Sports Redux: B’s Hang On, Get 2 (Two!) Points

The Bruins won! Sure, they gave up a 2-0 first-period lead, and they allowed Atlanta to tie the game again, 3-3, in the final minute. But Patrice Bergeron beat Ondrej Pavelec in the shootout to give the B’s their first win in like forever. They got that 2-0 lead on goals by Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder. Tuukka Rask, filling in once again for the slightly-injured Tim Thomas, countered by letting two Thrasher shots by him. Ryder scored again for the lead, Rask let Atlanta tie it, and then it went to the shootout. "That goal at the end could have been a killer. But our guys decided that we weren’t going to allow that to be the winner," prasied Claude Julien, as if winning a hockey game was just a matter of a team’s collective willpower. Whatever. It’s two badly needed points. Ryder’s second goal came on the power play, a welcome switch for the B’s, who are the worst in the league in that category. The Thrashers are usually good in that department, but the B’s were up to the challenge, stopping 6 of 7 Atlanta PPs. With Milan Lucic back and Dennis Wideman contributing for the first time in like forever (2 assists), have the B’s turned the corner? Wideman sure hopes so: "I hope we can

build off it and keep going." They’ll try to keep up the momentum tonight in Buffalo. One of the subplots of 4th-and-2Gate last week was the question of Bill Belichick’s faith in his defense to stop Peyton Manning from going 70 yards; i.e., not very strong. Jerod Mayo, who’s suddenly become the old man of the defense, says the defense didn’t feel disrespected , and doesn’t appreciate outside agitators questioning Bill’s relationship with his D. Even if they’re guys like Tedy Bruschi, who says that if it had happened last year, it would have "been enough to make [his] blood boil." We love you, Tedy, but you never take sides against the family. In baseball news, Jason Bay has reportedly said no to the Sox’ first offer and will see what he can get in free agency. Whatever happens in the free agency period beginning today, David Ortiz wants some bats around him in the lineup. (Baseball bats, not vampire bats, but that would be awesome if Papi asked for actual bats. It’s something we could picture coming from Manny.) Celtics-Magic tonight. Last time we saw Orlando, they were walking off the Garden floor with our title defense ripped up and stomped on.

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Sports Redux: B’s Hang On, Get 2 (Two!) Points