The Sports Blast

The Boston Celtics hosted the NBA’s best team the Chicago Bulls Sunday at TD Garden after losing 2 straight. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo took advantage. Rondo scored a season-high 32 points, with 15 assists and grabbed 10 rebounds for a triple-double as the Celtics beat the Bulls, 95-91. The Celtics were without starting center Jermaine O’Neal and power forward Brandon Bass. Chris Wilcox got the start and had 11 points. Kevin Garnett had 13 points and 12 rebounds while rookie JaJuan Johnson scored 12 in a season high 33 minutes. The Bulls pulled within 3 points late in the game but Paul Pierce nailed a jump shot to put the game out of reach. The Celtics are off until Wednesday, when they host the Pistons. They travel to Chicago for a game against the Bulls on Thursday.

The Boston Bruins faced elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals at TD Garden. Brad Marchand got the Bruins on the board with a wrist-shot past Roberto Luongo. The goal was Marchand’s ninth of the playoffs, setting a new Bruins rookie playoff record. Just 35 seconds later, Milan Lucic made it 2-0 slipping one was Luongo. Andrew Ference took a slap shot on the power play that beat Luongo. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault pulled Luongo after allowing three goals on eight shots in only eight minutes. With Cory Schneider in net, Michael Ryder tipped a slap shot from Tomas Kaberle to take a 4-0 lead. The four goals in a span of four minutes set a new Stanley Cup finals mark. David Krejci Scored his 12th goal of the playoffs on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the third to put the finishing touches on the 5-2 win. Tim Thomas stopped 36-of-38 shots in the win. The stage is set for a winner-take-all Game 7 back at Rogers Arena in Vancouver Wednesday night.

The Boston Bruins faced elimination in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals at TD Garden. Brad Marchand got the Bruins on the board with a wrist-shot past Roberto Luongo. The goal was Marchand’s ninth of the playoffs, setting a new Bruins rookie playoff record. Just 35 seconds later, Milan Lucic made it 2-0 slipping one was Luongo. Andrew Ference took a slap shot on the power play that beat Luongo. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault pulled Luongo after allowing three goals on eight shots in only eight minutes. With Cory Schneider in net, Michael Ryder tipped a slap shot from Tomas Kaberle to take a 4-0 lead. The four goals in a span of four minutes set a new Stanley Cup finals mark. David Krejci Scored his 12th goal of the playoffs on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the third to put the finishing touches on the 5-2 win. Tim Thomas stopped 36-of-38 shots in the win. The stage is set for a winner-take-all Game 7 back at Rogers Arena in Vancouver Wednesday night.

The Boston Bruins are one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals and travel to Tampa Bay tonight in Game six. With their back against the wall, Guy Boucher has made the switch in goal again, as Dwayne Roloson will get the start for the Lightning. Tampa Bay has come back in a series this season after being down 3-2. The Bruins hope to erase any chances of that and make up for their bad loss in game four. Johnny Boychuk says he is ready to go after leaving the game on a hit by Steve Downie. The Key to the game is scoring early for the Bruins and playing great defense in front of Tim Thomas. With the pressure on Tampa Bay, they will look to score early and often. The Bruins will need to match that intensity and counter by scoring on the power-play. Zdeno Chara has played well on defefense and saw time in front of the net on the power-play and should again tonight. Thomas and the Bruins have yet to close out a series this late in the playoffs and they have a chance to do so tonight and keep away any doubt for a game 7. The winner of this series will play the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals as they beat the San Jose Sharks in overtime.

The Boston Red Sox were looking for their first win of the season at progressive field. Josh Beckett got the start and allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings as the Red Sox claimed a 4-2 win over the Indians on Tuesday. Beckett lowered his ERA to 1.69, striking out six, walking three and allowing five hits. Jason Varitek added an RBI single in the third inning and broke open the game with at two-run homer in the seventh. Varitek also contributed in the field, throwing out two baserunners trying to steal. Rich Hill Stranded runners in the 7th and pitched a perfect 8th inning. Jonathan Papelbon earned his 9th save. The Indians and Red Sox play today at noon with Jon Lester on th hill.

The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning met in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden. The Lighning struck first just 13 seconds into the game. But The Bruins tied it on a Nathan Horton tip in of a Dennis Seidenberg slap shot. Martin St. Louis scored with :30 seconds remaining in the first period to go up 2-1. The second period was the Tyler Seguin show. Seguin scored the game-tying goal on a spectactular move on Dwayne Roloson with his second playoff goal in as many games. Just 90 seconds later, the Bruins would take the lead for good as David Krejci took a pass from Seidenberg and put it past Roloson for his sixth of the playoffs. Seguin who finished with 6 points on the night scored his second goal of the game and assisted on Michael Ryders pair of goals to go up 6-3. The Bruins won the game 6-5 to tie the series as it shifts to Tampa Bay for Games 3 and 4 Thursday and Saturday.

The Redsox and Angels met in game 3 of their 4 game series at Fenway Park. Josh Beckett got the start and pirched 4 shutout innings before leaving the game due to a two-hour, 35-minute rain delay. The game was tied at zero when Howie Kendrick hit a 2-run homer over the monster off of Dan Wheeler. Jacoby Ellsbury extended the game in the 9th to tie the game at 2. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was making his first-ever major league relief appearance, gave up a bases load single to Bobby Abreu in the 13th-inning to give the Angels a 5-3 win. The actual game-time was five hours, marking the longest contest at Fenway Park since a 2008. The Red Sox send John Lackey to the mound Thursday at 1pm.

The Bruins and flyers series shifted to Boston with the Bruins up two games to none. Zdeno Chara and David Krejci scored just 63 seconds into the game to lead the Bruins to a 5-1 win over the Flyers Wednesday at TD Garden, and a 3-0 series lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series. Chara added Boston’s first power-play goal of the playoffs in 31 chances late in the game to cap off the win. Nathon Horton and Daniel Paille also scored goals for the Bruins. Tim Thomas had 37 saves in the win. The Bruins now stand just one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals with four chances to finish off the Flyers. Game 4 is Friday in Boston.

The Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers met in game two of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flyers got on the board first with 2 goals past Tim Thomas. The Bruins answered with goals from Chris Kelly and Brad Marchand just minutes apart. The Bruins lost Adam McQuaid for the game when he fell head-first into the boards late in the first and went on to play with only five defenseman. Flyers Goalie Brian Boucher left the game with a knee injury but returned in the third period. The game went into overtime when Thomas took over saving 46 straight shots. David Krejci scored with six minutes left in overtime as the Bruins beat the Flyers, 3-2. The series now shifts to Boston.