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Canadiens win ninth straight over Bruins

Tom Kostopoulos scored 14 seconds into the game and Maxim Lapierre got Montreal's fourth goal of the opening period with 3 seconds remaining, sending the Canadiens on to a 8-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Andrei Kostitsyn, who also scored in the first, got his second goal of the game on a power play 17:44 into the third as Montreal set a season high for goals.

Michael Ryder also scored for Montreal in the first as each of the Canadiens' four lines contributed a goal against Alex Auld, who only stopped three of seven shots.

Bryan Smolinski and Mike Komisarek added goals in the second against Tim Thomas, who replaced Auld to begin the second.

Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal in the third to make it 7-1 as the Canadiens matched their season high for goals, reaching seven for the second time against Boston, and third time overall this season.

Cristobal Huet made 29 saves for Montreal, which extended its winning streak against the Bruins to nine games, including its first six this season.

The Canadiens, who went 5-3-0 against Boston last year, have outscored the Bruins 20-6 in three games at the Bell Centre this season, including a 7-4 win on Nov. 17, the team's second seven-goal game of the season, and a 6-1 win on Oct. 22.

Marco Sturm scored his 16th goal midway through the first to draw the Bruins to 2-1. Petteri Nokelainen added a power-play goal 13:17 into the third.

Boston, which had gone 3-0-1 since a 5-2 loss to the Canadiens on Jan. 10, failed to record a standings point for the first time in five games.

Thomas made 13 saves over the final two periods.

Kostopoulos opened the scoring when he spun around at the right circle and shot a loose puck into a wide open right side.

Ryder, who was reunited with linemates Saku Koivu and Christopher Higgins, redirected Koivu's shot past Auld at 3:12 to make it 2-0.

After Sturm drew scored at 12:09, Kostitsyn got his 13th goal at 16:44 to restore Montreal's two-goal lead at 3-1.

Lapierre drew the sold-out crowd of 21,273 out of its seats one more time in the waning seconds of the opening period when he drove a slap shot past Auld and under the crossbar at 19:57.

Smolinski scored his third goal 5:45 into the second and Komisarek made it a 6-1 lead 1:19 later when he beat Thomas from the slot for his fourth goal.

--AP

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 10:54 PM to Bruins | Permalink | Comments 0

Red Sox sign Kolb, Miceli

The World Series champion Boston Red Sox added insurance for their bullpen Tuesday, agreeing to minor league contracts with right-handers Dan Kolb and Dan Miceli.

Kolb would get $650,000 if he's added to the major league roster and $78,000 in the minors. Miceli would make $650,000 in the big leagues and $84,000 in the minors.

Both pitchers can earn performance bonuses as well.

Kolb was an NL All-Star with Milwaukee in 2004, when he saved 39 games with a 2.98 ERA. He appeared in three games last year for Pittsburgh, pitching three innings.

Miceli's last stint in the majors was with Tampa Bay in 2006, when he went 1-2 with a 3.94 ERA and four saves in 33 relief appearances. He is 43-52 with a 4.48 ERA and 39 saves in 14 major league seasons.

--AP

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 10:52 PM to Red Sox | Permalink | Comments 0

Multimedia: Projo PatsTalk on the road to the Super Bowl

Shalise Manza Young and Mike McDermott look back on the AFC Championship victory and begin to talk about the Giants in this words-and-pictures presentation. Click on the play button below to see and hear the show.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:47 PM to Patriots | Permalink | Comments 0

Game of the day: Fans like Rogers to stay unbeaten

We asked HSGametime readers, beginning yesterday afternoon, to pick the winner of tonight's boys basketball matchup in Newport between Portsmouth (6-1 in Division II, 6-2 overall) and Rogers (7-0, 9-0). There were 28 votes, with 19 people picking the Vikings to win. Tomorrow morning, we'll have a gallery of photos from the game, as well as Steve Krasner's game story.

Now at HSGametime, you can vote on the winner of our Wednesday game of the day: Tiverton at Mt. Hope girls basketball.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Football by the Numbers: Who's up, who's down for the Super Bowl

By Michael Salfino
Fantasy Sports Columnist

Only face-painting Giants fans expected the Week 17 meeting between New York and New England to be a Super Bowl preview.

