Sports Redux: Bruins Pick A Good Time To Figure Out Habs

They worked hard enough in Game Two to go to OT. Last night, they took it a step further, as the Bruins beat Montreal for the first time since about 1982 in a thrilling 2-1 OT win at the Garden.

It started with a Milan Lucic goal in the first period, giving the B's their first lead against the Canadiens since about 1995. Tom Kostopolous evened the score late in the second. So much for that lead. But after a healthily scrappy and tense game, Montreal's Bryan Smolinski slashed Peter Schaefer to set up a delayed penalty. While Tim Thomas scooted for the bench, Schaefer kept the puck, finding Dennis Wideman, who found Marc Savard, who found the back of the net. Game over. Montreal invincibility punctured. For now, at least.

If there was ever a Sox-Yankees game that we're kind of glad we didn't have tickets to, it was last night. In subarctic temperatures, Daisuke Matsuzaka couldn't find the plate and just barely made the five-inning minimum to get his third win. Tito gave Ortiz the night off and shuffled the lineup a bit, which worked, as they pounded Yankee phenom Phil Hughes for seven runs in two innings. The Yanks scratched back a few against Matsuzaka, but never made it over the hump, and the Sox came away with the 8-5 win.

New York's long regional nightmare is over, as construction crews unearthed the Red Sox T-shirt that a mischievous Sox fan had buried under the new stadium. It was an Ortiz shirt; reports haven't yet made clear whether one of Papi's bats was buried as well. The Yankees are considering pressing charges, showing how well they can take a joke; the Red Sox may counter by offering to encase Mike Timlin and his new 81.00 ERA in the shirt's place.

TONIGHT: The Sox are in Cleveland; Jon Lester against Jake Westbrook. We'd really like to know what the schedulemaker was thinking when he arranged for only one 2-game series in Cleveland all season. It's only the ALCS matchup. Also, the Celtics are in New York in their penultimate game. If you missed this yesterday like we did, definitely check out Peter May's case for Garnett as league MVP.

Photo by Charles Krupa/AP