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Bruins Dominate Caps, Advance

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WASH DC – Boston’s Patrice Bergeron scored twice while high-scoring line-mate David Pastrnak added a goal and an assist while goal-keeper Tuukka Rask turned away 40 shots as the Bruins won their East Division first-round playoff series with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5.

The Bruins won this series 4-1 and must now await to play the winner of the Pittsburgh-New York Islanders series in the second round. That series is deadlocked at 2-2, with Game 5 set for tonight in Pittsburgh.

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Rask was up to the task once again as Boston seemed content to play defense most of the time after it took the lead in the second period. Washington outshot the Bruins, 41-19, and Rask remained steady throughout.

The Washington power play was ineffective, once more, going 0-for-4 in this game and just 1-for-10 in the past two games when the club had a man advantage. Washington had problems finding good scoring chances against a Bruins’ defense that seemed to be faster than the Caps, which slowed the usually high-scoring team down throughout the series.

Pastrnak gave Boston a 1-0 lead 2:28 into the second period. He got the puck near the left boards in Washington’s end and made two slick moves — the first coming when he slid the puck between his legs — that beat two Capital defenders and put a quick shot past goalie Ilya Samsonov (16 saves).

Bergeron made it 2-0 later in the period after a Washington turnover near the blue line. Pastrnak pushed it to Mike Reilly, who fed Bergeron, and the forward ripped a hard shot past Samsonov with 5:55 left in the period.

Bruins Win in Double-OT, 3-2

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) –  Overtimes are us!

Boston’s Craig Smith took fast advantage of a momentary lapse of judgement by Washington’s reserve goalie Ilya Samsonov to deposit the game-winner 5:48 into the second overtime to lead the Bruins to victory over the Capitals, 3-2, in the key Game 3 of their East Division first-round series at TD Garden.

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Smith went behind the opposing net to pounce on a loose puck, then wrapped it around the left side of the goal before Samsonov could get back into position after he misplayed a puck behind his own goal.

Smith’s fortunate – right place, right time – goal gave the Bruins a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand each had a goal for the Bruins, who kept their momentum rolling after a 4-3 overtime win on the road in Game 2. Goalkeeper Tuukka Rask made 35 saves for Boston.

Washington’s all-star Alex Ovechkin and Nic Dowd scored for the Capitals. Samsonov made his series debut in net after being activated from the COVID-19 list and he made 40 saves.

All three games in the series have been decided in overtime and each of the last 12 playoff games between the Caps and Bruins has been decided by one goal, extending the longest such streak in NHL history.

Game 4 is Friday night in Boston.

Celtics Play Well, Play “In”

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BOSTON – Boston’s all-star forward Jayson Tatum scored 23 of his 50 points in the third quarter and the Celtics advanced to the NBA Playoffs with a 118-100 victory over the Washington Wizards in the NBA’s new “play-in” tournament. Washington will play the Indiana Pacers (144-117 winners over Charlotte) on Thursday with the winner grabbing the final Eastern Conference playoff slot.

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All-Star Kemba Walker added 29 points as Boston, which had lost five of its final six regular-season games, claimed the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference bracket. The Celtics will meet the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets in a first-round matchup, with Game 1 set for Saturday night.

Washington, which went 17-6 to finish the regular season and outscored Boston 33-25 in the second quarter of play, led 56-55 at the beginning of the third quarter before the Celtics exploded with 14 straight points as part of a 19-2 run.

 

Slumping Celtics Take on Washington

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Services Reports) – The oft-injured, chemistry-challenged Boston Celtics ended the NBA regular season in a deep slump, while the surging Washington Wizards soared to the finish line. Yet, with the NBA’s new Play-In pre-playoff tournament beginning this week, the two teams will converge Tuesday night when the Celtics host the Wizards. The winner will land the No. 7 seed for the Eastern Conference Playoffs, while the loser will get another attempt to play their way in on Thursday night.

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The play-in games are going to be exciting for fans and it puts an added weight and added importance,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “And then once you get into the playoffs and teams dial into each other and prepare for each other, you see everybody’s level rise.”

The Celtics (36-36), who finished seventh in the Eastern Conference, need to raise their level now as they struggled down the stretch with five losses in six games and nine of their past 13. In previous NBA seasons, the Celtics would be facing the No. 2 Brooklyn Nets in a first-round Best of 7 series, beginning in Brooklyn.

Regardless, the Celtics are limping into the postseason, having recently lost standout swingman Jaylen Brown (wrist) for the rest of the season. He averaged 24.7 points per game and losing Brown’s firepower hurts even more when the opponent trots out Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook as the starting backcourt.

Washington (34-38), which is in the eighth position, was red-hot down the stretch with 17 wins in its past 23 games. Westbrook went into high-level triple-double mode and finished with 38 on the season and 184 for his career, eclipsing NBA legend Oscar Robertson‘s long-held record of 181.

