Ray Allen's winning 3 pointer made all the highlight reels, both locally and nationally, this morning. But I for one, am losing my positivity on the Celtics' chances, even in this series.
It's hard to be negative after a 118-115 gut-wrenching, hard fought, clutch victory. But it's hard to be positive when the Bulls split in Boston, and they've put 220 points up in 2 games.
Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo had ridiculously good games. Allen with 30 points (28 after halftime), and Rondo with a triple double. Rondo is the 3rd person EVER to have a triple double and 5+ steals. The other two are Gary Payton and Magic Johnson.
But the Celtics won the 2008 Championship with defense. They won 62 games with defense. And now we hear that Leon Powe is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
The C's are going to win this series, but it won't be pretty. And it won't be fast, either. So while other fans are jubilant after last night's amazingly entertaining show, I'm not so thrilled.
There was a lot going against the Bruins Monday night. The Bell Centre in Montreal has been a house of horrors. Lucic would be out due to suspension. The Canadiens would have Cornered Animal Syndrome.
Thwe first 15 minutes, the 2009 Bruins looked a great deal like the 2004 Bruins, nervous, shaky, tentative, even shy. They only had 3 shots on goal in those 15 minutes. Montreal scored on a 3-on-2 breakaway, and things look like they were going to get complex. Then Phil Kessel simplified shit. Had to be nice for the young man from Wisconsin to score after the Canadiens fans booed America's national anthem.
Unlike a Canadien, when Kessel brought the puck up ice and had an opponent's stick hassling his advance, he didn't flop to the ice hoping for a call. He continued to skate into the offensive zone. Eventually, Komisarek made an ill-advised pass, and the punk-bitch Greg Stewart couldn't find the puck. Wideman blasted away from the point and Kessel was in great position to redirect it home. The Bruins took a 1-1 lead into the locker room, and the once raucous Bell Centre crowd quietly sipped their wine coolers and champaign smoothies in between periods... worried, nervous, scared shitless.
When Lucic got suspended, I was pissed, mostly at him. My anger lessened when I realized Byron Bitz would likely replace him on the roster. Byron didn't let me down. His physical forechecking on the 4th line, followed by a perfect pass to Shawn Thornton gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead 3:36 into the 2nd.
The Habs got it back, then Michael Ryder made it a 1 goal game again.
If someone were to write a hockey textbook about how to play with a 1 goal lead in the 3rd period of a playoff game, the Bruins' effort in the final 20 minutes would be the guideline. High percentage passes, the only penalty they took was thanks to a Carey Price dive, they stood up on their blue line, Bergeron and Savard played excellent defense and forechecking, and Kobasew's empty-netter was beautiful. Koivu committed about 3 penalties as Kobasew sailed toward the crease and tapped it in.
Speaking of Koivu, how much little shit does that little bastard get away with? Have you ever seen him chased from a faceoff circle? Nope.
The Bruins were remarkably cool in this game. After playing like crap for 15 minutes, they clamped down, and remembered how to play hockey. Montreal went up 1-0, so what? Byron Bitz was hit late by a Hab, but didn't push the envelope when he had a borderline chance to get revenge on the same shift.
The Habs pulled all their little tricks, 3 guys brushing against Shawn Thornton when he changed. Doing their own line changes just half a second earlier than other teams are allowed to do. To the credit of the referees, they didn't fall for most of the diving, and called a great game.
Fun fact: The Bruins are 11-3 vs. Montreal since Game 2 of last year's playoff series.
How much do other Bruin fans miss Glen Metropolit, because I know I do. He's slick.
The Bruins go for the sweep Wednesday night in Montreal. And Lucic will be back, so the Habs will once again turtle and shirk in fear like thousands of Japanese when Godzilla shows up.
The Sox are finally above .500 again, and have swept the Orioles in a 4 game Fenway series for the first time since 1995. Bailout starter Justin "The TARP" Masterson received 12 runs of support and registered a respectable 5.1 innings of 1 run work. Delcarmen, Okajima, and Lopez filled in the rest, along with Hunter Jones in his MLB debut.
