Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Peverly Collapses on Stars Bench, Rushed to Hospital; Bruins Have Fruitful Road Trip In Florida; Buyer Be-Ware, NFL Free Agency Begins

DALLAS STARS- Former Boston Bruins forward Rich Peverley collapsed on the Dallas Stars bench in the first period of Monday night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets before being rushed to a local hospital with what doctors are calling a 'cardiac event'.

Shortly after Columbus took a 1-0 lead thanks for former Bruin, there was a commotion by the Dallas bench as Stars head coach Lindy Ruff called for medics to tend to the fallen Peverley. There was several moments of confusion among the broadcasters and the crowd as they attempted to identify the downed player and the reason medics were tending to him [I heard the Stars play-by-play live on the radio; the arena was as quiet as a mausoleum after Peverley had collapsed- NANESB!].

After Peverley was rushed to UT Southwestern Hospitals, the officials conferred and it was announced that the game would be suspended with the makeup date to be announced later.

On Wednesday, after the forward briefly addressed the media, it was announced that Peverley would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing a heart procedure this upcoming weekend. When he first arrived in Dallas after the trade with Boston, team doctors were reportedly aware of Peverley's atrial fibrillation- a common heart condition- and gave him the option of a less invasive procedure or surgery that could cost him several months of playing time. After missing the first game of the regular season, Peverley opted for the less invasive procedure and played in 60 consecutive games before complaining of discomfort last week. After missing a game, Peverley played in two more games prior to his Monday night collapse.

OTHER STARS NEWS- Although Dallas is largely in control of their own destiny when it comes to securing one of the remaining Western Conference playoff berths, the Stars were having problems with injuries to their starting players even before Peverly's cardiac event on Monday night. After a pregame ceremony on Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild in which Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach were on hand, the Dallas Stars retired Mike Modano's #9 jersey.

With the game tied at 3-3 with just over six and a half minutes to go in regulation, goalie Kari Lehtonen was knocked out of the game after a collision with Minnesota's Erik Haula in which Lehtonen hit his head on the crossbar of the goal. Fresh off the trade from Florida, former Bruins netminder Tim Thomas came into the game- complete with pads still in Florida Panthers colors- and turned aside all six shots he faced as Erik Cole put Dallas up for good with a breakaway goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation, giving Dallas the 4-3 win.

On Monday, it was confirmed that Lehtonen suffered a concussion from the Haula hit, making Tim Thomas the Stars starting goalie within days of his arrival. Between coming in with 6 minutes to go in regulation and Monday night's postponed game after the Peverley scare, Tuesday night marked the first start (and complete game) for Tim Thomas when the Stars travelled to St Louis to take on the Blues. The goalie matchup seemed a little reminiscent of the Northeast Division anytime between 2006 and 2012, with ex-Sabre Ryan Miller getting the start for St Louis.

St Louis got out to a 1-0 lead in the first after Alex Pietrangelo beat Thomas with about 7 minutes to go in the first. With the game tied at 2-2, the contest headed to overtime and Jamie Benn broke the deadlock to give Dallas the OT win with 1:18 to go. Tuesday night's loss was also notable in that it was the Blue's first loss since acquiring Ryan Miller from Buffalo earlier this month.

BOSTON BRUINS- You know it's been a pretty crazy week if I'm giving the Bruins second billing to a team from the Lone Star state on a blog called Not Another New England Sports Blog!

And it's been an eventful week for the Boston Bruins- particularly their 2-0 road trip through Florida over the weekend. After coming from behind to force overtime, the Bruins eventually came out on top against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night after Reilly Smith got the only goal of a 7-round shootout.

On Sunday, the Bruins managed to down the Florida Panthers by a 5-2 final, setting up a key game in Montreal where the Bruins were hoping to get their first win against the Habs this season while continuing their win streak and pulling to within a point of the Penguins.



I'll be honest...Wednesday night's game wasn't everything I thought it would be. It was so much better!

