There's been a lot of praise heaped on Bruins goalie Tim Thomas this year, and it's all been deserved. The guy's been a huge reason why the B's are still very much in the playoff hunt. But man is mortal, and Tim looked anything but great last night in Florida, giving up four goals in 12 shots through two periods. His defense was far from blameless, but Tim's been great at covering for their mistakes. Not last night.

Enter Alex Auld, who stuffed the Panthers the rest of the way. While Zdeno Chara and David Krejci scored twice in a minute and a half, Auld was impenetrable through the third period and OT. Marco Sturm beat Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun in the first shootout attempt, while Auld held firm and sent three Panthers home sad. The B's are now in sixth by a whisker, which isn't a bad place to be, as the 6 seed gets the weak Southeastern winner (currently the Whalercanes) in the first round.

The Patriots didn't slap the franchise tag on Randy Moss, so they're going to try to work something out on their own, which people seem to think they're doing. If you're not familiar with the intricacies of NFL free agency, the franchise tag allows a team to basically lock up a free agent for a cap-friendly price, and it can only be applied by slapping. Meanwhile, if you're still interested in Belichick videotape scandals, the NY Times has a fresh one. If you count "since Belichick's first game here" "fresh". Sigh.

The Celtics stood still at the NBA trade deadline, but a lot of old C's got moved around yesterday. Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West are now Clevelanders, Adrian Griffin's in Seattle, and Gerald Green will take his Hall of Fame cupcake act to Houston.

Down South, Manny's in Fort Myers - pleased as punch - and all is right with the world.

Alex Auld image from Wikipedia.