I apologize for making the Bruins lose

When the Bruins entered the first intermission of yesterday's game up 3-1 on the Flyers, I fired out a mass text message to all my friends that care about hockey. It said, "the Bruins are unstoppable."

Predictably, this jinxed them as Philadelphia (27-15-9) obviously got wind of my cocky message and recovered to win 4-3 in overtime at the Garden.

It all started out so well for Boston (39-8-7). Marc Savard opened the scoring with his 21st of the season, from Milan Lucic and Mark Stuart. Savard took a shot, gathered the rebound and spun around the net, letting another shot fly that trickled under Flyers goalie Martin Biron's pads.

Simon Gagne tied it up for Philly on the power play, with his 21st of the season (assisted by Mike Knuble and Claude Giroux).

B's rookie Byron Bitz tallied his first NHL goal at 18:59 in the first. Stuart blasted a shot from the point that hit the post and lay on the open goal-mouth. Bitz just had to knock it in. Petteri Nokelainen also had an assist.

After the ensuing face-off, the Bruins scored eight seconds later as Chuck Kobasew (11th) took a pass from Shane Hnidy (and Patrice Bergeron), rushed towards the net and put a low slap shot under Biron.

Give credit to the Flyers though, as they are a good, tough team. They showed some pride in coming back on the road.

Philadelphia scored twice in the second. Former Bruin Glen Metropolit (2nd) made it 3-2 Bruins, with an assist from Arron Asham. Then Scott Hartnell (20th) tied it on a power play with helpers from Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupul.

In his first game in 30 days, Boston goaltender Manny Fernandez (30 saves) looked a bit rusty but he certainly couldn't be blamed for the fluky game-winner in OT.

Flyers goon Randy Jones (best known for knocking out Bergeron last season) flipped a harmless wrist shot that deflected off B's defenseman Andrew Ference and into the net.

Boston will have a few days to think about the loss and their next game is one of the marquee games of the regular season. On Tuesday, the Western Conference leaders, the San Jose Sharks come to the Garden led by former Bruins star (and MVP) Joe Thornton. Should be a great one.

It's called Bruins

Your Boston Bruins have become the Celtics of the last two seasons. They also resemble the last two Patriots teams to win Super Bowls. Even when they don't play nearly their best, they still find ways to get it done.

Last night in Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, the B's (39-8-6) had a 2-0 lead wiped away as the Senators (17-25-8) scored three straight but it didn't matter as Boston tied it up late in the third and eventually won in a shootout.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (22 saves) stopped the first five shooters in the shootout and Senators goaltender Brian Elliot (30 saves) stoned the first four Boston shooters. Up stepped P.J. Axelsson with his second chance of the season to clinch a shootout win and he didn't disappoint, tucking a backhander just past Elliot.

Blake Wheeler (15th) gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first on a power-play strike from Andrew Ference and Phil Kessel.

Cyborg Zdeno Chara potted his 12th in the second period after assists from David Krejci and Michael Ryder. Most probably expected Ottawa, the second worst team in the NHL, to roll over after that but they didn't.

Nick Foligno jump-started the Ottawa resurgence with a goal later in the second from Brendan Bell.

The Senators top line clicked in the third as Daniel Alfredsson (Dany Heatley) and Jason Spezza (power-play goal from Foligno and Alfredsson) gave their team the improbable 3-2 lead.

With 4:02 left in the third, Chuck Kobasew (one of the only likable things to ever come out of BC) scored his 10th of the season, on a power play. Chara had the initial slap shot, Blake Wheeler's rebound was stopped but Kobasew was there to poke it in.

The Flyers come to Boston tomorrow afternoon for what should be a physical, chippy battle after the Bruins beat them Wednesday in Philly.

The rivalry that the NBA desperately needs, continues to get better

It pains me to say it but for the second time this season, the Lakers beat the Celtics when Boston came in with a double-digit win streak.

