The Bruins defeated the Flyers 5-4 in OT on Saturday afternoon. Making his return to the lineup after nearly 2 months following a Grade-2 concussion at the elbow of Matt Cooke, Marc Savard sniped the game-winner passed Brian Boucher.

For video of the goal, click on the picture.

It was a back-and-forth game with stellar goaltending from both sides at key moments to keep their respective teams in the game. Brian Boucher went into God-mode in the opening moments of OT when the Bruins swarmed the net and peppered Boucher with shot after shot. One could have almost foresaw Savard scoring the game-winner. It was poetic justice really. Out for two months, limited ice-time during regulation-time and then BAM! sends the Garden into jubilation with a Game One win.

Lost in all of Savard’s heroics was the fact that Marco Sturm tore his ACL and MCL in his right knee attempting to make a check during his opening shift. He will be gone for the rest of the playoffs. A healthy-scratch in Game 1, Shawn Thornton should return to the lineup. Thornton will add some more grit to the lineup, a key when playing the extremely physical Flyers.

Game 1 was a precursor for things to come; expect a long, hard-fought series out of these two long-time rivals.

Puck drops again at the Garden Monday night at 7pm.

Don’t look now folks, but the Red Sox have won 7 out of their last 9 games after sweeping the Jays in Toronto. Josh Beckett got lit up once again on Monday night, but the Sox were able to outslug the Jays, winning 13-12. On Tuesday, Clay Buchholz showed why the Sox have been keen on keeping him around and believe him to have top-of-the-rotation stuff. Buchholz pitched 8 innings, allowing 1 earned run and struck out 4. Buchholz has been the true ace of the staff in the early going posting a 2-2 record with an ERA of 2.19 in 4 starts. Wednesday, Jon Lester pitched like the ace he is, shutting out the Jays through 7, while striking out 11. Daniel Bard struck out the side in the 8, and Jonathan Papelbon retired the side in order in the 9th to pick up his 7th save of the season. The three pitchers combined for 15 Ks, while only giving up 2 hits. Sox are back to .500 and are now in 3rd place and 5.5 games back of Tampa Bay. John Lackey gets the ball Friday against Baltimore and Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his return to the Sox’ rotation on Saturday.

The Celtics, defeating the Heat 96-86 in Game 5, will face a familiar foe in the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James has been nursing a sore right elbow, so we’ll see how that factors into the series. One thing is certain, this series should be epic and don’t be surprised if it goes to 7 games.

Marc Savard returns from a Grade-2 concussion as the Bruins take on the Flyers in Eastern Conference Semifinals

With the 8th-seeded Montreal Canadiens upsetting top-seeded Washington in 7 games, the Bruins will have home-ice in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals as they play host to the Philadelphia Flyers. On paper, the Bruins should be favored in this series, especially with Tuukka Rask in net and the return of Marc Savard to the lineup. Granted, the Flyers did knock out the #2 seed New Jersey Devils and should not be taken lightly, especially because of their physical style of play. Bruins are going to have hold their own in the toughness department, continue to play strong defensively, and get those timely goals they were able to achieve against Buffalo. If all goes according to plan, expect a Bruins/Penguins matchup to decide who earns the right to play for Lord Stanley’s Cup out of the Eastern Conference. Out West, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 6-1 in Game 7. In the Semi-Finals, the 5th seeded Red Wings will match-up with top-seeded San Jose, while #2 Chicago matches up with #3 Vancouver. As a hockey fan, I’m hoping for an Original Six match-up in the Stanley Cup Finals pitting the Bruins against either Detroit or Chicago.

Early in the season, the Red Sox have answered their critics in terms of offensive production. Top 10 in runs (82) and Top 5 in HRs (24). No, it’s been their pitching and defense, their supposed strengths that have let them down early on this season. They have a team ERA of 4.70 and have already made 14 errors. All of their starters, excluding Clay Buchholz (2.70) have ERAs in the 5s or higher. Beckett posts a 5.26, Lester posts a 6.23, Lackey a 5.09, and Wakefield a 5.40. Wakefield now moves to the ‘pen with the impending return of Daisuke Matsuzaka to the rotation on Saturday.

The bullpen has also been extremely inconsistent. Lights out one night, blowing up another. Atchison needs to go, plain and simple. Schoeneweis just can’t get it done anymore either. Drop those two and put Michael Bowden and Dustin Richardson or Alan Embree into the ‘pen.

Catchers have struggled throwing out baserunners, no more evident than when Texas stole 9 bases off the Sox. Victor Martinez’s struggles are going to hurt his chances of the Sox re-signing him and him getting a quality deal on the open-market. Look for the Sox to let Ortiz go and make V-Mart the full-time DH.

