Sports Redux: Bruins Win Again, But Nobody Feels That Good About It

Well, the Bruins won. That shouldn't be a surprise - after all, they've won 18 of their last 21, and 13 in a row at home. Phil Kessel had an assist - another non-surprise, as he's notched a point in 17 straight games (he also had a goal waved off because of a high stick). That's the good part.

The bad part is that Patrice Bergeron, who'd finally gotten back into rhythm after missing almost all of last season with a concussion, slammed into Carolina defender Dennis Seidenberg and went down hard on the ice. The air got sucked out of the Garden. It was last year all over again, except Seidenberg didn't come up and hit him from behind like that jackass Flyer last year (the Bruins, to a man, allowed that it was a clean collision). Finally, Patrice got on his feet and swerved to the tunnel, but he didn't come back and nobody's sure when he will. The Bruins, without him, are off to St. Louis tonight.

The Patriots' road to the playoffs got a lot tougher last night. Dallas suffered epic fail in its quest to beat Baltimore and give the Pats the inside track to the wild-card spot (and get themselves into the playoffs, but they won't be missed). Now we either have to hope for the Jaguars to beat the Ravens next week, or for both KC and Seattle to rise from the depths of suckitude and beat Miami and the Jets, respectively, because we're still conviced that if only one of them loses, there will be a massive tank job next week to deny Bill Belichick his greatest coaching coup ever. If nothing else, there will be some excitement today as the guys from Arizona try to get their act together in a howling snowstorm.

The Celtics go for #18 in a row tonight, which would tie the best record ever to begin a season (27-2, set by the '67 Sixers and the '70 Knicks). It's the Knicks in town tonight, which brings up the "rivalry" with New York's Quentin Richardson and his ill-advised big mouth. New York has to be reeling by the news that LeBron James is thinking of resigning with Cleveland, which means the Knicks' half-cocked plan to ignore the next two seasons has to go back to the drawing board.

Lorianne DiSabato caught Bergeron down.