Sports Redux: It All Ends With Z

There was playoff intensity at the Garden last night. Sure, the playoffs are months and months away, but when the Canadiens come to town, it's always lively, especially when the home team is playing the way the Bruins are playing now. (Which is kind of hypothetical, since the Bruins have never played this well in our fanlifetimes.)

For a stage this big, you need a big star. And they don't come much bigger then Zdeno Chara, who broke up a tense and scoreless game with a pair of second-period goals that launched the B's towards the 3-1 win. Good thing, too, since healthy and able Bruins scorers are dropping by the minute. But Chara did his thing, Krejci added the insurance goal, and Tim Thomas took care of the rest. Not without a little fireworks, though, since this is Montreal: their Mike Komisarek was whacking every Bruin in sight, though none of it helped his team score or win. So there.

Scott Pioli will officially transition today from "Patriots' personnel guru" to "in charge of the entire Kansas City franchise" Which we grudgingly congratulate him on. We secretly hope that Bill Belichick has implanted all of his protégés with microchips that he can use to make their teams self-destruct when they meet in the playoffs.

Incoming: Boston College welcomed defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani to the head coaching job, and presumably warned him never to take sides against the family. The Red Sox welcomed John Smoltz (a move Curt approves of), and Dan Shaughnessy - we do credit him when he deserves it - has a really good sit-down with Carl Yastrzemski, talking about his health, Jim Rice, and how 50 years of left field at Fenway are now in the Hall of Fame together. Now, the Greenwell-For-Cooperstown campaign can begin.

Photo by Elisa Amendola/Associated Press.