Nobody likes you Montreal, move along

It's the longest running playoff rivalry in sports: Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins. For that and many other reasons (namely the fact that they've knocked us out in the first round three out of the last four times we've made the playoffs), this is the perfect way to start what should be a long playoff run for the B's.

The Caps lost game 1 to the Rangers on Wednesday and San Jose was shutout by the Ducks last night so anything can happen in the second season.

Last night at the Boston Garden, the Bruins took game 1, 4-2. Phil Kessel led the way with two goals and assist while Zdeno Chara provided the game-winner in the third period with one of his patented blasts from the point.

The Canadiens simply own Boston in the playoffs, with a 24-8 series record. Boston hasn't gotten out of the first round since 1999 and it is 37 years and counting since the Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup. All of these facts and tidbits give writers plenty of material but none of it has any bearing on this year and this series.

For once, Boston has all the pieces: a great goaltending, four solid lines of scoring, probably the best defenseman in the league and a coach that is also at the top of his game.

Kessel and David Krejci gave the B's a quick 2-0 lead in the first period which sent an electric crowd into a frenzy. Kessel poked home a rebound (from Krejci and Chuck Kobasew) past Habs goalie Carey Price (38 saves). A minute and a half later, after some superb forechecking by Milan Lucic, Krejci scored after passes from Lucic and Michael Ryder.

Montreal hung around though as Chris Higgins scored from ex-Bruin Glen Metropolit and Alex Tanguay. It was 2-1 Boston after one period.

Alex Kovalev tied it late in the second period with a ridiculous one-timer that snuck into the top right corner, past B's goalie Tim Thomas (28 saves). Saku Koivu and Josh Gorges assisted.

Chara's power-play goal at 11:15 in the third came with assists to Kessel and Marc Savard. After not creating many decent scoring opportunities in the second and third, Boston finally cashed in a good chance.

Kessel iced it with an empty-netter with 14 seconds left, with Lucic providing the dish.

There was a scrum after that last goal and numerous other scraps during the game. Montreal clearly realized that the only chance they had to win was to goad the Bruins into dumb penalties and get them out of their style. The Canadiens put on a brave face afterwards and said they saw promise but if they lose tomorrow night in game 2, good night.

Hey A's: "How do my knuckleballs taste?"

There is no point getting all worked up about a bad start in baseball because the season is so damn long. Still, the Red Sox's 2-6 start (topped off by Tuesday night's pathetic 12 inning loss to the A's) was troublesome (pours out 40 for 2PAC).

Boston needed a kick in the pants and it got it, for at least one day, as 97-year old Tim Wakefield flirted with a no-hitter yesterday afternoon in the series finale at McAfee Coliseum which the Sox (3-6) won 8-2.

Your favorite Hawaiian catcher Kurt Suzuki broke up the bid with one out in the eighth but the bottom line was that Wake went the distance on a day that the bullpen needed it most.

He gave up two earned runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. His record evened out at 1-1.

Mike Lowell gave Boston a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the second off Oakland (4-5) starter Brett Anderson (0-2).

The Sox really broke it open with six runs in the eighth inning. J.D. Drew had the biggest hit, a three-run bomb while Nick Green (two-run) and Jacoby Ellsbury added RBI singles.

The Sox get today off and come home to face the surprising Baltimore Orioles (6-3) this weekend in a four-game set at Fenway. Dice-K went on the DL with arm fatigue (yikes) and Jed Lowrie is also on the DL (wrist).

If you think the Rays were a fluke, you're an idiot (that probably calls WEEI every day)

Well what do you know, the Tampa Bay Rays took two of three in the season opening series at Fenway.

Yesterday afternoon, the Rays (2-1) won 4-3 behind three home runs and the strong pitching of Matt Garza (1-0).

The bat-shit crazy but extremely talented righty baffled the Sox (1-2) for seven innings: one run on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

On the other side, the mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, wrapped inside a Fenway Frank that is Daisuke Matsuzaka got his 2009 campaign off to a mediocre start.

