It's not a trend the Boston Bruins want to continue. For the second consecutive game, the Bruins took a one goal lead into the third period, and as they did in their last contest, failed to hold that lead on their own home ice, eventually losing in overtime 3-2.
Last night's defeat snatched from the jaws of victory came against the revived Philadelphia Flyers, a team mired near the bottom of the standings for most of the season, but a squad that's now won a season high six games in a row.
The Bruins, however, had a bigger hand in that streak continuing than they'd care to. Jumping out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal by David Pastrnak on the power play, where the Bruins continue to thrive, scoring a league high 30% of their goals on the man advantage, Boston gave up the lead with less than a minute to go in the first period when a collective mental lapse allowed the Flyers' Claude Giroux to slip undetected behind the defense and was sent in alone on a breakaway, beating Tuukka Rask to tie the game at one.
The Bruins would regain the lead in the second period, with pastrnak again lighting the lamp on a tip-in of a shot by Patrice Bergeron. It was Pasta's 30th goal of the yar, and the third year in a row he's scored at least 30, so the Black and Gold's woes are not to be found with their ultra-talented Czech Republic winger or that top line he skates on.
But the Flyers tied the game late in the third period on a power play goal and then an ill-timed Bruins penalty in overtime gave Philly a 4 on 3 man advantage with Travis Sanheim potting the game winner, sending the Bruins to their third straight defeat, including those back to back games in which they failed to hold onto a lead at home.
The only good news, other than picking up a pity point for the regulation tie, is that Tuukka Rask was back in between the pipes for Boston after suffering a concussion before the all star break, and the loss was no fault of his. Rask was very sharp and made 38 saves on the night, including turning away Scott Laughton on a penalty shot in the third period.
But the Bruins need to stop making mental errors that provide ready made goal gifts to other teams as they try to break back into the top three in the division rather than clinging to the hopes for a wild card berth. There isn't a lot of wiggle room there.
It's also evident that GM Don Sweeney may need to try and find some secondary line scoring help before the trade deadline, but the Bruins don't have much salary cap space and not a lot of cards to play in dealing for a winger who can get the David Krejci line some scoring support.
Some big news out of the NBA where fans of the NY Knicks will no doubt be using words I can't repeat here to describe their team's management for trading away the team's most popular player, and a bona fide all-star, too.
Kristaps Porzingis is a 7 foot 3 Latvian power forward who was averaging 22 points a game for the Knicks before he went down with a season-ending knee injury at the end of the 2018 season and he hasn't played this year. Still, Knicks fans saw him as the only light at the end of a long tunnel of losing seasons, and now he's been shipped off to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for exchange for a package that includes point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and two future first-round draft picks, as reported by ESPN.
Rounding out the deal is Wesley Matthews and DeAndre Jordan going to the Knicks, but they both have expiring contracts will likely be bought out. The Mavs also get Trey Burke in the deal, who's averaging 11 points this season. The Knicks say the made the deal because Porzingis told them he wanted out of the Big Apple, but that will be little comfort to fans who have been waiting for a winning season the way New Yorkers wait for late-arriving MTA subway trains these days, which is to say, with growing impatience.
In women's college hoops the Norwich Cadets took a slim lead into half-time against Anna Maria College, but couldn't hold off the Amcats in the second half, falling 58-49 in Massachusetts.
Despite the loss, Kailynne Frederick made a good impression in her first collegiate start, finishing with a double double of 12 points and 10 rebounds for Norwich, and Emily Oliver had a game-high 19 points in the losing effort.
Finally, I'm told there is a pretty big football game happening this weekend. And I have no hesitation in predicting who's going to win. It's pretty clear to me that Team Ruff has a better game plan and more overall cuteness to beat Team Fluff this year. But I suppose I should put my prediction for the Super Bowl over the Puppy Bowl, which, if you haven't seen it on Animal Planet, is guaranteed to be more entertaining than Maroon 5 at half time.
But, on to the real game. I didn't think the New England Patriots could beat the Kansas City Chiefs on the road this year, and they proved me wrong. The Pats have made something of an art out of proving people wrong over their nearly two decades of uncanny football dominance, and that's something I want to emphasize before getting to any prediction on the Super Bowl.
It's easy to hate the Patriots if you're not from these environs. Their remarkable run of five super bowl wins, and eight, now nine appearances in the biggest sports contest in the country reminds me of the kind of run the NY Yankees had from 1996 to 2001, but even there, that was a relatively short stretch of excellence compared to what the Patriots have done, and they've done it in a league that emphasizes and maintains parity through a salary cap that baseball does not have.
Love him or hate him, coach Bill Belichick finds a way year in and year out to put players into a system that produces winning results. Tom Brady is not the world's most gifted athlete but he is a zen master of understanding the game unfolding in front of him, and has a mindset that unless the clock denies him the chance, he will find a way to win.
Try to appreciate the aesthetics of that, and realize that we are lucky to be seeing this kind of brilliance in a sport known more for its brutality, and realize that years from now, if we're still around to tell the tale, we'll be talking about Brady and the Patriots the way people of an older generation talk about Johnny Unitas and Vince Lombardi and Jim Brown.
If the Pats offensive line can protect Brady the way they did against the Chiefs, I predict Pats by three, and a record six super bowl rings for the player who at one time, was a complete unknown and who no one could have predicted would become the greatest quarterback of all time.
Enjoy the game.