LA (40-9) came to the TD Banknorth Garden last night for its third game in four nights and escaped with a 110-109 overtime win. It snapped Boston's 12 game win streak, earlier in the year they had won 19 straight before choking at the Forum.

It was surely one of the best regular season games in the NBA and unfortunately, it enabled the Lakers to sweep the season series after they also beat the Celts on Christmas day in Los Angeles.

Boston (41-10) had to a chance to win it at the end of regulation but a sloppy possession ended with Eddie House (16 points) firing up a prayer of a 3-pointer.

At the conclusion of overtime, Ray Allen (22 points) attempted a three that was blocked by Pau Gasol (24 points, 14 rebounds). Allen and the Celtics' bench wanted a foul but there wasn't enough contact to make that call.

Two games after dropping 61 on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, Kobe Bryant struggled to find his shot but still finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Lamar Odom (one of the NBA's most up and down players) added 20 points and six boards while Derek Fisher scored 13 points.

The Celts got plenty on the offensive side, they just couldn't get any stops when it mattered. Paul Pierce had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists while Kevin Garnett (in his first game back after missing two with the flu) posted 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out on a shaky (at best) call in the fourth.

Rajon Rondo almost had a triple-double with 16 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. A bright spot was Leon Powe, who had his best performance in a while with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Lakers led 23-20 after a defensive first quarter. The Celtics started to run in the second quarter which worked well with Andrew Bynum out. Boston outscored LA, 32-28 in the second as the Green took the slim 52-51 halftime lead.

The Celtics continued the strong play with a 29-26 third quarter but the Lakers made enough plays in the fourth (24-20) to send it to overtime.

Odom's two free throws late in overtime sealed it as it put LA up one.

The best thing for the Celtics is that they can quickly forget about this loss since they go to NYC tonight to face the Knicks. In a perfect world, Boston will jump out to a big lead and get their starters some rest in the fourth ahead of Sunday's big showdown with the Spurs.

What will it be like when both the Bruins and Celtics win titles in the same season?

The Boston Bruins won their third game in a row last night, 3-1 at the Wachovia Center against the Philadelphia Flyers.

It was the first meeting of the season between the top team in the Eastern Conference (and NHL) and the feisty Flyers (26-15-9), who are third in the competitive Atlantic division.

After a scoreless first period, Michael Ryder (19th, from Dennis Wideman and David Krejci) began the scoring at 3:07 of the second period.

Just over two minutes later, Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell tied it up with his 19th of the year from Joffrey Lupul and Ryan Parent.

As they have so often during this incredible season, the B's found a way to break a close game open in the third period and decisively take the win.

Krejci scored his 19th of the season after tipping a Shane Hnidy shot past Flyers goalie Martin Biron (33 saves).

35 seconds later, Wideman put the game out of reach for the Flyers as he scored his 12th of the season from Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ference.

There's little rest for Boston as they traveled to Ottawa after the game and tonight face-off against the Northeast basement dwelling Senators.

Games on back-to-back nights, especially on the road, are never easy but the Bruins should take care of the free-falling Senators, who just changed coaches.

Tim Thomas' record is now 23-5-5 after his 26 save effort. The highlight for the Tank was a reflex save on Flyers sniper Jeff Carter in the second period.

Don't Fuck with the Jesus

Ho hum, another game without KG and another win for the Boston Celtics. That made it 12 wins in a row for the Green.

Sure the C's are far from a great team without their inspirational leader but they tend to have exciting games nevertheless.

Ray Allen (23 points) hit two clutch 3-pointers last night, the second one with 0.5 seconds left as Boston left Philadelphia with a 100-99 win that they probably didn't deserve.

Andre Iguodala (22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) had given Philly (23-24) a one-point lead with a long jumper of his own but just like the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl, the Sixers left the Celtics (like the Steelers, the better team) too much time on the clock.

Paul Pierce (29 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) had the ball at the top of the key and worked the ball to Allen, who used a Glen Davis (12 points, 11 rebounds) screen to get open and fire from the corner. It was a money shot from the NBA's top marksman.