After a scoreless first period, Carl Sodeberg put the Bruins on the board just 93 seconds into the second period. A Patrice Bergeron tally around the halfway point of the period would give Boston a 2-0 lead while Milan Lucic beat Peter Budaj with less than 90 seconds to go in the 2nd to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

There have been instances when such a seemingly commanding lead fosters a sense of complacency which in turn leads to sloppy play and squandering once-considerable leads. That wasn't happening on Wendesday. Just 23 seconds into the 3rd, the most hated man in Montreal- Zdeno Chara- gave Boston an insurmountable 4-0 lead. Although David Desharnais would get a tally for Montreal and ruin Tukka Rask's shutout bid, the Bruins would go on to win by a 4-1 final at the Bell Centre on Wednesday night.

The win is Boston's 6th in a row and puts the Bruins within one point of Pittsburgh for the top spot in the Eastern conference while Montreal goes on to lose their third straight game after coming off a west coast road trip where they went 1-4. Rask turned aside 35 of 36 shots faced while Budaj allowed 4 goals on 32 shots. Neither team scored on the power play tonight, with Boston having two opportunities and Montreal having three.

The Bruins head back to Boston for their first home game since March 6th when they will face off against the Phoenix Coyotes at TD Banknorth Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

NFL- The NFL Free Agency period has begun and already there have been a few significant moves.

Wide receiver Golden Tate has left the defending Superbowl Champion Seattle Seahawks after agreeing to a 5 year, $31 million contract with the Detroit Lions. The deal took place after media reports indicated that Tate would be open to a 'hometown discount' with the Seahawks.

Other departures include both former Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware and former Patriots cornerback Aquib Talib were signed by the Denver Broncos, the team announced on Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Goalies From 2011 Stanley Cup Finals Highlight Netminder-Heavy NHL Trade Deadline

BOSTON BRUINS- Despite a lackluster start after the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have been on a tear lately, winning three in a row after two consecutive losses coming out of the NHL's hiatus for the Sochi games.

After downing the New York Rangers by a 6-3 final at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, the Bruins returned to the Garden on Tuesday where they faced off against former teammate Tim Thomas- possibly for the last time with the March 6th NHL trade deadline looming. Thanks to a hat trick from David Krejci, the Bruins would go on to win by a 4-1 final.

While there was some activity from the Bruins around the trade deadline, it paled in comparison to some of the other moves that day [more on that later- NANESB!]. Boston obtained young defenseman Andrej Meszaros from the Philadelphia Flyers for a third round pick on the 2014 draft that will automatically shifts to a second round pick should the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference Finals this year. The Bruins also acquired former Oilers defenseman Corey Potter off of waivers. Potter had 3 goals and an assist in 33 games with Edmonton during the strike-shortened NHL season and hadn't played in the NHL since then.

On Thursday night, the Bruins got a degree of revenge on Washington when Tukka Rask turned aside all 16 shots he faced and the Bruins would go on to win 3-0 thanks to goals by Gregory Campbell and Loui Eriksson in the second and some insurance from Brad Marchand with about 90 seconds to go in the 3rd as he cored an empty-netter. After beating Boston by a 4-2 final on Saturday, the Bruins get some revenge and outshoot the Caps 42-16.

The Bruins will next head on down to the Sunshine State to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.





ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The outdoor games for the NHL- better known as the Stadium Series- have wrapped up for the season. The month of March kicked off with the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at a snow Soldier Field in Chicago for a nationally televised night game. Patrick Sharp broke the scoreless deadlock and put Chicago on the board first with a goal with 4:25 to go in the first while Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg added to the Hawks lead to make it 3-0 in the second. Pittburgh got on the board with a James Neal goal early in the 3rd, but Chicago would add two more- including another Toews goal to make it a 5-1 game.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver the following day, the Senators faced off against the Canucks [dressed as the pre-NHL Millionaires- NANESB!] for the outdoor Heritage Classic at the BC Palace. Although the host Canucks got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead thanks to tallies by Jason Garrison and Zack Kassian, the Senators would go on to score four unanswered goals and best the struggling Canucks by a 4-2 final in what would turn out to be Roberto Luongo's final game in a Vancouver uniform.

FLORIDA PANTHERS- Which brought us to the tantalizing possibility that the two opposing goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final would be teammates. On Wednesday, it was announced that the Florida Panthers had traded netminder prospect Jakob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthais to Vancouver for Roberto Luongo and forward Steven Anthony. Although Luongo made his NHL debut with the New York Islanders in 1999, the following season he was traded to the Florida Panthers after they drafted Rick DiPietro as their goalie of the future.