One bright spot this season has been the resurgence of Jason Varitek offensively. He’s already hit 4 HRs and driven in 8. Perhaps him not playing everyday will keep him fresher and make him able to produce on a more consistent basis. One thing’s for sure though, the Sox need a catcher who can defend, manage the running game, call a quality game, and hit. Luis Exposito may be their best bet, but he’s a few years away from being MLB-ready.

Sox need to get their pitching sorted out, be more consistent defensively, and get key people off the DL, and hopefully they’ll start making a run back towards the top of the standing as the summer progresses. For all the promise with the changes this off-season, 4th place and 5.5 games out of first place is not where I envisioned this team as we head into May.

The Celtics hold a 3-1 series lead over the Heat and they look to close them out on Tuesday. Pierce hit a clutch buzzer-beat to win Game 3. Celtics couldn’t match that effort in Game 4 as Dwayne “Flash” Wade just took over and dominated the Celtics all game long.

Tuukka Rask and Miro Satan helped the Bruins defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4 games to 2 to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals

The Bruins, who struggled all season long at home, won all 3 games at home in the series against the Buffalo Sabres, as the 6th-seeded Bruins knocked the #3 Sabres out of the playoffs in 6 games. David Krejci, Mark Recchi, and Miro Satan led the way offensively for the B’s. The story of the series was goaltending however. Don’t be misled by some of the scores, the goaltending on both sides was absolutely phenomenal especially in Game 4 where the Bruins won 3-2 in Double OT. Tuukka Rask and Ryan Miller kept their teams in the games time and again and for the most part, the goals they let in, they really had no chance of saving. Nice to see a young goaltender like Rask face the pressure of the NHL playoffs and excel. He took over the #1 job from Tim Thomas and the team has played much more solid in front of him. He’s calm in net and his team plays that way in front of him. With the solid play of Rask, and impending return of Marc Savard, the Bruins could be a serious threat to make the Stanley Cup Finals out of the East. The Bruins wait for the Canadiens/Capitals series to conclude to find out their Semi-Final opponent. If the Habs win the series, the B’s play the Flyers. If the Caps win, B’s play the defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Penguins. Either series would be a tough challenge, but the B’s showed they can get it done, beating the best goalie in the world in 6 games.

If the Sox can turn it around, and the Bruins and Celts continue to play strong and hot in the playoffs, this could conceivably be a year that Boston wins all 4 major sports titles and truly live up to our name of Title Town USA.

Some interesting reports on the news wire today that are worth noting:

Red Sox:

Nick Cafardo reports that the Red Sox worked in an option to Lackey’s contract that would pay him the league minimum at the end of his contract, should he miss time due to an elbow injury (a pre-existing condition)

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that the Red Sox may still be considering signing Jason Bay.This report comes one day after the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman suggested that Jason Bay or Matt Holliday could “fall into the Red Sox’ lap.”

The Globe 10.0 discusses the Mike Lowell situation

Patriots:
ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss has an updated injury report for the upcoming game against the Jaguars

The Boston Globe’s Tony Massarotti has five burning questions for the 2009 Patriots

Fred Taylor commented on the possibility of the Jaguars moving to LA

Tom Brady indicated the Patriots are still in search of an identity on offense

Celtics

Paul Pierce is out with a knee infection

Bruce Bowen breaks down the Celtics-Magic matchup

Bill Simmons expects plenty of NBA trades this season

Bruins

The Globe 10.0 debates the goalie situation in Boston

The Boston Bruins and Marc Savard have agreed upon a 7-year extension worth an average of around $4.2 million per season (for a total of around $30 million). The 7-year deal for the 33-year old Savard will in all likelihood be the final contract of his career. As a Bruins fan, I hope that he retires in the Black and Gold.

Savard has been arguably the best center for the Bruins in his 4 years with the team. His great vision and hands makes him a devastating play-maker, setting up his wingers time and again. He’s often a pass-first player, but once he starts looking for his shot more, he’ll be more of a potent weapon for the Black and Gold.

With Savard, Milan Lucic, and David Krejci all locked up for years to come, the next target for a long-term extension has to be Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron is under team control through the 2010-2011 season, but you would have expect negotiations for a long-term deal to be started at some point in the near future.

The Boston Bruins and Milan Lucic have agreed to a 3-year extension worth $12.25 million.

The 21-year-old Lucic set career highs in all major statistical categories last season, scoring 17 goals and adding 25 assists for 42 points.

Milan Lucic

An aggressive checker and an outstanding fighter, he also tallied 136 penalty minutes and finished with a +17 rating. Last Saturday, Lucic bloodied Carolina’s Jay Harrison in a second-period bout. In the preseason, Lucic opened up Ottawa tough guy Chris Neil.