The Red Sox scored 30 runs in this 4 game set with Baltimore, or 7.5 runs a game. But let's not forget that the 10 run and 12 run games dramatically skew that average. But it was still nice to see some crooked numbers put on the scoreboard.
The first 4 hitters in the Sox lineup were a combined 10 for 18, with 3 doubles, a triple, 3 walks, 7 RBI, and 7 runs scored. 7 Red Sox had hits, 8 knocked in runs, 7 scored runs. Pedroia's 4 for 6 outing upped his average to .281.
In a division with Tampa Bay, New York, and Toronto all tough to beat, it's nice to have the Orioles pitching staff to at least raise some offensive self-esteems. And I'm not trying to pile on the O's, I like them and think they're heading in the right direction, but they have a tough road to travel. The AL East is a guantlet this year.
The Man of the Game is Dustin Pedroia, who was 4/6 with 3 RBI. He had an RBI single in the 1st to make it 1-0, then another one in the 6th to make it 4-1, then another one in the 7th to make it 9-1.
Tim Wakefield goes Tuesday night against the Twins, who send 0-1 Scott Baker to the hill.
The NHL has suspended Milan Lucic for Game 3 tomorrow night. Lucic received a match penalty late in the Bruins' 5-1 triumph Saturday night for this crap:
I love Lucic, but I'm still disappointed with his behavior there. It wasn't as bad as it looks, and as some talking heads have speculated; BUT he deserved 1 game off the ice, just for being an idiot. You're up 5-1 on the Habs, about to go 2-0 up in the series. They look flat, dying, surrendering. So then you punch someone with a stick?
Now Montreal doesn't have to worry about Lucic in Game 3. Komisarek can be Komisarek, and I can definitely see a guy like Zdeno Chara trying too hard to make up for Lucic's absence, and getting a stupid penalty, or worse. At the very least, Lucic has given a bit of a psychological lifeline to the Canadiens, when they were otherwise drowning.
Hopefully the Bruins maintain their momentum. And hopefully Lucic learns a much needed lesson.
How refreshing was it to see Lester throw 7 shutout innings and the Red Sox come out on top of a pitcher's duel? How refreshing is it to be out of last place and back to .500? How refreshing is it to win a series? Thank you, Orioles. Thank you.
Kevin Youkilis might be the hottest hitter in baseball. He was 1 for 2 this afternoon with a double and a run. Last night, he was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, a homer, and 4 RBI.
But the real attraction Sunday afternoon was Jon Lester. 7 innings, 0 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts. The 2nd best outing of the season by a Red Sox starter.
He's the clear-cut Man of the Game (Youkilis gets it for last night's 6-4 victory).
Masterson makes his first start in the 11 AM Patriots' Day game tomorrow morning. He faces 1-1 Mark Hendrickson.
PJ Axelsson Zdeno Chara Mark Recchi Marc Savard Aaron Ward Shawn Thornton Chuck Kobasew Milan Lucic Steve Montador Shane Hnidy Michael Ryder Stephane Yelle Patrice Bergeron Dennis Wideman Mark Stuart Blake Wheeler David Krejci Phil Kessel Tim Thomas
The following Canadiens had good games:
Alexei Kovalev
That's it.
After Game 1, I said Marc Savard needed to improve on his performance. "He's better than that," I said. I don't know if he listened to me, or simply realized how sick of a hockey player he truly is. In Game 2 he was simply off the fucking chain.
2 goals, 2 assists, beautiful passes, and probably could've had a hat-trick if he wasn't such a committed playmaker.
The Bruins kept their cool in Game 2, and essentially showed the hockey world what Game 1 would have looked like had they stayed calm in that contest. They drew 5 power plays. Meanwhile, Montreal had 1 power play, and it was the 5 minute major at the end of the 3rd.
Any Vezina doubters watching Tim Thomas these days? 30 saves on 31 shots. Oh yeah, and an assist on that back-breaking Ryder goal at 19:57 of the 2nd. Thomas kickstarted that play like he was Martin Brodeur or something.
