Sports Redux: B's Roar Into Christmas

Tracking the Bruins this season has been harder than tracking Santa on satellite (they really do that now). There were the first six weeks of one-down-one-up, then a couple of great weeks, then a rough patch. Now, though, that rough patch is over, and the B's have put together two straight wins, including last night's offensive explosion and 6-4 win over Atlanta.

It wasn't a game for defensive-minded fans. The B's scored three times in just over a minute, yet somehow came out of the first period with only a 3-2 lead. "I don't think we were on top of our game defensively," shrugged Coach Julien. But the B's started the second well, milking 1:45 of a two-man advantage before Zdeno Chara's slap shot broke it open. After letting the Thrashers back into it again, the B's sealed it with an empty-netter by Patrice Bergeron. The big offensive nights came from Marc Savard (1G, 2A) and Chara, who added two assists to the aforementioned goal. So now the boys enter Christmas break with 43 points, 4 behind Buffalo, and near the top of the pack of teams swirling around the 5-through-8 spots in the East. They get back to work with a 2-game trip to Florida this weekend.

The Celtics are headed to Florida tomorrow, and they have some bad news to take with them. The good news is that KG may be ready to come back from his one-game injury, but the bad news is that Paul Pierce had fluid drained out of his knee and will be shelved for a couple of weeks. So he'll be stranded here with the rest of us while his teammates take their post-Xmas Western road trip.

What does this mean? Well, it means that either Tony Allen or Shelden Williams becomes a starter. It means Tony gets his 100th chance to turn the 100th corner of his career and put three straight good games together. And, according to the Globe, it could mean big things for guys like Bill Walker and J.R. Giddens, who are aching to contribute in games that aren't already completely decided. With the C's adamant that Pierce will make a full and reasonably quick recovery, look at the next two weeks as a showcase for the kids. It might be...you know...fun.

As far as pregame pep talks go, we're not sure where we rank BC coach Frank Spaziani's assessment of the upcoming bowl game with Southern Cal. "They have talent at the skill positions, a big offensive line, they have a stable of running backs, and they have a very talented quarterback. They are a big-league football team in the true sense of the word. They didn’t get to where they were with average guys. We’ll have our work cut out for us," said the coach. It probably falls somewhere on the scale with Lou Brown telling the Indians, "we'd save everyone a lot of time if we all went out and shot ourselves."