The C's were up 32-20 after the first quarter but the Sixers closed it to 50-49 at the break.

Philadelphia outscored Boston, 21-19 in the fourth before both offenses opened up in the fourth, to the tune of 31-29 Celts.

Rajon Rondo had 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds and seven turnovers. Kendrick Perkins pulled down eight rebounds.

For the 76ers, Andre Miller, who's been a fantasy stud (pats self on back), added 21 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Samuel Dalembert notched 14 points and seven rebounds, Louis Williams scored 11 and Thaddeus Young tossed in 10 points.

Boston shot 53.9% to Philadelphia's 44.6%. The Sixers made 10 more free throws (24-14) but the C's had eight more rebounds (41-33). The reason the Celts should have lost was that they had 20 turnovers, to nine for Philly.

With Jameer Nelson out indefinitely after tearing his labrum, Ray Allen or Rajon Rondo each have a very good chance at being the replacement for Nelson at the All-Star game next weekend.

Hopefully the flu gets out of Kevin Garnett's system as the Los Angeles Lakers come to the Garden tomorrow night for a huge showdown. The Celts will be looking to gain some measure of revenge after the Lakers win on Christmas day.

Sweet uniforms Montreal

The Bruins' poor play against the Canadiens last season seems like about 20 years ago as Boston won its fourth straight against Montreal, 3-1 yesterday at the Bell Centre.

Robert Lang gave the Canadiens (28-16-6) a 1-0 lead late in the first period with a power-play goal from Andrei Markov and Andrei Kostitsyn.

However, Dennis Wideman and the Bruins took back all the momentum and then some as he found the back of the net with a wrist shot with one second left in the period. It was the emerging defenseman's 11th goal of the season.

After tangling with a monster named Alex Henry in the first period, Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton potted his career high (haha, really) fifth goal of the season in the second period. Linemates Byron Bitz and Stephane Yelle had the assists on what turned out to be the game-winner.

Tim Thomas shut the door on Montreal the rest of the way, finishing with 27 saves as the All-Star moved to 22-5-5.

Marc Savard officially clinched it with his empty-netter (20th of the season) when there were 57 seconds remaining.

The B's hit the road to face the Flyers Wednesday in the teams' first meeting of the season. Philadelphia will also travel to the Garden on Saturday to face the NHL's top team.

Remembering what life would be like without KG

It's easy to forget that the Celtics acquired KG a couple days after trading for Ray Allen two summers ago. There is a reason why people (myself included) weren't that excited about a team that only slightly upgraded by trading for Ray Allen. Garnett is a difference-maker as he proved last season in Boston's championship run.

The C's lose its defensive identity when Garnett (flu) is forced to miss a game like he did yesterday afternoon against his former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Boston (40-9) did just enough for a 109-101 home win over the youthful Timberwolves (16-30) in a Super Bowl matinee. Oh by the way, it was the Green's 11th consecutive victory.

Still, it was a reality check of what life would have been like without KG; the Celts would be fighting for home court in the Eastern Conference and would not be title contenders.

Paul Pierce led Boston with a game-high 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Ray Allen added 22 points and Tony Allen scored 14 off the bench. In only his second career start, Glen Davis notched 12 points, six boards and three steals.

Kendrick Perkins scored eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Rajon Rondo had five points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Minnesota was paced by its star, former Celtic Al Jefferson, who had 34 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. It's a joke that he didn't make the All-Star team this season in the West.

Randy Foye added 21 points and nine assists while former Providence College star and Celtic Ryan Gomes notched 17 points and four steals. Sebastian Telfair, the other ex-Celtic, had 10 points and eight assists.

Boston jumped out a sizable lead after a 29-24 first quarter and 33-20 second quarter. The T-Wolves came back in the third (29-25) and fourth (28-22) but Pierce would not let his team choke away such a winnable game.

The Celts travel to Philly tomorrow night and Garnett's status is up in the air.