While in Florida, Luongo set a franchise record for save percentage and shutouts [.931 and 7, respectively- NANESB!] during the 2003-2004 season. Two years later, Luongo set a Panthers record for career and single-season wins before being traded to Vancouver in June 2006. Despite several Vezina trophy nominations, Luongo's tenure in Vancouver will most likely be remembered with his remarks about Bruins goalie Tim Thomas Tim Thomas and 'pumping his tires'. Boston would go on to win the Stanley Cup after beating Vancouver at home in a decisive Game 7 that season.

Alas- it apparently wasn't meant to be, for the irony would've been too much for the hockey gods. Instead, within hours of the Luongo deal, Thomas was traded to the Dallas Stars for their backup goaltender, Dan Ellis. Thomas reportedly waived his no-trade clause and is widely expected to back up starting Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.

ST LOUIS BLUES- There was plenty of wheeling and dealing that didn't involve the starting goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, however. The slumping Buffalo Sabres were widely expected to unload starting goalie Ryan Miller as the season went on- a month ago it was a question of whether or not he'd be traded from Buffalo before or after the Olympic break.

As it turned out, it was after. On Saturday, the Buffalo Sabres announced that both Ryan Miller and center Steve Ott were traded to the St Louis Blues in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first round draft pick and a conditional 2016 3rd round draft pick. Miller and Ott make the dramatic transition from one of the worst teams in the NHL to a bona-fide Stanley Cup contender.

On Sunday night, Miller made his debut with the St Louis Blues in Glendale, AZ as the Blues took on the Phoenix Coyotes. Although the Coyotes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, the Blue scored four unanswered goals in the 3rd period to come away with the 4-2 win. Since then, the Blues have won two more games- a 4-2 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 2-1 road win over the Nashville Predators- to give them a 3-0 record with Miller between the pipes.

SPRING TRAINING- Big Papi finally got off the schnide and broke an 0-8 slump on Friday as the Red Sox hosted the Atlanta Braves at Boston's Spring Training facility in Fort Meyers.

David Ortiz had a 4th inning double and Felix Doubront threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie with a 3-run uprising against RHP Cody Martin in the bottom of the 7th was enough to give Boston the 4-1 win- only their second win since the start of Spring Training.

Saturday's schedule will lead to all sorts of confusion as they play the Orioles at home AND in Baltimore's Spring Training Facility in split-squad action. The game at the O's park in Sarasota, FL gets underway at 1:05 PM ET while the second split squad game between Baltimore and Boston gets underway at 7:05 PM ET from Fort Meyers.


SPORTS ILLUSTRATED- In the closest thing we have to pin-ups these days, Sports Illustrated is out on the newsstands. Last year, it featured a fur and bikini-clad Kate Upton on the cover in Antarctica, but a photo shoot from this year's SI features the model defying gravity seven miles above the earth on a 727-200F meant to simulate weightlessness that astronauts would have to deal with in space [even in normal gravity, Upton's rack seems to defy the laws of physics, so a bikini-clad Kate Upton in zero-G probably goes above and beyond 'poetry in motion'- NANESB!].

According to a behind-the-scenes article, the weightlessness only lasts 30 seconds, but the company flying the plane can repeat these half-minute weightless intervals 11 times over a 90 minute timeframe. The aircraft hosting the shoot uses dedicated airspace off of Florida's west coast between 24,000 and 35,000 feet.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- The Devil Padres and Mr Webster; Tyler Seguin's seeing Stars as Iginla saga comes Full Circle in the Hub

AP Photo/Winslow Townson

RED SOX- The Red Sox wrapped up their interleague series with San Diego with a 4th of July day game on Thursday. Having won the first two, Boston was looking for the sweep against the Padres and things were looking good early when Ellsbury and Victorino opened up the bottom half of the first with back to back base hits. Pedroia brought them home with a 2-RBI double to left, but Big Papi grounded out and Mike Napoli hit into a double play to end the early threat.

Brandon Snyder added to Boston's lead with 1-out a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Rookie Red Sox starter Allen Webster struggled mightily in the top of the third after starting off with a walk to former teammate Pedro Ciriaco, hitting Logan Forsyth with a pitch followed by a single to Will Venable. However, he managed to get out of the jam with two fly balls- which included a Chase Headly sac fly to bring home the Padres' first run of the game- and ended the inning by getting DH Mark Kotsay to ground out.

