Results tagged “bruins”

It's one point. A shootout loss. One goal. The Bruins will gratefully take it right now. With the offense struggling to even find the goal, let alone put the puck in it, and with swine flu racing towards the team, it's time to think about baby steps.

Superficially, it looked like the old rivalry again. The Sixers have brought back the old logo, the old floor from the Spectrum (more or less) and uniforms that hearken back to the days of Dr. J and Andrew Toney. But the team that Philly put on the floor last night was no match for the early 09-10 Celtics. The '83 Sixers might not have been.

The Celtics are beating good teams by double digits. They're ticking off All-Star opponents. They're 4-0 after dispatching the Hornets last night at the Garden. And most importantly, they seem to have locked up their point guard for a few more years.

Another even-numbered game on the schedule; another win. It's a more reliable way of telling time than waking up this morning and not remembering if your cell phone/computer/alarm clock made the change for you.

Eleven games, and for better and worse, the Bruins still haven't been able to put together a two-game streak of any kind. They had a chance last night, and played pretty well, but came away short with a 2-1 loss to the Devils. "This is one of those nights throughout the course of a season where you lose a hockey game only because the other team got one extra bounce going their way," said Coach Claude Julien.

But that's kind of a big deal, since it matches their season high. The "team goes up...team goes down" Bruins survived a tough beginning to come back and win in a shootout in Ottawa last night, 4-3.

"It’s the only team that has the word ‘England’ in it," joked Alastair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK. Ah, so that's why the Patriots had to spend last night flying across the Atlantic to get ready for Sunday's game against the Bucs in London.

Half the team is hurt. Much of the other half is brand new. But somehow, this bunch of strangers wearing Bruin black and gold managed to squeeze out a win over Nashville, 3-2. The first two goals all came from Bruins vets (Michael Ryder and Patrice Bergeron), but the game winner, Steve Begin's first Boston goal off an assist from Daniel Paille, was all n00b. "Most important thing is we won the game but it's great to get my first goal out of the way," said Begin.

Remember how awesome the Bruins were last year? Star center Marc Savard played every game of the season, and his reliable, bruiser wingman Milan Lucic was alongside him for nearly that long? Get ready to learn some new names because Savard just joined Lucic on the long-term injured reserve. The faux-hawked center, who had 88 points last season, reportedly has a broken foot that will keep him out of action for four to six weeks. Journeyman Trent Whitfield was called up from Providence to take Savard's place.

Some time this winter, you'll no doubt read about a storm that dumps an inch of snow on some Southern locale and sends the entire town to hell in a handbasket. It happens every year; when you don't see it much, you don't know what to do with it, and it's good night, Charlotte. Or Little Rock. Or Nashville.

Technically, the Patriots aren't playing the Tennessee Titans today. In honor of the 50th season of the old AFL teams, the Titans are dubbing themselves the Houston Oilers today in Foxboro. But whatever they call themselves, they're a good (or so we thought) team that's somehow 0-5, and the Patriots are a good (or so we thought) team that's 3-2 and hasn't really looked like itself. Something's got to give.

Manny vs. Pedro. Two guys we loved while they were here (well, maybe not the last month or two or eighteen of Manny, your mileage may vary), who helped us out a lot in 2004, and stuck around long enough to pose for some goofy pictures.

How considerate of the Boston Bruins. After the Red Sox and Patriots choked fell to the Angels and Broncos, respectively, on Sunday, Boston's boys of hockey decided to show solidarity and keep the losing ways going on Monday. A sloppy early afternoon game at the Garden ended with a happy Colorado Avalanche leaving with a 4-3 victory and the Bruins wrapping up a homestand with a 2-3 record.

"Whatever the hex is, I guess somebody un-hexed it," said the Angels' Chone Figgins. We're not sure what that hex may be, or if it's really gone, but last night, the Angels looked like hex-free division winners. And the Red Sox looked like a team that staggered into the playoffs, mustering no offense and succumbing meekly to Anaheimorwhatever 5-0.

Man. It seems like it's been forever, doesn't it? At least a week and a half since we had very much local to talk about.

