Boston Sports Media Watch

This post is provided courtesy of the NHL and NHL Network.

BOSTON 2, CHICAGO 0; BOS leads 2-1
Daniel Paille’s goal at 2:13 of the second period held up as the game-winner and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for his third shutout of the postseason.

LIFE OF PAI
Boston forward Daniel Paille scored his second game-winning goal in as many games, becoming the first player since 2006 – and only the second in the last 17 years – to record game-winning goals in consecutive Stanley Cup Final games (Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani, vs. Carolina in Games 5 and 6).

Someone scored consecutive game-winners in each of four straight Finals from 1992 through 1995: Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux in 1992, Montreal’s John LeClair in 1993, NY Rangers’ Glenn Anderson in 1994 and New Jersey’s Neal Broten in 1995. Each of their teams went on to win the Stanley Cup. (Elias)

Paille now has four goals in 19 games this postseason. He had four goals in 46 career playoff games entering 2013.

Three of Paille’s four goals in the 2013 postseason have been game-winners, tying him with teammate Nathan Horton and San Jose’s Logan Couture for second in the League. Paille had no playoff game-winning goals entering 2013.

TUUKKA TIME
Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask made 28 saves to post his third shutout of the playoffs, tying him with Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick for the postseason lead. Rask also leads all netminders in wins (14), goals-against average (1.64) and save percentage (.946) in 19 starts.

Rask has allowed no more than one goal in each of Boston’s last eight victories dating to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He has a 0.57 goals-against average, .980 save percentage and three shutouts in those wins.

Rask’s shutout marks the first blank sheet of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. There were only three shutouts in the 12 Stanley Cup Finals contested from 1987 through 1998 (one each in 1991, 1992 and 1996), but there have been 23 in the 14 Finals since then, with at least one in every series except 2010, when Chicago beat Philadelphia in six games. (Elias)

RECORD-SETTING WIN
With Boston’s victory, home teams improved to 58-25 (.699) in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, setting the NHL record for most wins by home clubs in a single postseason. The previous mark of 57 was set in 92 games during the 1991 postseason. The last time home teams had a winning percentage of .600 or higher during the Stanley Cup Playoffs was in 1993, when they went 52-33 (.612).

BRUINS ROLL AT HOME
Boston won its seventh consecutive home game, marking the second-longest home winning streak in the 2013 playoffs (Los Angeles: 8 games). The Bruins improved to 8-2 at home this postseason, where they have outscored opponents, 28-17.

Boston has won each of its four Stanley Cup Final games contested at TD Garden, outscoring the opposition, 19-3 (17-3 vs. Vancouver in 2011, 2-0 vs. Chicago in 2013).

DOMINANT IN THE CIRCLE
Led by forward Patrice Bergeron, who won 24-of-28 draws, the Bruins dominated the face-off circle in Game 3, posting a 71.4% winning percentage (40-16). The Bruins led the League in face-off winning percentage during the regular season (56.4%) and now have passed San Jose into first place among 2013 playoff clubs (56.1%).

Bergeron was the League’s top individual face-off performer during the regular season, posting a 62.1% success rate. He also leads the League in the postseason (62.7%).

In addition to his face-off prowess, Bergeron tallied Boston’s insurance goal in Game 3. He has 4-2—6, including one game-winning goal, in his past six games.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Boston denied all five Chicago power plays in Game 3 and now has killed off 27 consecutive penalties dating to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, including all 11 Blackhawk opportunities through the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins have an 88.9% penalty-kill rate during the 2013 playoffs (56-for-63), including an 88.6% mark at home (31-for-35).

Chicago went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game 3 and has not scored a power-play goal in its last 20 chances dating to Game 2 of the Western Conference Final. The Blackhawks have an 11.3% power-play success rate this postseason (7-for-62), including a 3.7% mark on the road (1-for-27).

SURPRISE DEBUT
Chicago forward Ben Smith made his 2013 postseason debut following a late scratch of Marian Hossa. The 24-year-old Smith has strong ties to the New England area – he grew up in Avon, Conn., earned First Team All-New England honors in high school at The Westminster School (Simsbury, Conn.) and won two national championships in four years at Boston College (2008, 2010).