Webster would have a much easier 4th inning, getting the first two batters he faced to fly out before getting ciriaco to ground out to short. In the bottom half of the frame, Mike Napoli led off the inning with a single before Gomes and Snyder lined out. Ryan Lavarnway singled with two away and that brought up Iglesias who belted a long fly ball that ultimately ended up rattling around the right field corner by the Pesky Pole and was ruled a ground rule double. Iglesias and the runners on base initially thought that was a triple and both Lavarnway and Napoli crossed the plate, but after the umps conferred, it was ruled a ground-rule double and one of the runs was taken off the board with Iglesias at second and Lavarnway at third instead of in the dugout, making it 4-1 before Victorino flied out to end the inning.

San Diego's Jesus Guzman smacked a two out RBI single to cut the Red Sox lead in half in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the frame, the Red Sox chased Stults off the bump and looked as though they were poised to chase themselves out of a scoring opportunity. Pedroia led off the inning with a single, and after getting Big Papi to fly out to center the Padres pulled Stults for reliever Tyson Ross. Pedroia was immediately gunned down after attempting to steal second to make it two out and nobody on for the Sox in a 2-run ballgame, but Napoli would hit a booming fly ball that would one hop off the wall in deep center and ricochet into the Red Sox bullpen for a ground rule double. Napoli would then come home on Gomes' single to make it 5-2 before Snyder struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the 6th, Webster would allow a 1-out single before getting Ciriaco to ground into a double play and end the inning. The Red Sox would then chase Ross off the mound with a 2-out bases loaded single from Big Papi to make it 7-2 Boston, and the Sox would add to that with a leadoff solo homer from Jacoby Ellsbury in the top of the 8th inning to go on and win by an 8-2 final.

Webster would go six complete innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while walking four and striking out four in his first big league win. Dustin Pedroia went 2-4 with two RBI's while Ellsbury and Snyder each had solo homers for the Sox. Jesus Guzman led San Diego's bats by going 3-3 with an RBI. The Boston win- coupled with a Pittsburgh Pirates loss on the 4th of July- gives the Red Sox a record of 54-34, best in the majors. The Independence Day win is also Boston's 8th win in their last nine games.

While the Padres move on to the nation's capital to play the Nationals, the Red Sox will travel to the west coast for a weekend series against the Angels in Orange County. Felix Doubront [4-3; 4.22 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against the Halo's CJ Wilson [8-5; 3.63 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 ET, 7:05 PT and the game will be televised on NESN.

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins opened up the first day of what was expected to be a busy free agency period by sending Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverly and prospect Ryan Button to Dallas for Loui Eriksson and prospects Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser.

The Bruins have also lost Nathan Horton to free agency after the Columbus Blue Jackets signed the 6"2' RW to a 7 year deal worth more than $37 million. Horton still requires some shoulder surgery this offseason, and the earliest he's expected to return would be December.

And in a continuation of the Jarome Iginla saga, the Bruins reached a one year $7 million deal with the RW. Reports from the regular season had Iginla going to Boston at the trade deadline, but the Calgary winger reportedly invoked his contract's no-trade clause and opted to go to Pittsburgh at the last moment. The snub took on even greater significance when the Bruins and Penguins met in the Eastern Conference finals- Milan Lucic was quoted as saying Iginla's snub 'lit a fire' under the Bruins in their four game sweep of the Pens.

Nobody's April Fool Sports Chowdah Update- CC Ya Later, Lester and Red Sox Best Yankees on Opening Day; Bruins Order Shot of Jagr-Meister at Trade Deadline

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

RED SOX- I'm not gonna lie to you- I freakin' LOVE this time of the year, especially since I was denied the overlap of MLB and NHL last October.

With Spring Training over and done with, it was time for the Boston Red Sox to start playing some games that actually counted on Monday. The Red Sox would start off their regular season in the Bronx against the archrival New York Yankees. With Curtis Granderson, Mark Texiera, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter all on the DL, this would be a dramatically different opening day lineup the Yankees were fielding from a season ago and the first time the Red Sox would face the Yankees without Jeter in the lineup since 2001.