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 "he" in question is Alex Ovechkin, the two-time NHL MVP and star of the Washington Capitals. The "you" in question is Tim Thomas, Dennis Wideman (the quotee), and the entire Bruins organization, which saw Ovechkin score two goals and an assist to spoil Opening Day for the B's, 4-1.

Well, the Red Sox are officially on a roll. They're preparing for the playoffs by being swept twice in a row. And they did it with style last night, serving up another round of meatball sandwiches to give their guests from Toronto an 11-0 win.

Your 2009 Boston Red Sox clearly don't like to make anything easy. They hit losing skids, slugging droughts and pitching woes. They load the bases before settling in to retire the batters. They fall into deficits before they creep back to make the game thrilling.

Boston and Los Angeles don't have much in common. We have miserable winters, they have palm trees. We have Ben Affleck, they have everybody else. They have Rodney King, we have Skip Gates. It's a different world.

We're officially done agonizing over Monday's collapse and Tuesday's shutdown. The Sox handled the Royals exactly the way a playoff-bound squad should handle a team of no-hopers, riding the cold-weakened arm of Clay Buchholz and the efficient offense to a 10-3 series finale in K.C.

The Red Sox are competitive with the Yankees head-to-head. They don't have a lot of trouble with the Angels. And both of those teams are headed for October. So why can't the Sox do anything against the going-nowhere KC Royals?

If you skipped over NESN on Monday night, confident in the outcome of a Red Sox-Royals matchup in Kansas City, you weren't alone. Many people surely thought that it was going to be relatively easy for Tim Wakefield to get back on track with a return to the mound in Missouri. Why not catch a few winks and rest up as best as possible for the Yankees series this weekend?

Paul Byrd comes back from a year on the shelf and throws a gem. Tim Wakefield comes back from the DL and gets a W. And now Daisuke Matsuzaka comes back from three months away and beats the Angels. Clearly, some of these guys need weeks and weeks off between starts. Let's seriously look into the 75-man rotation next year.

After 2008, it seems odd to say that a September double-header against the Rays seemed anti-climatic, but there you go. We said it. The Red Sox took two games from the fading Tampa Bay team in a fashion that could only be described as "inevitable." The wins brought the Sox' record against AL East teams to 42-21, the best in baseball against a team's home division.

The Jim Rice Celebration Tour, fresh off a great weekend in Cooperstown, rolls into Fenway tonight for a very special night at the old ballpark. Rice, having finally met the three criteria for having his number retired at Fenway (10 years with the team, finishing his career with Boston and being inducted into the Hall of Fame) will tonight see his number 14 take up residency on the right field facade - right between Ted Williams (9) and Carlton Fisk (27).

The Google section of the Internets is going crazy for the TD Banknorth Garden, which is now going by TD Garden. According to Google Hot Trends, TD Banknorth Garden is today's 50th fastest rising search keyword in the U.S. Bostonist has an idea or three why this is happening. Parents are probably sick of this crap but those wholesome young men known as theJonas Brothers are taking over the Hub on Friday. The Bruins did announce their complete 2009-2010 schedule, too. How much interest does the next Scott Walker sighting generate? Bostonist bets the fuss is over the name change from TD Banknorth Garden to TD Garden that will lead to one lucky fan winning free tickets to every event at the Garden for the entire 2009-2010 season. It's still the Garden to Bostonist.

The NHL had announced a "major announcement" would be announced at a press conference yesterday at Fenway Park. What would it be? That the Pengins won the Stanley Cup? That Ovechkin had been named the MVP? That Charlton Heston saw the Statue of Liberty at the end and realized he'd been on the Earth of the future all along?

Five of the six RBIs for the Red Sox came from David Ortiz and Jason Varitek? Is it 2003 already?!?

Sure, if you win the Stanley Cup, you get your name engraved on it, you get to take it home for a day to do whatever you want with it, and kids from Yellowknife to Halifax go to bed dreaming of it. But still, when your year is over, you usually have to give it back. Usually to the Red Wings.