Like most Americans, I could care less that the Dice man was the World Baseball Classic MVP for the second time in a row, just a few weeks ago. As much as ESPN will try to convince me otherwise, that competition means nothing. This is Matsuzaka's third season in MLB and I feel like I already know what to expect from him: a high-wire act that's usually successful but ultimately underwhelming long-term.

Dice-K (0-1) lasted 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Matt Joyce hit a solo homer in the second for Tampa Bay. Evan Longoria (3 hits)-who is easily one of the top young players in baseball-blasted a two-run bomb in the third and finally, backup catcher Shawn Riggens hit a solo shot in the fourth.

Once Matsuzaka exited, the Sox bullpen actually did a nice job keeping their team in the game while the bats slightly woke up.

Jason Bay's RBI triple knocked in Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 2 runs) to make it 4-1 in the sixth.

Mike Lowell doubled home Youk in the eighth to cut the lead to two (4-2).

Without question, the Rays' biggest weakness is at closer where fossilized relic Troy Percival still gets the call (for the next few weeks at least before he breaks a hip or throws out his back). Jason Varitek took him deep in the ninth and David Ortiz walked but Youk flew out to deep center to end it.

The Sox travel to Anaheim to face the Angels in a three game set. No clue what to expect from a team that was just struck by tragedy. Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver on Wednesday night after starting for the team. Their game yesterday against the A's was cancelled.

Season's over: Sox lose a game

As quickly as the bandwagon fans and brain-dead media get hyped after a relatively easy opening day win, it takes roughly the same amount of time to get down as the Red Sox came back to earth last night with a 7-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway.

In a duel of great lefties, Tampa's Scott Kazmir (1-0) came out on top of Boston's Jon Lester (0-1). Kazmir went six innings, allowing one run on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Lester was gone after five innings of work. He gave up five runs on eight hits, with two walks and five strikeouts.

Lester is thought to be a top contender for the AL Cy Young this season so seeing him start out really well (all five strikeouts in the first two innings) then completely unravel was surprising to say the least.

The Rays pushed across their first run in the third on a throwing error by Kevin Youkilis.

He atoned for that mistake with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning which scored Dustin Pedroia. Youk finished with three hits, the only bright spot in a Sox lineup that struck out eight times and left nine on base.

Tampa Bay (1-1) showed it can play any style of baseball in the fifth inning. First, Jason Bartlett (three hits) executed a perfect safety squeeze, which scored former Sox player/minor league manager/bodybuilder Gabe Kapler. Lester got Evan Longoria to ground into a double play but a run still scored.

The most damaging play of the game was later in the fifth when Carlos Pena hit a two-run bomb to center, giving Tampa a commanding 5-1 lead.

Longoria hit a solo shot in the eighth off Takashi Saito (making his Red Sox debut) and Boston responded with one in their half of the inning when Jason Bay doubled home David Ortiz.

Carl Crawford's infield single in the ninth accounted for the last run of the game.

The series wraps up this afternoon with a day game pitting Matt Garza against Dice-K.

All is right in the world on Opening Day

The economy is a nightmare and the weather around here is typical New England early spring misery but all that can be overlooked for a few hours when the Boston Red Sox are playing games that matter.

A day later than expected, due to a rainout, the Sox (1-0) opened up the 2009 season with a textbook 5-3 win over the defending AL Champions, your Tampa Bay Rays (0-1).

Josh Beckett (1-0) was the biggest star yesterday as he looked like the lights out Beckett of 2007. He went seven innings, allowing just one run on two hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts.

James Shields (0-1) was not nearly as stellar for the Rays. He lasted only five innings, giving up five runs on nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

The hype going into this season is that the Red Sox have one of if not the top pitching staff in baseball. A top three of Beckett, Jon Lester and Dice-K is pretty hard to argue with.

Conversely, the Sox lineup is much more of a question mark as players like Jacoby Ellsbury have to take the next step in their progression while automatic outs like Jed Lowrie and Jason Varitek have to improve, however slightly.

2008 American League MVP Dustin Pedroia is a sure thing and he exemplified that by hitting a homer over the Monster in his first at bat of the season.

