Close to the Edge: Near Death on the Orange Line
Sports Redux: C's Shot Down
Max Goes to Longwood: Wild Things on the Subway
Saturday Happenings
Sunday Happenings
One local team hung on to first place. So let's start with them.
Bostonist was dismayed at the volume of Montrealers wandering around Quincy Market around dinnertime. Bostonist recommends that locals go buy tickets to all the upcoming Bruins-Canadiens games at the Garden this year. You'll get to see good hockey, and you'll hopefully get to see some crestfallen Quebecois, as there were last night, as the Bruins kept their red hot streak alive by torching the Habs 6-1.
Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle and Marco Sturm put Carey Price and Montreal in a 3-0 hole in the first. Sturm and Yelle enjoyed it so much, they scored again later, as did Milan Lucic. Lucic also thrilled the crowd with a welcome pummeling of Mike Komisarek. "It was just a matter of time until something like that happened," said Lucic once the adrenaline settled down and the X-rays of his fists were completed (really). Defensively, Manny Fernandez handled just about everything the Habs threw at him. The B's are in second place in the Eastern Conference. Shhh.
OK, we've put it off long enough. And we must report that the Patriots, despite a furious comeback and the half of Matt Cassel's life, ceded first place to the J...the Je...no, we can't do it. Let's just say that as it stands, the Pats are in wild-card position.
The Pats dug themselves a substantial hole, getting down 24-6 in the first half. But a late second-quarter score put them back in striking distance, and strike they did. Cassel assembled a couple of long drives, ending in a Benjamin Watson TD reception (2-point conversion; 24-21) and a Gostkowski field goal (24-24). The mood in Foxboro lightened.
Brett Favre marched the Jets down for a TD with 3:10 to go. The Pats went 3-and-out, and with the clock ticking, needed a miracle defensive stand and a miracle offensive rally to stay in it. They got the defensive stop, and Cassel, running out of time, used Watson and Welker to gobble up chunks of yardage. (This may seem, at this point, that it's building to a happy ending. Don't let that fool you.) Then, on perhaps the best play of the year so far, Cassel eluded a sack, scrambled to his right, and found Randy Moss in the end zone, dragging his foot ever-so-slightly in bounds as Ty Law tried feebly to knock it away, and it was tied.
Then the coin flip, the Jets got the ball, and the night went downhill in a hurry. The sour grapes in us want the NFL to institute some other overtime rule than a coin flip. The what-iffer in us wonders if the Pats' momentum could have pulled off a 2-point conversion after the Moss touchdown (if they had, Matt Cassel would probably have a street named after him this morning). Oh well. Oh well.
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The New England defense was terrible. Other than a great game throughout by Jerod Mayo and a good third quarter, the Jets had no trouble moving against them. In the first, second, and fourth quarters, and overtime, the only things that stopped the Jets were a fumble and a three and out late in regulation when they were just running the ball to run time off the clock.
The Bruins put on a clinic last night against a Habs team that was sharp and fierce. Manny was absolutely brilliant in goal, and the defense held together even without cornerstone bruiser (and MBTA spokesman) Andrew Ference.
Lucic has half the NHL crapping themselves with fear now -- the man is a monster. What a great night to be a hockey fan in Boston.
Mayo was everywhere with a few huge hits. The Pats D was much better in the 2nd half...remember they allowed just 7 points in the 2nd half. Their big problem is the rash of mental errors at bad times like Watson's fumble and the snap screw up. They never used to make mental errors.
I'm glad the Bruins won. I suspect B's fans are happier with Lucic fighting than scoring. I like Lucic, too, because he's beginning to show similar skills to you-know-who. But, don't get carried away. He has 13 goals in his career.