The biggest goal of the game was Shane Hnidy's, which made it 3-1. Savard sacrificed himself to move the play up-ice, then Axelsson made his best offensive play in 2 years, dropping the puck off for Hnidy, who replaced the hospitalized Matt Hunwick on the roster. It was a Mighty Ducks style goal, and it effectively ended the game.
One dark spot was Milan Lucic's behavior in the 3rd. The Bruins did a good job of properly retaliating when the Habs provoked them. The smackdown Patrice "Undefeated" Bergeron laid out on Gorges was a perfect example of an appropriate response.
But Lucic cross-checking Maxim Lapierre in the face was not only dumb, it was wrong. I love Lucic, but he crossed the line there. One of the things that makes hockey great is that it allows men to settle their differences with their fists. NOT THEIR STICKS!
And at the very least, Lucic's actions were stupid. He could get suspended for that crap. It's also his second misconduct penalty of the series (he was issued one after the post-game Canadien temper tantrum). He also let all the Habs know they can get under his skin.
BUT, the series is 2-0 going up North. Carey Price has been a sieve. When the Bruins keep their cool, the Canadiens simply lack the talent to do anything to stop them.
One thing that really cheesed me off was Saku Koivu getting away with a post-buzzer punch at the end of the 1st period. He shouldv'e gotten 2 minutes for hitting after the whistle and/or roughing. Instead, Montreal's cheap, cowardly, yellow antics go unpunished, and Kovalev scores a goal in the 5-on-5 at the start of the 2nd period.
The referees never lost control of this series, they apparently don't even want it.
Game 3: Monday night in Montreal, 7 PM, on NESN and Versus.
Without Kevin Garnett, the Celtics needed the other two thirds of the P.G.A Tour to come up big. They didn't. Ray Allen was 1/12 with 4 points, and missed a possible game-tying shot at the end of overtime. Pierce did have 23 points, but he missed that free throw with 2.3 seconds left in the 4th that sent the game to OT, and was 0 for 3 shooting in the extra frame.
Is there something with Ray Allen and the playoffs? Because if he plays like he played in the early rounds of 2008, the Celtics are in serious trouble.
It's a shame that a 29 point performance from Rondo was wasted, and an 18 point afternoon from Glen Davis was also. Stephon Marbury had 0 points in his 10 minutes. Eddie House had 5, and Leon Powe had 8; but the Celtics were -9 and -10 when they were on the court, respectively.
This is starting to look a lot like the Atlanta series last year. Only without Kevin Garnett, the C's might not advance. I think, however, that they will, it will just take a long series, which will leave them exhausted for the 2nd round.
I almost forgot to write about this game, with the Celtics and Bulls playing Game 1, the Bruins and Habs playing Game 2, and the FA Cup semi-finals, and Velociraptor Awareness Day. But it was one of the best games of the season in terms of excitement. Down 7-0, the Sox roared back and won 10-8. In their last 18 innings (17 really), they've scored 18 runs. Not bad, not bad.
Brad Penny should have taken all the Sox hitters out for drinks, and the bullpen too. 6 innings of scoreless relief, even though Javier Lopez's frame was shaky to say the least.
David Ortiz continues to struggle, and now I'm getting worried. The ball simply isn't exploding off his bat, even when he makes perfect contact.
Kevin Youkilis got side-swiped by a ball to the head. His reaction to it should be distributed to all 30 MLB teams and their hitters. He got up, walked to first base, and continued playing baseball. Getting hit by pitches, and nearly getting hit by pitches is part of the game. The other hitters in baseball need to learn this.
The Man of the Game is JD Drew. He was 2 for 2 with a homer and a triple, and walked 3 times. He scored 3 runs. Jason Bay was a close 2nd.
First back-to-back wins for the Sox this season.
0-1 Adam Eaton vs. 1-1 Josh Beckett tonight. Watch it during commercials of the Bruins game on NESN+.
