Sports Redux: Bruins Put Their Foot Down, Take First Step

Sometimes, it takes a little while to remember how tense playoff hockey can be. When the Canadiens tied the Bruins 2-2 late in the second period last night, it all came back to us. Phil Kessel and David Krejci had staked the B's to a 2-0 lead late in the first.

Montreal clawed back with one in the first, then tied it with 2:23 in the second when Alexi Kovalev beat Tim Thomas. "I thought our energy level had dropped a little bit in the second period, and that hurt us," said coach Claude Julien afterwards. "But I liked the way we responded in the third." What's not to like, when Zdeno Chara blows the puck past Carey Price and almost put it through the back of the net. Phil Kessel added an empty-netter, there was a frank exchange of views between the two teams ("I think you could probably mix frustration in there somewhere" - Montreal coach Bob Gainey), and when the fists were separated from the faces, the Bruins had their 4-2 win and the 1-0 lead in the series.

Not such a good day for the Celtics, who had the double whammy of finding out KG won't be coming through that door anytime soon, then learning that GM Danny Ainge had a mild heart attack (the news is still good for a solid recovery). Nevertheless, they have to go to work tomorrow against the Bulls. Bill Simmons tries to convince himself that all isn't lost - he gets very close around Reason #4. Bob Ryan tries to squirt seltzer on any flame of hope anyone might be feeling.

The team, knowing everyone has to step up, is resigned. "With one person down, our motto is to get it done anyway," said Leon Powe. "We can fill it all together," added Glen Davis. And those are just the two guys who are going to see their minutes go up. If you don't think everyone on this team isn't completely looking forward to the challenge and proving Bob Ryan wrong, you haven't really met this team.

The Red Sox were off yesterday, so nothing to report. They start a long homestand tonight against Baltimore. The Yankees stunk up their new $450 trillion palace in their home opener, so that was nice. In the meantime, the Globe delves into the man and the myth of Jerry Remy, and Sox fans who are looking to chuck it all and move to Northern Michigan have a go-to realty guy. Does he still work one day out of every five?

The Revolution are still plugging away and waiting for the nonstop hysteria about the other four teams in town to subside, even for a second. They're undefeated (2-0-1), they play DC United tonight, and their lineup is changing by the hour. We'll let you know when we find out more.

Photo by Elise Amendola/Associated Press.