Between the free agents that Boston signed in the offseason and in-house prospects that stood out in Spring Taining, there were plenty of new faces in the Red Sox lineup on opening day was well. But a familiar face was on the bump for the BoSox as Jon Lester took on New York starter CC Sabathia for the opening day pitching matchup.

The Sox got to Sabathia pretty early, starting with a 1-out walk to Jarros Saltalamacchia in the top of the 2nd. Johnny Gomes then reached on what was ruled a single that was deflected off the glove of 3B Jayson Nix before Spring Training standout OF Jackie Bradley Jr drew a walk from Sabathia to load the bases. SS Jose Iglesias, who drew all kinds of attention in Fort Myers during 2012 Spring training, drove in the first run of the season for Boston with a single to shortstop that plated Saltalamacchia to make it 1-0 Boston. Ellsbury grounded into a forceout, erasing Gomes at home and bringing up OF Shane Victorino with two away. On a 1-1 pitch, the Flyin' Hawaiian singled to left field, plating Bradley and Iglesias to give Boston a 3-0 lead. Then 2B Dustin Pedroia singled to right field, bringing home Ellsbury to make it 4-0 Boston.

The Yankees would cut into the Red Sox lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when Yankees C Francisco Cervelli belted a bases loaded 2-out 2-RBI single to left before Lester retired Brett Gardner to get out of the inning.

While David Phelps replaced Sabathia for the Bronx Bombers in the top of the 6th, Koji Uehara came on in relief of Lester in the bottom of the 6th and retired all three batters he faced. In the top of the 7th, Phelps walked 3B Will Middlebrooks and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to start off the inning. With one away and Middlebrooks advancing to third, Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled Phelps for Boone Logan. Bradley would then hit a ball that ricocheted off of Logan to Yankees 2B Robinson Cano for an RBI groundout that plated Middlebrooks to make it 5-2 Boston.

Things got a little tense in the bottom of the 7th when Andrew Miller came in for Uehara and immediately gave up walks to the first two batters he faced, but he came back to get Andrew Nunez to strike out looking and Robinson Cano to strike out swinging before Andrew Bailey came on to relieve Miller. Miller would then get former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis- the only batter he'd face- to strike out swinging.

After the Sox were retired in order in the top of the 8th, Junichi Tazawa would come on in relief of Miller and although he would allow a 1-out single off the bat of Travis Hafner, the inning would end when OF Ichiro Suzuki would ground into a double-play.

Boston would blow the game wide open in the top of the 9th inning when Joba Chamberlain came on. After Middlebrooks struck out to start the inning, he allowed a walk to Saltalamacchia, a single off the bat of Gomes and another walk to Bradley to load up the bases for the Sox. Ellsbury would then hit a ground ball to first that was bobbled by Cano (who had shifted towards first base) bringing home Saltalamacchia and- thanks to some agressive baseruinning- Gomes. Victorino woul single and bring home Bradley to make it 8-2 Boston before Perdroia grounded out to end the inning.

Joel Hanrahan would come on in the bottom of the 9th and have a 1-2-3 inning, giving the Red Sox the 8-2 win on opening day, their first opening day win since 2010. Although Lester only went 5 innings, he allowed five hits and two earned runs while striking out seven batters and walking two. Shane Victorino went 2 for 6 with 3 RBI while Jacoby Ellsbury went 3 for 6 with two RBI and Jackie Bradley Jr went to Applebee's in Times Square with his family after reaching base on three walks as well as adding to the Red Sox lead with an RBI groundout

Tuesday is an off day, but the series will resume on Wednesday with Clay Buchholz getting the start against New York's Hideki Kuroda. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- After the Houston Astros made their AL West debut to open up the 2013 season on Easter Sunday with an 8-2 win against the Texas Rangers at home, Rangers starter Yu Darvish came within one out of pitching a perfect game against the Astros on Tuesday night.

With two away in the bottom of the 9th, Darvish allowed had a single off the bat of Astros SS Marwin Gonzalez through his legs to center field. After allowing the single, Rangers manager Ron Washington pulled Darvish for reliever Michael Kirkman who allowed a single to 2B Jose Altuve before pinch hitter JD Martinez struck out to end the ballgame.

