Sports Redux: Old Friends Get Together

Last time the Bruins saw the Carolina Hurricanes, Scott Walker beat Tim Thomas in OT to put an abrupt end to the magical 2008-09 season. Last night, they got together again, and the Bruins beat them on the scoreboard, in the face, and up and down the ice in a 7-2 pummeling that almostsortakinda erased the pain of last season, or at least redirected it onto their foes.

The B's, embarrassed by their poor showing on Opening Night, came out ready. Marc Savard scored early, and Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler added first-period goals that put the momentum on Boston's side and let them concentrate on doling out some pain. When it got to 6-1, especially, the fur started flying, as Milan Lucic walloped Jay Harrison (shown here). That was followed quickly by a wild sequence when Savard decked Andrew Alberts and Zdeno Chara devoured Tom Kostopolous. Former Bruin Alberts, who we hope wasn't expecting a warm welcome, also got to be on the receiving end of a Shawn Thornton hulkout in the third. In other words, the Bruins were not putting two lackadaisical performances back to back.

Coach Julien said the effort in this game was exactly what the team needed after the Washington loss: "if our effort was there, a lot of things would fall into place . . . the guys obviously got the message." After Thornton dusted off what was left of Alberts after their frank exchange of views, Alberts said, "it’s just part of the game and we’ll be friends after it." Maybe not immediately.

Michael Vega says the Patriots sure have been seeing a lot of promising young QBs lately, and that will continue with Joe Flacco and his Ravens today. Baltimore's 3-0, has a scary offense for the first time seemingly ever, and everyone in their organization credits young Flacco for the turnaround. And their defense is still one of the best. This game will show a lot as to what the 2009 Pats actually are made of.

Kheli Dube scored the lone Revolution goal in a 1-1 tie at Colorado, and are still clinging to a playoff spot with three games remaining. Boston College squandered a big lead, but regrouped and beat Florida State, 28-21, on a 42-yard TD run by Montell Harris. The Eagles are 4-1, and 2-1 in-conference - pretty good for what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

Josh Beckett's final pre-playoff tuneup didn't blow people away; he gave up four runs in five innings, but admitted afterwards, "the most important thing today was to be healthy." He got a nice cushy lead, though, thanks to Victor Martinez' grand slam against his old teammates, and the Sox cruised to an 11-6 victory in the penultimate game of the regular season. For pennant drama fans, today's pretty good; the Twins won and the Tigers lost, so they're even after 161 games and the fate of the AL Central and the right to lose to the Yankees in the first round is up for grabs today. The over-under for packs of smokes consumed by Tigers manager Jim Leyland today: 4 1/2.