During the 2008-09 postseason, the 6-foot-3-inch, 228-pound winger had three goals and six assists and a team best +12 plus/minus rating in 10 games.

In his rookie year in 2007-08, Lucic registered 8-19=27 totals and 89 penalty minutes in 77 contests. Lucic earned the team’s “Seventh Player Award” for his efforts, an award voted on by the fans and given to the Bruin who performs above and beyond expectations. He also
contributed two goals in seven postseason games.

Lucic has skated in both games during the 2009-10 season and has one assist and five penalty minutes.

He was originally drafted by the Bruins in the second round (50th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

Source: Boston.com

In other Bruins’ news, the Bruins are 1-1 on the season. They lost 4-1 to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the season-opener. The Bruins bounced back in a big way with a 7-2 pummeling of the Carolina Hurricanes, the team that knocked out the Bruins in last year’s playoffs. The Bruins scored three times each in the first and second periods and added another tally in the third period. The B’s got goals from Marc Savard, Michael Ryder, Blake Wheeler, Marco Sturm, Dennis Wideman, Shawn Thornton, and Matt Hunwick. Tim Thomas was solid between the pipes in the win, making 25 saves on 27 shots. He had almost no shot on the two goals allowed to Scott Walker and Eric Staal. Walker, crossing the slot, re-directed a shot from Aaron Ward for the goal. Returning in the third period after being knocked out by a one-time shot that struck him in the side of the head earlier in the game, Eric Staal cashed in on a power-play, beating Tim Thomas underneath the arm-pit with a wrist shot.

The Bruins also won the physical aspect of the game. Milan Lucic man-handled and bloodied up Jay Harrison in a fight and Shawn Thornton also won a bout against former Bruin Andrew Alberts. Thornton went after Alberts in retaliation for Alberts going up high with a hit on Marco Sturm earlier in the period.

The Bruins get back to action on Thursday as they play host to the Anaheim Ducks. The puck is set to drop at 7pm.

The Phil Kessel saga has finally come to an end just as pre-season play has gotten underway. The Bruins have traded their leading-scorer from last season to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins will get two first-round picks (2010 and 2011) and a second-round (2010) pick in exchange. After the trade was completed, the Leafs inked Kessel to a brand-new 5-year deal worth around $27 million.

P.J. Axelsson, a career Bruin, has signed a 4-year deal with his former club Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League.

P.J. Axelsson

In 797 NHL games with the Bruins, Axelsson scored 103 goals and had 184 assists. Axelsson established himself as one of the best defensive forwards in the league and was an outstanding leader of the club with his gritty style of play and never-say-die attitude.

One could say that Axelsson bled Black and Gold. He played under seven coaches during his Bruins career. Those seven coaches? Pat Burns, Mike Keenan, Robbie Ftorek, Mike O’Connell, Mike Sullivan, Dave Lewis, and Claude Julien.

Axelsson wasn’t the flashiest of players, but his hard work was greatly appreciated by Bruins fans and his teammates alike. He will be missed.

Derek Morris

The Boston Bruins have signed veteran D-man Derek Morris to a one-year deal for $3.3 million. Morris will fill the void left by yesterday’s trade of Aaron Ward. On Morris, GM Peter Chiarelli said “He’s been very durable over the years. He’s got a nice, thick body. He uses it very well when he plays. It’s one of the reasons why he’s been very durable. I think we’ve seen the tip of the iceberg with Derek the last couple years. He does have a very good skill set. He really makes a nice pass. He’s got a tremendous shot and a really good offensive skill set. The thing we really liked was his compete level. You’ll see that in September. I think it’s a tremendous addition for us.”

With this signing, it does not leave a lot of cap space to sign Phil Kessel. Unless the Bruins make some more moves to free up cap-space, it seems almost inevitable at this point that Kessel will not be back with the Bruins for the upcoming season.

Ward with the 'Canes back in '05-'06

The Boston Bruins have traded veteran defenseman Aaron Ward to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward and former Boston College standout Patrick Eaves and a 4th-round draft pick in the 2010 entry draft. Eaves was then placed on waivers in order to buy him out.

With the move, the Bruins will clear $2.5 million in cap space. There are many options the Bruins can now explore with the extra cap space. They could go out and sign a puck-moving D-man like a Sergei Zubov or a Mathieu Schneider. They could also use some of the money they’ve saved and give RFA Phil Kessel an extension or they can trade Kessel for a defenseman such as Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Credit to Boston.com/sports

We’ll continue to keep you updated on the Phil Kessel saga and other Bruins’ moves.