Darvish had a career high 14 strikeouts in 111 pitches at Minute Maid park Tuesday- the most by a Rangers starter since Nolan Ryan in July 1991.

NHL- After missing out on the Iginla sweepstakes (despite persistent rumors to the contrary) the Boston Bruins acquired Jaromir Jagr from the Dallas stars in a trade the day before the NHL's trade deadline. The Bruins will be Jagr's third team in two seasons, including Philadelphia last year.

The 41 year old winger has led Dallas in scoring during the lockout-shortened season with 14 goals and 12 assists in and is expected to join the team in time for Thursday night's tilt against the New Jersey Devils. The Czechoslovavian-born player first came into the NHL during the 1990-91 season with Pittsburgh.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- After last week's collapse against the Canadiens, the Bruins split a weekend 2 game road trip where they lost to the Flyers on Saturday but on Sunday night, Anton Khudobin turned aside all 26 shots he faced in Boston's 2-0 shutout of the Buffalo Sabres.

On Tuesday night, Khudobin was between the pipes once again when the Bruins returned to TD Garden for another Northeastern conference matchup, this time against the Ottawa Senators.

The Sens got on the board early in the first with a tally from Colin Greening before David Krejci got the equalizer less than a minute later and Tyler Seguin put Boston up 2-1. The second period, while scoreless, wasn't uneventful as Patrice Bergeron left the game after a collision with Greening. The Bruins had no comment on Bergeron's condition- the center suffered two concussions earlier in his career with the Bruins.

Early in the 3rd period, the Sens got a game-tying goal thanks to Andre Benoit to even things up at 2-2 before Boston re-took the lead midway through the third thanks to a Nathan Horton tally. With 34 seconds left in regulation, the Bruins no doubt had a feeling of deja vu from last week's letdown against the Habs when Johnny Boychuck was called for interference after the Sens pulled Lehner, giving them a 6 on 4 advantage for the remainder of regulation. However, Khudobin and the B's were able to withstand the late flurry of offense and the Bruins held on to win by a 3-2 final. The win puts Boston within a point of Montreal for 1st place in the Northeast division.

Khudobin faced a career high 47 shots on goal, stopping 45 while Lehner turned aside 47 of 50 shots faced on Tuesday night. Both teams went 0-3 on the power play as well.

The Bruins will next take on the New Jersey Devils at the Garden on Thursday night. Puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL Network.

All Star Break's Over Sports Chowdah Update- B's Double Up Shooting Stars; C's Crown Kings

Well...now that the NHL All Star break is finished (Team Lidstrom Beat Team Staal by an 11-10 final with Tim Thomas stopping 11 of 15 shots faced for Team Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara getting a pair of assists for Team Staal), the Bruins are back in action.

After holding off the all-star host Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center on Tuesday night by a 3-2 final, the Bruins headed back north for their first home game of the 2nd half of the season, hosting the Pacific Division leading Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Interestingly, Dallas came into Thursday night's game in a similar position as the Bruins- leading their divisions and 3rd overall in their respective conferences.

However, it didn't even take five seconds into the game for things to get physical, with Stars enforcer Steve Ott whaling away on Gregory Campbell literally the second the puck dropped. The Bruins retaliated by sending Shawn Thornton after Dallas forward Krys Barch and Adam McQuaid after Brian Sutherby less than 5 seconds later.


As much as I love my XM, I gotta tell you it isn't the same listening to this transpire on the radio as it would be on NESN hi-def. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Anywhoo, this would be one of those classic instances of the Rodney Dangerfield line about going to the fights and a hockey game broke out. This one largely went to Bruins way, however, getting out to a 4-0 lead in the first period, half of those coming from Patrice Bergeron's stick.

Dallas would get on the board in the 2nd with a Karlas Skrastins tally, but that would be secondary to Danny Paille's shot to the head of Dallas' Raymond Sawada. The hit resulted in a match penalty and immediate ejection from the game for Paille and the NHL will no doubt be revisiting this one.