Beal finished second in the NBA in scoring at 31.3 points per game but is less than full strength due to a strained left hamstring that caused him to miss three games before he returned Sunday and scored 25 points in a 115-110 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

“There’s no set-backs, which is good,” Beal said. “I didn’t injure it any worse than what it was. Obviously, it still probably won’t be 100 percent. It is just a matter of managing it as best I can.”

Westbrook recorded triple-doubles in 20 of his past 24 appearances and his first season of teaming up with Beal has been a big success. He averaged a triple-double for the fourth time in the past five seasons, recording an NBA-leading 11.7 assists to go with 22.2 points and a career-high 11.5 rebounds.

After having to yield to James Harden last season with the Houston Rockets, Westbrook has been free to play the game his way under Washington coach Scott Brooks, who was previously his coach in Oklahoma City.

“You gotta give credit to our coach because he’s done an amazing job of making adjustments on the fly,” Westbrook said of Brooks. “The players always get the recognition, but Scotty has done a hell of a job of being consistent and finding ways to make us better along with the coaching staff.”

There will certainly be the eyes on the Boston coach as well as Stevens’ club took a step back this season after losing in the Eastern Conference finals in three of the past four seasons.

This time, the Celtics are still trying to make it into the field and multiple players have been ailing down the stretch, including star forward Jayson Tatum (ankle).

Tatum isn’t worried about the injury for Tuesday, but he understands his club needs to step up its performance.

“It’s been such an up-and-down season,” said Tatum, who averages 26.4 points per game. “Obviously, the last couple of games haven’t gone our way.”

Can Bruins Bring “Ole Mo” Back Home?

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Services Report) – Boston forward Brad Marchand and his Bruins teammates will attempt to build on their momentum as their first-round series against the Washington Capitals shifts to TD Garden for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

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Marchand scored just 39 seconds into overtime to give the Bruins a 4-3 win at Washington on Monday night to even the best-of-seven series at 1-1. The Capitals were 3-2 overtime winners in Game 1 Saturday after Nic Dowd scored 4:41 into the extra period.

Through eight periods, the Bruins and Capitals have each scored six goals and Boston holds a narrow 74-71 advantage in shots on goal.

“Obviously, they’re hard games. They’re playing tough, they’re playing physical, and they’re not giving up a ton,” Marchand said. “It (was a) big one to win, but it doesn’t matter how good it feels. Game’s over and we’ve got to get prepared for the next one.”

Marchand’s winner was the fastest in overtime in franchise history, beating out the legendary Bobby Orr’s iconic leaping goal that finalized a sweep of the Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis on May 10, 1970, by one second.

Boston will needs its top line to show up like it did on Monday to take control of the series. After going scoreless in Game 1, the Bruins’ “perfection line” of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak combined for three points in the win.

Basketball Hall Elects 16 New Members

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SPRINGFIELD – A day after its COVID-19 delayed 2020 induction ceremony, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 16 honorees for the Class of 2021 which will be enshrined on Saturday, September 11, 2021 in ceremonies at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun resort hotel and arena.

The 2021 honorees class includes nine voted in from the North American and Women’s committees, including the ninth-winningest coach in NBA history Rick Adelman, two-time NBA champion and 11-time NBA All-Star Chris Bosh, NBA Finals MVP with the Boston Celtics and 10-time NBA All-Star Paul Pierce, the first Black NBA head coach Bill Russell, four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Champion Ben Wallace, five-time NBA All-Star and NBA Rookie of the Year Chris Webber, two-time NCAA national champion Villanova Wildcats coach Jay Wright, seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith and seven-time WNBA All-Star and three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson of Australia.

Distinguished committees focused on preserving all areas from the game also selected seven direct-elect enshrinees, including the first President of the WNBA and current BIG East Commissioner Val Ackerman, NBA coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and basketball guru Howard Garfinkel from the Contributor Committee, Clarence “Fats” Jenkins from the Early African American Pioneers Committee, Croatia’s Toni Kukoc from the International Committee, Bob Dandridge from the Veterans Committee and Pearl Moore from the Women’s Veterans Committee.

“For the first time in our history, we’ll enshrine two Classes in one calendar year,” said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2021 Enshrinement festivities will begin at Mohegan Sun on Friday, September 10 with the Enshrinement Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala. The Class of 2021 and returning Hall of Famers will then journey to Springfield, Mass. for the annual celebratory events taking place at the newly renovated Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and MassMutual Center on September 11

Capitals Defeat Bruins in Overtime

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WASH DC – Nic Dowd scored the winning goal to give the host Washington Capitals a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Boston Bruins in Saturday’s Stanley Cup playoffs opener.

Tom Wilson and Brenden Dillon also scored for the Capitals, and back-up goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced after being forced into action midway through the first period due to an injury suffered by starting goalie Vitek Vanecek.

Jake DeBrusk and Nick Ritchie each scored for the Bruins while goal-keeper Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in the loss.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven East Division series will be Monday in Washington.

Anderson, who will celebrate his 40th birthday this week, saw his first playoff action since May 25, 2017 when he was the keeper for the Ottawa Senators. The veteran played in only four NHL games this season, in which he posted a 2-1-0 record with a 2.13 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.

Washington’s No. 1 goalie Ilya Samsonov was removed from the league’s COVID-19 protocol list on Saturday but didn’t play.

Wilson, who had a two-point game, opened the scoring by taking advantage of a bad break for Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, whose stick broke when he attempted a point shot. Wilson executed a give-and-go with Oshie on the resulting odd-man rush before he buried a shot from the left circle at the 6:22 mark.

Boston’s DeBrusk evened the score seven minutes later. After Curtis Lazar won the offensive-zone faceoff, pulling the puck back, DeBrusk quickly fired a long shot that eluded Vanecek as he did the splits and appeared to suffer a pulled groin muscle that forced him from the game.

Red Sox Come From Behind vs LAA

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox won their second straight game, following a 3-game losing streak, and are now 12-8 at home, 12-5 since being swept by Baltimore to open the season. With their 4-3 victory over the LA Angels, the Red Sox earned their MLB-best 16th come-from-behind win.

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Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the 7th inning, Boston rallied behind a single by RF Hunter Renfroe and 1B Bobby Dalbec‘s subsequent two-run home run. Renfroe had hit a two-run homer of his own in the Red Sox half of the 2nd inning to open the scoring. In Dalbec’s last six games (beginning 5/7), he is batting 7-for-21 (.333) with three home runs and nine RBI.

Shonhei Ohtani hit his American League co-leading 11th homer of the 2021 season for the Angels, who lost their third straight.

Boston reliever Matt Andriese (2-2) was credited with the win despite allowing José Iglesias’ two-run double in the seventh, and closer Matt Barnes struck out the side in the ninth for his ninth save of the year. Boston starter Nick Pivetta went 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven. Pivetta, who earlier in the week was put on COVID-19+ protocol due to his reaction to his second vaccine, held LA scoreless before Ohtani’s two-out homer in the 6th.

 

Red Sox Avoid Sweep vs. A’s

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak and avoided a three-game series sweep with their 8-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics Thursday night at Fenway Park. The win boosted Boston’s record to 11-8 at home since being swept and starting the season 0-3 vs. the Baltimore Orioles.

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Sox starter Garrett Richards went 6.0 innings, and allowed five hits, three walks while striking out four A’s. He reduced his ERA to 3.89 this season (18 ER/41.2 IP), and ranks as the second-lowest among Red Sox starters. Richards is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA (6 ER/25.0 IP) in his last four starts.

Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts broke out a mini-slump and went 3-for-3, with a run scored, a home run, double and three RBI. Bogaerts hit a two-run HR in the 1st inning, an RBI double in the 2nd, and singled in the 4th inning and now leads the majors in hits (49).

Boston 1B Bobby Dalbec went 2-for-4, with a home run as he hit a two-run blast to center field off Athletics’ starter Sean Manaea in the 2nd inning. Dalbec is batting .351 with an .990 OPS vs. lefties in 2021 (13-for-37, 2 2B, 3B, 2 HR, BB).

Manaea went only 2.0 innings, allowed 10 hits and seven runs, with three runs in the 1st and 2nd innings. The game marked the first time Manaea allowed three or more  runs in multiple innings of a start as he set season-lows with 2.0 innings pitched and season highs in runs (7) and hits (10).

Sports Biz: Bruins Extend Radio Deal

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BOSTON – (Source: Official News Release) – Greater Boston-area radio station – 98.5 The Sports Hub – and the Boston Bruins announced today a new multi-year extension to their partnership. As the flagship station of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Bruins Radio Network, the station is proud to broadcast all Bruins games for years to come.

In addition to broadcasting all Bruins games, 98.5 The Sports Hub will continue to air 30-minute pre- and post-game shows along with the two-hour weekly program, “The Hockey Show” which airs on Saturday from 9am-11am during season.

“The Sports Hub consistently delivers quality game broadcasts and comprehensive hockey coverage for our fans, and they have been crucial in joining our efforts to grow the game of hockey throughout New England,” said Bruins team president Cam Neely.

“We are thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with the Boston Bruins and to be able to share our passion for the Bruins with our loyal New England fans,” said Mary Menna, VP & Market Manager, Beasley Media Boston.

“When the Sports Hub launched in 2009, we were committed to bringing our Bruins programming to another level,” said Sports Hub program director Rick Radzik. “Now, 12 years into our relationship, we’ve both achieved some great successes. I’m very pleased that we will continue to provide listeners with the excellent Bruins coverage they’ve come to expect.”

98.5 The Sports Hub, the country’s top sports station and the #1 station in Boston with men and adults.