The Boston Bruins have been among the NHL's best teams of late, recording at least one point in seven straight games, but that streak was snapped by the Sharks in San Jose last night.
The Bruins had a 2-1 lead after one period on goals by David Krejci and Loui Eriksson, but the Sharks tied the game in the second on a goal by defenseman Brent Burns, a milestone tally that lifts him into a tie for the Sharks' franchise record for points and goals in a season by a defenseman. The game-winner for San Jose came off the stick of Joonas Donskoi in the third period. The Bruins get a bit of rest before moving on to Anaheim Friday night before taking on the Ducks, but with last night's loss the Bruins fall a point behind the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic division.
That's because the Montreal Canadiens couldn't find a way to beat Florida, losing 4-1 at the Bell Centre last night. The only silver lining for Canadiens fans (other than not helping out their ancient rivals in Boston) was seeing Alex Galchenyuk continue his hot streak. Montreal's only goal last night came off Galchenyuk's stick, and he now has a streak of twelve goals in his last ten games.
In the NBA, the Boston Celtics couldn't hold off a fourth quarter surge by the Indiana Pacers, who used a 15-4 run in the final stanza to break open a game tied at 77 and beat Boston 103-98 in Indiana. Isaiah Thomas led Boston with twenty-one points and eight assists, but the absence of Jae Crowder, out for at least the next two weeks with a high ankle sprain, was likely a factor in Boston's fourth-quarter fade.
To the NFL, and the New England Patriots' pass rush could be noticeably slower next year.
The Pats traded Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals yesterday for guard Jonathan Cooper and a second round pick in the next draft. Jones had a career season last year, being named to the Pro Bowl after recording twelve and a half sacks, fifth best in the league. Cooper was the seventh player selected overall in the 2013 draft by the Cardinals, but his career has been marred by numerous injuries since. So why would the Pats trade Chandler, a budding star just coming off his best year as a pro? Well, it's all about the salary cap and prioritizing which players need to be retained for the long run. Players entering free agency next year include Dont'a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan and 2014 Superbowl hero Malcolm Butler, plus core veterans such as Sebastain Vollmer and Rob Ninkovich, so trading Jones while his value is still high and a year before he has leverage as a free agent makes sense.
The only question is whether Cooper can live up to the potential he had when the Cardinals drafted him as a first round selection. The Patriots also probably liked getting a second round pick from Arizona since the league shafted them by taking away their first round selection due to the phantom scandal over properly inflated footballs. That was a shameless and unjustifiable travesty based on non-existent evidence approved under the tenure of league commissioner Roger Goodell, who's about to have disciplinary responsibilities removed from his job description a year late and a million dollars (the fine levied on the Pats for doing nothing wrong) short.
A quick note of optimism for Red Sox fans from spring training, where Boston had lost five straight pre-season games before again losing, this time 6-3, to the New York Yankees in Fort Meyers yesterday. Now, final scores are really meaningless in spring training games, but individual performances by key players can be revealing and on that front, newly acquired free agent ace David Price did not disappoint. The hard throwing lefty struck out six, didn't issue a walk and threw forty of his fifty-four pitches for strikes in the win.