Despite the deep hole, the momentum seemed to be shifting the Stars' way at the opening of the 2nd when they got a shorthanded tally from Brenden Morrow to cut the lead in half 45 seconds in and Brad Richards would make it a 1-goal game with an even strength goal less than 3 minutes later. However, Tyler Seguin would give the B's some insurance with a goal 2 minutes later and Brad Marchand would put it away for good with an empty-netter with just under 2 and a half minutes left in regulation in the 3rd.

No Tim Thomas tonight- he got the night off after his 24 save performance in Carolina Tuesday and Tukka Rask stepped in making 30 saves on 33 shots faced on Thursday night. As for Dallas, Andrew Raycroft was pulled after facing only 2 shots (with zero saves, no less) and Kari Lehtonen ended up stopping 29 of 32 shots faced.

According to Yahoo! Sports, there were 141 penalty minutes dished out by the officials the last time the Dallas Stars were in the Garden (11/1/2008). Tonight, there were a mere 91 minutes.

The Bruins next game is at home against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday afternoon- 1PM Eastern, 10 AM Pacific.

NBA- Don't get me wrong; I'm thrilled with the outcome of Sunday's 109-96 win against the Lakers at the Staples Center, but let's not start planning the parade routes just yet.

Still, all in all a pretty good West Coast swing for the C's. Despite falling into a 45-54 halftime deficit in Sacramento, the C's were able to come back in the second half and win by a final of 95-90 against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night. Ray Allen led scoring with 22 points, while Rajon Rondo had 17 points and 10 assists.

The Celtics next game in on Friday night at Dallas at 8PM Eastern time on ESPN.

NFL- If you missed the Pro Bowl, you didn't miss much; the NFC won by a 55-41 margin. Having said that, I'm glad the contest is back in Hawaii for some reason.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Oct 16: Dodgers Walk Away; Angels Out In The Cold, Friday Knight Lights; Thomas Outduels Turco in Big D

(AP)
The last time Pedro Martinez started a postseason game? October 26th, 2004. Look- it's not as though there's any Red Sox games coming up this weekend....humor me.

While 99% of Americans were watching Kanye West being his usual douchebag self or Jay Cutler make his inauspicious regular-season debut for the Bears, I was watching Pedro throw eight innings and 130 pitches worth of shutout baseball on Sunday Night Baseball against the Mets. I was thinking what a bargain he turned out to be for the Phillies and wondering how he'd look in the postseason. This afternoon, I got my answer- just about flawless. It also bordered on the surreal to see Manny Ramierez batting against Pedro (let alone in Dodger Stadium with Pedro in a Phillies uniform and Manny in Dodger blue). Pedro went seven innings and threw 87 pitches before manager Charlie Manuel pulled him. However, Juan Pierre would score the tying run in the bottom of the 8th, heading home on a fielder's choice and throwing error by Chase utley off a Russel Martin ground ball. Andre Ethier had the go-ahead RBI after he drew a bases-loaded 2-out walk in the 8th and Jonathan Broxton would close out the top of the 9th for the Dodgers.

The NLCS heads back to Philly tied 1-1.

(Al Bello/Getty Images)

The Yankees took a 1-0 series lead on the Angels in a game where the temperature was a brisk 45 degrees and 17 MPH wind gusts made it feel even cooler. The go-ahead run came in the top of the 1st inning when Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar- each assuming the other was going to play it- allowed a Hideki Matsui popup to land on the outfield grass with two outs and Johnny Damon running in from second. Yankees starter CC Sabathia went eight innings allowing four hits and one run and Mariano Rivera closed out the game.

Meanwhile, across the Hudson River the Scarlet Nights of Rutgers hosted the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Panthers were winless against the Scarlett Knights since 2004, but that changed Friday thanks in part to freshman running back Dion Lewis running for 180 yeards and two TDs against Rutgers with Pitt winning it by a final of 24-17, bringing their overall record to 6-1.

(AP)

Marc Savard scored twice and Michael Ryder notched his second goal of the season as the Boston Bruins topped the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas by a final score of 3-0. Tim Thomas stopped 27 shots on goal for his first shutout of the year. I caught the game towards the end of the second period- I really dug how they kept the pressure on Stars goalie Marty Turco and were keeping the puck in the Stars' end, even though Dallas was on the power play.

This brings the Bruins overall record to 3-3-0. They face the financially beleaguered (but currently a respectable 4-2-0) Phoenix Coyotes tomorrow night at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ.