Bruins, Sox volley dramatic victories
Jan-Christian Sorensen
Contributing Writer
One good turn, as it’s often said, deserves another.
And apparently, yet another.
Monday night the Boston Bruins wrote themselves into the NHL history books, overcoming a three-goal deficit in the third period of their Game Seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Toronto Maple Leafs to force overtime. In the winner-take-all extra stanza, Patrice Bergeron banged home the winner to send the Bruins on to the semifinal round against the New York Rangers.
A number of the Red Sox, en route to St. Petersburg during an off day before the start of their three-game set against the Rays, tweeted their support for the Bs as the clock counted down and the comeback began to click.
Among the cyberspace boosters was Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks:
BRUINS!!!! Awesome comeback win.
— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) May 14, 2013
Middlebrooks obviously took a shine to the Bruins’ heroic rally, as he sparked one of his own for the Sox on Thursday night.
While the stakes weren’t nearly as high at Tropicana Field — had the Bruins lost on Monday, it would have been off with the skates for the season and on to the first tee on Tuesday — there was a kernel of that same titanic, against-all-odds resurrection drama in the Sox win.
Top of the ninth. Down 3-1. Two strikes. Two out. Bases loaded.
Cue the drama. Cue the comeback.
On the fourth pitch of the sequence, Middlebrooks slashed an 85-mph offering from a hapless Fernando Rodney into left to cash in Dustin Pedroia, Pedro Ciriaco and Daniel Nava and give the Sox a last-gasp, 4-3 edge in the rubber game of the series. Even though the Rays threatened in the home half of the frame, the Sox held on for their first ninth-inning comeback win of the year.
Hey, where there’s a Will, there’s a way, right?
“(Rodney) hung me a changeup,” said Middlebrooks. “Normally he buries that pitch, and he left it up.”
Only minutes later it was the Bruins’ turn to keep the comeback merry-go-round spinning as Brad Marchand buried the winning goal at 15:40 of the first overtime period back in Boston to give the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Rangers in Game One of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Hopefully, the two Hub teams can keep helping each other out with inspirational, back-and-forth wins as the Sox continue on their nine-game road swing in Minnesota on Friday and the Bruins get set to host Game Two of the semifinals on Sunday.
Keep trading wins with the Sox and you can bring Lord Stanley’s Cup to Fenway in June — just like you did in 2011, when you harpooned the Vancouver Canucks in the Final — and we’ll swing on by the TD Garden in October with some skates and the World Series trophy.
Sound good?
Twitter: jan_doh
