Andrej Meszaros Drags Down the Bruins

A true Boston Bruins fan almost always has someone on the team they don't really like. And for me that has become Andrej Meszaros. He's scored twice and added 3 assists as a member of the Bruins, but I don't care. The B's needed to find a defenseman to defend, not to score. And I'm not convinced that Meszaros can defend.

He was on the ice for Detroit's first two goals. He was just standing around the front of the net, a Red Wing already in position behind him in the crease. Meszaros merely minded his own business. The goals weren't completely his fault. He didn't defend though. He didn't make it hard for the forward in the crease to get position. He didn't do anything to help his goalie see.

On Detroit's third goal Meszaros wasn't on the ice. He'd just gotten off and had taken his time doing so. During the lackadaisical change, the Bruins failed to get the puck deep into the zone. A slow change combined with an offensive blue-line turnover to the speedy Gustav Nyquist resulted in a goal, and ultimately a Detroit win.

The Red Wings are a potential playoff opponent for the Bruins. I don't think the Bruins would play like this in a playoff game. I hope not. It was inconsistent, occasionally uninterested hockey.

That's fine for the next few games. But you want to have good habits going into the playoffs.

The Bruins play in Toronto tonight. The Leafs are also trying to get into the playoffs. They won Tuesday night, which ended an 8 game losing streak.

Photo Credit:
Tony Ding/Associated Press

Mike Napoli Drives Red Sox to First Victory

The Red Sox notched their first win of the season thanks to Mike Napoli's bat and John Lackey's arm. Napoli hit a 2 run homer in the 5th that broke a 2-2 tie, then in the 7th he knocked in 2 with a single. John Lackey had a solid season debut going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs on 3 hits. He retired the last 7 batters he faced. Lackey's only big mistake was allowing a Nelson Cruz homerun. I hope Cruz does not become a Sox killer and he's just having a hot start to his season.

David Ortiz also homered. Edward Mujica, Junichi Tazawa, and Koji Uehara each pitched 1 inning, allowed 1 hit, and struck out 1 in remarkable symmetry. Just look at how neat they made the box score look:

Mike Napoli's offense powered the Red Sox to this win. But maybe Jonny "Phonebooth" Gomes will find a way to take some credit for the win. Although Gomes was 0 for 4, he probably thinks that his hitting behind Napoli was why the Orioles gave Napoli pitches to hit.

I'm just kidding, I'm sure Gomes would never try to take credit for something that others did.

Despite whatever contributions Gomes might have made, I'm going to declare Mike Napoli the Man of the Game.

Rubber game tonight. Felix Doubront faces Wei-Yin Chen. The Red Sox magic number is 161.

Photo Credit:
Nick Wass/Associated Press