BRUINS HANGING, CELTICS IMPROVING

With March Madness taking place without any Massachusetts team in it, the Bruins and Celtics get a little extra attention as both teams are down to their last 10-15 games of their seasons. Last Sunday, we moved the clocks forward. That may have been how the Celtics fell to the Cavs on national tv hours later. Just not good enough, or so we thought.
The team responded by whacking the shameful Knicks, who have have been one of the leagues worst teams overall for the past 8 or 9 seasons. The Celts moved on to bigger opponents this weekend and passed the test by defeating both the Rockets and Mavs in Texas. The team is locked in a battle for the coveted 3rd seed in the East. Standings below.
The Bruins continue to tread water. They are without Savvy for the season and the team misses him, especially on the power play. While the team is last in the league in scoring goals, they have the 4th best defense, thanks mostly to their goaltending duo of Rask and Thomas. The kill power plays but don't score on theirs either. They get locked in tight one or two goals games. They can't catch a break for the most part. They also are a great road team but horrible team on home ice. Moreover, their home record is 2-8-5 in 2010 thus far, and that includes a much needed victory minutes ago. But first, the team entered the week with a game in New Jersey. The Bruins were smothered and lost 3-2. That put them at 0-3 versus a possible first-round opponent next month. Next up, was a game in Carolina, a team that was once 25 points behind the Bruins and would pull within 6. The Bruins stepped up and won easy. The national spotlight was on the next opponent, the Pens. With Matt Cooke awaiting his beating, the game was one of the most hyped regular-season games ever. Sure, as soon as he stepped on the ice he was forced to fight Thornton, in which the punk got wailed. But despite the fight and the near miss of goals due to the crossbar, the team was down 1-0 after the first despite outplaying their new rival. In the end, the Bruins played poorly the rest of the way and lost 3-0. With the season hanging in the balance, the team had the national spotlight on them once again in a Sunday matinee versus the Rangers. The tight game was inevitably a good, smart, hard-fought 2-1 victory for the good guys. As you'll see in a minute, the team is 3 points ahead for the covered #8 seed, but also 3 points behind moving up to the #5 seed! Things will get real interesting next week as two teams behind the Bruins, the Thrashers and Lightning, battle our Bruins. The Bruins also have the pretty good Flames next weekend. Big week ahead no doubt.

NHL Standings East

1. WASHINGTON 106
2. PITTSBURGH 90
3. BUFFALO 86
4. NEW JERSEY 88
5. PHILADELPHIA 79
6. OTTAWA 79
7. MONTREAL 79
8. BOSTON 76
9. ATLANTA 73
10. NEW YORK 71
11. CAROLINA 68
12. TAMPA BAY 68
13. NEW YORK 68
14. FLORIDA 67
15. TORONTO 64

NBA Standings East

1. CLEVELAND 55-15
2. ORLANDO 49-21
3. BOSTON 45-24
4. ATLANTA 44-24
5. MILWAUKEE 38-30
6. MIAMI 36-34
7. CHARLOTTE 35-34
8. TORONTO 34-34
9. CHICAGO 32-37
10. NEW YORK 25-44
11. PHILADELPHIA 24-46
12. INDIANA 23-46
13. DETROIT 23-46
14. WASHINGTON 21-46
15. NEW JERSEY 7-62