Sports Redux: Hats Off to Lucic

The Bruins have had bad news this young season, and some eh news. Last night, though, they nabbed an unqualified success, as Milan Lucic notched a hat trick and the B's overcame some early slugginshness to beat Atlanta, 5-4 at the Garden.

Stephane Yelle got things rolling for the B's three and a half minutes into the second to cut the lead in half. Lucic tied it at 5:57, and David Krejci retied it at 14:22. Lucic (again) and Atlanta's Slava Kozlov traded goals early in the third, but Lucic sent hats a-flyin' with the gamewinner, with less than two minutes to go. Lucic credited his offensive outburst to new contacts (we hear that): "It's like going from ordinary TV to high-definition TV." Should be on a commercial soon.

The Patriots, winners of one in a row, will try to beat a St. Louis team that we thought was going to be Godawful, but is just pretty bad, but they'll have to do it without a running game. Maroney's gone, Sammy Morris is out, Troy Brown has retired.... It'll be interesting to see what Bill has up his sleeve.

The Phillies endured a long long rain delay (Oh, Fox Sports and a long rain delay. Where's Steve Harvey when you need him?), and finally made good on their new home-field advantage. They pulled the ol' "HBP, wild pitch, 2 intentional walks, and infield single" trick to score the winning run in the ninth for the 5-4 final. Jamie Moyer got the start for the Phillies, his first World Series appearance since his New York Giants lost to the Yankees in 1937.