Sports Redux: We Were Saying Boo-ruins

It's never a good idea when a hockey team turns introspective and scared. But that's what happed to the Bruins last night, as they lost a 2-goal lead, a game (in OT, and we'll take every point we can at this point) and almost any shred of confidence they have left after their nightmarish last few weeks.

"Teams are coming up against us, and it's almost like they've got the upper hand already because they're the more confident team. That's what it seems like. That wasn't the case earlier this year," said Tim Thomas afterwards, which fits this stretch into almost any nutshell you care to provide. Matt Hunwick and Mark Recchi provided the 2-0 lead, but LA slipped a power play goal past Thomas halfway through the third, the tie goal with less than 2:00 left, and Dustin Brown got one past him in OT for the win. The Devils are next, in a huge game, with the top three teams in the East (Bos, NJ, Wash) only five points apart.

Speaking of troubling local teams in three-way races, the Celtics brought Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett with them on their two-game road trip to Country Music Land. Ray is day-to-day, Kevin has been practicing, and either one might suit up tonight in San Antonio. Leon Powe won't; he'll be out for a couple of weeks. And we realize it's only a three-team race in an academic sense; even the C's don't feel like they're going to catch Cleveland. Doc Rivers also got a $25,000 bill from the league for his comments about the refs the other night.

How's your bracket? ESPN doesn't think there was enough excitement yesterday, which is why we think it would be fun for a year to scrap seeding and pick matchups out of a hat. BC, who takes on Southern Cal today, is trying to both use and downplay the no-respect card at the same time, for which John Henry probably has some good advice.

Kevin Youkilis is not an America-blamer; he says his injured foot is just one of those things that happens, and not due to him playing for the US team at the WBC. Dustin says he feels pretty good and is ready to get back this weekend.