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.

We apologize about the lack of posts recently, school and work tend to get in the way of things sometimes it seems.

First off, congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and the city of New Orleans on the Super Bowl victory. Manning may very well be the top-QB in the NFL, but I’ll take our 3 rings and Brady any day.

Bruins went into a winter hibernation, losing 10-straight before recently turning it around before the Olympic Break, winners of their last 4 and points in their last 6. Tuuka Rask was in net for all 6 of those games. His calm and composed demeanor radiates off of him, making his teammates play the same way in front of him. In contrast, Tim Thomas is constantly looking like a fish out of water and his teammates play nervous and tentative in front of him. It’s a hard pill to swallow, having a $5mm a year back-up goalie, but if the Bruins want to win, they NEED to turn the reigns over completely to Tuuka Rask. In hockey, you turn to the hot-goalie and that has been Tuuka all season long. For the most part, he has kept his team in every game that he has played in, which is all one can ask of their goalie. Tim Thomas played out of his mind last season, winning the Vezina Tropy in the process. But this season, he’s showing why he was a journeyman for all of those years. Fortunately for the Bruins, the Eastern Conference is wide-open this year and their losing streak didn’t hurt them too much in the standings, as they now sit in 7th place following their 4-game winning streak to end the first-half. They have to play like they have been the past 6 games and stay healthy and I think this team could be a sleeper come playoff time.

The Celtics are at the half-way of their season and needless to say, they have been a bit disappointing. Garnett can’t seem to stay healthy and there have been talks about trading away Ray Allen. One bright spot is Paul Pierce winning the 3-point contest during the All-Star weekend. He wanted to be in the competition and he did not disappoint. Also of note from the All-Star festivities, is the continuing downfall of the Slam Dunk contest. I truly believe that Lebron James could bring it back to where it was in its hayday. Back to the Celtics, another bright-spot is the continuing development of Rajon Rondo, whose play this season garnered him an All-Star selection. If the Celts want to compete for a title this season, they’re going to have make a move.

It’s almost baseball season! Pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow and position players later in the week. The team improved tremendously defensively in the off-season with the acquisitions of Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro, and Mike Cameron. With Jacoby Ellsbury shifting to Left Field, the Sox have an outfield that will cover a lot of ground and not too many balls are going to drop in. Beltre at Third Base will give the Sox a gold-glover and will allow Kevin Youkilis to play 1B full-time. The strength of the team will definitely be the starting pitching with a rotation of Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield waiting in the wings. Not too many positional battles will be going on this year besides the fight for the 4th outfield spot and the bullpen. Mike Lowell needs to show he’s healthy and will be able to contribute to a team so the Sox can deal him. Jed Lowrie is fighting for a job as well with Bill Hall as the team’s utility-man. One guy to keep an eye on this Spring is Casey Kelly and how fares against some higher, tougher competition. Sox open up the regular season against the Yankees at Fenway Park on April 4th. Here’s hoping to for another solid season from the Sox and hopefully we’ll be seeing them in Soxtober once again.

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 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.

Matt Hunwick

Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that they have re-signed the 24 year-old defenseman to a two-year deal worth $2.9 million ($1.45 million annual cap hit)

In 53 games last season (6 as a forward), Hunwick scored 6 goals, had 21 assists, and accumulated a +/- rating of +15.

Hunwick marks another re-signing of players that greatly contributed to the Bruins run last season. Others re-signed include Mark Recchi, David Krejci, and Byron Bitz.

Phil Kessel

The only omission thus far is the team’s leading goal-scorer from last season, Phil Kessel who scored 36 goals, along with 24 assists. The 21 year-old Kessel is a restricted free agent, with no arbitration rights. At the moment, the two sides are not close on a deal and it remains to be seen what transpires in the weeks leading up to training camp in September.

Fenway Park has hosted numerous events in the past besides baseball, including football, concerts, weddings, and now you can include hockey to that list. It was officially announced by the NHL on Wednesday July 15th that the Boston Bruins will play host to the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 edition of the Winter Classic.

A look at how the rink will be laid out on the field

Information regarding ticket prices and ticket sales will soon be announced.

Stay tuned for updates regarding the Winter Classic as well as a preview of the ‘09-’10 Boston Bruins as the season draws nearer.