Sports Redux: Injuries? The Bruins Laugh At Injuries

Well, maybe not laugh, exactly. (Except that Claude Julien, asked to describe the pain that kept Dennis Wideman out of last night's game, said, "Does it have to be upper body or lower body? Let's go with middle body.") Bruins get hurt, new Bruins take the ice, and the Bruins win. It's been happening rather a lot lately.

The B's ran to 15-2-1 in their last 18 games with a 3-1 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning. Phil Kessel tied it at 1-1 in the second, then David Krejci scored shorthanded to take the lead. Kessel dumped in an empty-netter for his 15th of the year. Tim Thomas saved 30 shots, and credited the youngsters: "The puck gets bouncing around like that, the tendency for young defensemen is to panic...but they didn't do that." The B's are back in a tie with the Rangers for first in the East, and can take over with a win in Florida tomorrow night.

Speaking of first place teams, the Celtics get a nice challenge tonight when the Blazers come to town. Portland impressed the hell out of us last year on their Garden visit, and this year Greg Oden is playing (mostly). The Globe looks at how Oden changed the fate of nations. On a sadder note, Rodney Rogers, who flung up a bunch of key 3's (and hit some) to lead the Celtics to their wacky 2002 Eastern Finals appearance, had a horrible accident on his ATV and may be paralyzed from the neck down. Be careful out there, kids.

New and old faces: the Patriots, after bringing back Roosevelt Colvin, have re-added Junior Seau to the youth movement, and will bring him out West for Sunday's game in Seattle. Garin Veris and Johnny Rembert are reportedly hanging around by the phone. And the Red Sox officially added Junichi Tazawa to their fine collection of Japanese pitchers. Tazawa said Daisuke's presence made the difference in deciding where to sign: "[Matsuzaka] has a presence which is even more above the clouds, which means he has been a great hero of mine and I hold him in very, very high esteem." Kinda knocks all those US-born athlete cliches into a cocked hat, doesn't it?