Sports Redux: It's Closing Time

Smell that? That's the scent of blood in the air. The Bruins have a chance to notch their first playoff series win in a decade. And all they need to do is win one more game - but for the psyche of their fans and the region in general, we recommend they win tonight and end any suspense.

For the Habs' part, they sound grim and resigned, if not shovel-ready just yet. "Coming back from 3-0 has only happened two times and we do realize the reality of where we’re at but at this point we can only approach one game at a time," said Montreal captain Saku Koivu. The two time he's referring to are probably the 1942 Leafs and the 1975 Islanders, even though alert fans will remember another team in another sport that was down 3-0 and came back. Let's keep Kevin Millar from making any inspirational speeches to the Canadiens, is all we can say. For what it's worth, Montreal seems more agitated about national anthems than their team's looming exit.

While one team is going for a sweep, the other is being buried under an avalanche of bad news. Leon Powe is done for the playoffs after tearing his ACL on Monday. Doc Rivers, sounding as sad as we feel, said, "[these are] days as a coach that are very difficult because he just does so many right things." He's a free agent after this season, and we better not have seen his last game here, is all we can say. The Celtics do expect to see Brian Scalabrine on the floor at some point in Chicago, in what's become possibly the scariest first-round series of all time, and yes, we do remember last year.

The Sox eventually told their fans what everyone else seemed to know: that last night was a terrible night to try to play a baseball game. So they and the Twins will have a day-night doubleheader, with Wakefield and Penny going for the Sox. If you like the Twins, today's your day, as the only two games all season where Minnesota's stay in town will be over in 24 hours. Weird.