Despite holding a late, 12-point lead in that game, the most hotly contested yet (officially) meaningless NFL matchup ever, the Giants opened as 12-point underdogs in Super Bowl XLII.

Last month, that was the generic AFC vs. NFC Super Bowl line (no matter who ultimately played). But the Giants are a No. 5 seed from the conference that has lost four Super Bowls in a row. The Patriots are the highest-scoring, biggest-point-differential team in NFL history.

The 12-point spread is rather ho-hum. Nine teams in Super Bowl history have kicked off as at least 12-point favorites. Those teams went 6-3 straight up, with the favored Rams (2002), Packers (1998) and Colts (1969) losing outright. Back in November, the smart money was that the Patriots would be favored by at least 15 points, a mark exceeded only twice in Super Bowl history (by the 18-point favorite Niners in 1995 and 17-point favorite Colts in 1969; the Niners beat the Chargers 49-26 and the Colts were, of course, upset by the Jets 16-7).

The Vegas market is telling us that the Patriots peaked too soon. While remaining unbeaten, they've won by less than 11 points in six of their last eight games. And they last looked dominant way back on November 18, when they waxed Buffalo, 56-10.

In the playoffs, the Patriots were rescued by their offense against Jacksonville and by their defense on Sunday versus the Chargers. That can be seen as evidence of being able to win on both sides of the ball. But how much credit should the Patriots defense get for Sunday now that we know QB Philip Rivers was playing with the torn ACL he suffered the prior week? Norv Turner playing a QB with such a significant injury might be the dumbest coaching decision in NFL playoff history. Why even have a backup if the starter plays with a torn ACL?

Meanwhile, the Giants showed enough strength Sunday in frosty Green Bay to win by at least double digits. The Packers were 1-for-10 on third down. The Giants offense didn't turn the ball over once. New York had 116 more yards from scrimmage and was better in the red zone while making more red zone trips. And they dominated the clock with 60 move plays (runs plus completions) to just 33 for Green Bay. Still, they needed overtime to ultimately prevail.

When we look at the stat sheet for Patriots AFC Championship victory, we see a dead-even game tilting toward San Diego until we get all the way down to red zone efficiency. The Patriots scored TDs on three of four trips while the Chargers were zero for three. But, again, how can you expect a QB to play at all let alone make red zone plays on a torn ACL?

Before making some player predictions, the stats say this game is trending in the Giants' direction. Yes, Tom Brady is a Hall of Famer playing at the top of his game. But we could have said the same thing about Brett Favre last week. I don't think the Giants will have enough offensive horsepower to overcome him. But the outcome should be in doubt come the fourth quarter. Patriots 30, Giants 24.

Buy

Plaxico Burress, WR, Giants: Gets the extra week to rest his season-long ankle sprain and is coming off the most dominant game by a wide receiver in Giants playoff history (11 catches, 151 yards)

Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, Giants: This Corvette makes teammate Brandon Jacobs look like the family station wagon.

Hold

Eli Manning, QB, Giants: He did not turn the ball over one time in three road playoff games. There's an element of greatness there that transcends traditional performance stats.

Randy Moss, WR, Patriots: Backup Giants CB Corey Webster has turned shut-down since stepping in for injured Sam Madison. But Moss has great height and speed and thus can't be stopped one-on-one.

Sell

Laurence Maroney, RB, Patriots: Other than the first half at Dallas, the Giants have been impossible to run on in January. Maroney had just 46 yards on 19 carries in the
Week 17 matchup.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

College hoops chat Wednesday with Paul Kenyon

URI Rams beat writer Paul Kenyon will take your questions in a live chat Wednesday at noon. You can send in your questions now: go to projo.com/chat, click launch chat, choose a display name (you don't need a password) and enter the college hoops chat room. Remember not to press enter or click send until you have completed your thought; questions will display to the room as Paul answers them on Wednesday.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Download today's Sports cover

The heat is on the Patriots to finish undefeated, and Arizona might just be the perfect place to do so for QB Tom Brady and receiver Randy Moss.
Download file

Posted by Rich Lee  at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments 0