Terrible, Terrible Night

BRUINS

Despite putting in their biggest offensive output since October 13th (5 goals), the Bruins managed to find a way to fall apart at the very end of the game and lose 6-5 in OT. David Krejci scored the game-tying goal at the 14:13 mark of the third period on a 5 on 3 power play and Marco Sturm scored three minutes later to take a 5-4 lead. The B's were on the verge of a great road victory and about to take down the defending Stanley Cup champs for the second time this week when the unthinkable happened. With .04 seconds left, Bill Guerin scored on a shot from the top of the circles just inside the blue line to tie the game. That moment completely deflated a seemingly rejuvenated Boston team and just 1:24 into overtime Pittsburgh Tim Thomas was caught out of position leaving an empty net for the Penguins who registered the game winner. The B's lost another heart breaker, going down in OT for the second time in as many games.

Cmon, man!

CELTICS

For the second straight night the C's dropped a tough one. A well-rested Pacers team caught fire against a Celtics team that played questionable defense all night long. Indiana shot 53% from the floor, hit 9 of their 18 threes, and handed out 31 assists on 40 baskets, taking advantage of the weak perimeter defense demonstrated by the Celtics. Despite being up at the half, the C's gave up 61 points in the second half of the game as it slipped away from them. With the Pacers playing a small lineup, KG was forced into guarding sharp-shooter Danny Granger who was 6-9 from downtown. Pierce admitted his sore knee limited him last night and took some of the blame for the loss.

Reality check. Nothing is going to be a given to the C's. Teams are going to come out and want to beat them every night, therefore they need to be prepared and be able to execute more consistently. The C's don't play again until Wednesday versus a Warriors team in turmoil. The Celtics have to dictate the tempo of play early in the game, as they can't afford to get caught up in the Warriors run and gun style.

PATRIOTS

Brandon Tate, we hardly knew you. The third round pick lasted all of two games before going down with a knee injury last week after spending the first seven weeks on the PUP list. The Pats will now look for yet another alternative to return kicks. The Pats promoted QB/WR Isaiah Stanback from the Practice squad. Stanback, a third year player out of Washington, played QB in school but was converted to WR by the Cowboys. He has been working exclusively at QB with the practice squad, but Belichick loves versatility out of his players and Isaiah says he will do whatever is needed. With only three wide receivers dressing tonight for certain (Moss, Welker, Aiken, and maybe Edelman), look for #9 Stanback as a possible option of the offensive side.

RED SOX

Great article by Peter Gammons. A very good read.

The second leg of the offseason preview post (pitching) will be posted Wednesday.