Carl Crawford's sacrifice fly in the third tied it but Boston scored three in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

J.D. Drew grounded out for an RBI, Jason Bay had an RBI single and Mike Lowell (back from hip surgery) capped it off with an RBI double.

The most surprising part of the came occurred in the sixth when Varitek wrapped a home run around Pesky's Pole in right. For one day, the Captain didn't look like a zombie at the plate.

Evan Longoria hit a two-run single in the eighth off Justin Masterson (allowing Hideki Okajima's two runners he left on) to score but Jonathan Papelbon came on for a 1-2-3 save in the ninth.

Scott Kazmir takes on Lester tonight.

Somewhere the Dropkick Murphys are writing a terrible song that will make millions

For the first time in 16 seasons, your Boston Bruins hit the 50-win plateau last night at the Garden with a 2-1 triumph over the playing-for-pride Ottawa Senators.

It's the eighth time in franchise history that they've reached that mark and the 110 points represent the team's highest total since the '82-'83 season.

Not bad for a team that was treading water for a few months. They're currently 7-1-1 in their last nine games, winners of five straight. With one more win (or two more points), the B's will clinch the Eastern Conference's top-seed and all the home ice glory that entails. There's an outside chance that they could also still have the best record in the league.

Do you think anyone in the world (not currently employed by the Bruins, including bat-shit crazy NESN announcer Jack Edwards) would have picked this team to have such an amazing season this year? No and that's what makes this so sweet. Obviously, if they choke and lose in the first round of the playoffs, people (myself included) will be lining up to jump off the Tobin Bridge. But for now, NHL hockey is important once again in the Hub.

Daniel Alfredsson (from Jason Spezza, Chris Campoli) gave Ottawa (33-34-10) the 1-0 lead in the first period.

The Bruins (50-17-10) led by the red-hot Milan Lucic bounced back in the second when Looch (17th) scored off assists from Michael Ryder and David Krejci.

In the third period, Marc Savard (24th) notched the game-winner after a steal and dish by P.J. Axelsson.

Boston goaltender Tim Thomas made 31 saves and his impressive record climbed to 33-11-7.

The Rangers come to the Garden tomorrow afternoon in what could be a first round preview. New York is sliding and they currently sit in the eighth spot, just ahead of Florida and behind Montreal.

Tommy Points all around: Celts pull out gutty double OT win vs. Charlotte

With the bad news the other day that Kevin Garnett will be out at least until April 12 against the Cavaliers (and most likely until the playoffs), the Boston Celtics circled the wagons and put in some serious work last night, beating the Bobcats 111-109 in double overtime at the Garden.

It was a game the C's (57-19) had to have as they try to get the No. 2 spot in the East while on the other side, it was a crushing loss for the Bobcats (34-41) as they try to slide into the eighth seed and the franchise's first playoff spot.

It was a game that Charlotte choked away as they led by as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter before Boston staged a nice comeback.

Rajon Rondo (21 points, 9 assists, 4 steals, 4 rebounds) even had a chance to win it as Celtics coach Doc Rivers drew up a nice inbounds play at the end of the game: Paul Pierce (32 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) passed to Rondo, Rondo gave it back to Pierce and then he handed it off to Rondo who had an open lane to the hoop. His runner was too strong and rimmed out.

Ray Allen (22 points) was the hero of the overtimes as he hit a tying 3-pointer in the second overtime and the game-winner with 2.1 seconds left (putting the Celts up by two points). On the latter shot, Pierce drove and drew multiple defenders before kicking to Ray in the corner.

Eddie House (18 points) also had a great game off the bench in the win.

Charlotte saw seven players score in double figures, led by the always underrated Gerald Wallace (20 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals). Boris Diaw (17 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds), Raymond Felton (14 points, 12 assists) and Emeka Okafor (12 points, 10 rebounds) were all good. Raja Bell added 12 points while D.J. Augustin (14 points) and Vladimir Radmonovic (10 points) were solid off the bench.

The Celts host Atlanta tomorrow night.