on Friday night at the garden, losing to Charlotte by a 83-81 final. The Bobcats were down by as much as 13 points late in the 4th quarter, but started clawing back thanks to a 16-0 run where they took their first lead of the night with just under 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

The win puts Charlotte within 2 games of the Eastern conference's final playoff spot while Boston has lost 6 of their last 10 games, including Wednesday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies.


NCAA HOOPS: After a fairly close game in front of a partisan crowd in Southern California, the UConn Huskies managed to pull away late from the San Diego State Aztecs thanks in part to Huskies G Kemba Walker's 22 second half points (36 total). The final from Thursday's game in Anaheim, CA was 74-67- although much of the game was basically a 1-possession game.

UConn's win sets up a match against the Arizona Wildcats at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday at 4PM Pacific, 7 PM ET.