Smith played 10:23 of Game 3, recording one shot on goal, two blocked shots and a -1 rating. He had not played in the postseason since Game 7 of the 2011 Western Conference Quarterfinals versus Vancouver and had not appeared in any NHL game since Chicago’s regular-season finale at St. Louis April 27.

MOVING UP
Boston forward Jaromir Jagr earned the primary assist on Patrice Bergeron’s power-play goal. The assist increased Jagr’s career postseason point total to 197 (78 goals, 119 assists), moving him past Paul Coffey (59-137—196) and into sole possession of fifth place on the NHL’s all-time playoff points list.

Most Career Playoff Points
1. Wayne Gretzky: 122-260—382
2. Mark Messier: 109-186—295
3. Jari Kurri: 106-127—233
4. Glenn Anderson: 93-121—214
5. Jaromir Jagr: 78-119—197
6. Paul Coffey: 59-137—196

SEGUIN STEPS UP
Boston forward Tyler Seguin assisted on the game-winning goal, giving him a helper in each of the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final. That equals his total from the first three rounds of the playoffs, when he recorded 1-3—4 in 16 games.

DID YOU KNOW?
The Bruins have a 2-0 all-time record when holding a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final. The Blackhawks are 0-3 lifetime when trailing 2-1 in the Final.

LOOSE PUCKS
The Bruins improved to 4-0 in Game 3s this postseason. The Blackhawks fell to 0-4 . . . Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford made 33 saves, his fifth 30-plus save performance in the 2013 postseason . . . Home teams now have won the past 10 Game 3s in the Stanley Cup Final. The last road team to win a Game 3 in the Final was the 2002 Red Wings over the Hurricanes (3-2 in 3OT) . . . View a time-lapse video of Game 3 in 70 seconds . . . Prospect Nathan MacKinnon was mic’d up when he attended Game 3.

The Bruins look to get ahead in the Stanley Cup Finals tonight as the series comes to Boston. After another thrilling game on Saturday night, the Bruins and Blackhawks find themselves tied up at a game apiece.

Tonight’s game (8:00pm) will be on the NBC Sports Network, the last game in the series which is scheduled to be shown on the cable outlet. The rest of the series will be on NBC, which should be a boon for local outlet WHDH channel 7.

Saturday night’s game ended around 11:30, and for the postgame, NESN was able to jump right in live, but CSNNE was showing the New England Revolution game. They started their Postgame Live on CSNNE.com. I decided to check it out, just to see the quality of the stream. (It was excellent.) I tuned in just in time to hear Felger say “Chris Kelly still sucks!”  That was enough for me.

A couple other quick notes:

Jocks dial up rivalry – If you heard the Mut and Merloni show on Friday, you probably heard their back and forth with Chicago sports radio 670 The Score. A lowlight was Merloni calling the station and trying to pass himself off as “Joey from Medford.”

Bill Simmons is on his way to another lame ESPN Twitter suspension – Awful Announcing looks at The Sports Guy expressing frustration at his employer again.

Former NFL Executive Of The Year Scott Pioli Joins Football Night In America – As he continues his media career, the former Patriots executive signs a deal with NBC.

Anyone see this in the Sunday Baseball Notes in the Globe:

Stephen Drew, SS, Red Sox — Now that June 15 has come and gone, the Red Sox would be able to trade Drew anywhere. Free agents signed during the offseason can’t be dealt until after the 15th unless they give their permission. What would the market be? Given the lack of shortstops around baseball, the Red Sox would have no problem finding a taker, but they have been steadfast that Drew is their guy. One National League GM couldn’t quite understand their infatuation with Drew. “They’re either trying to justify the $9.5 million they paid him, or they’re not sold on [Jose] Iglesias, who could start for 29 other teams.”

So…is this NL GM saying that Iglesias is the best shortstop in baseball?

The Celtics/Clippers talks for Doc Rivers are heating up again, and some think a deal could be done today. It really seems like a point of no return has been reached. Stay tuned…

Bruins lose game one to the Blackhawks in triple OT.

Conversation in the Globe sports department:

Joe Sullivan: Hey Dan, did you know that 23 years ago, when the Bruins played the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals, they lost the first game in triple OT?  They never recovered and went on to lose the series.

Dan Shaughnessy: Wow. I had no idea. That’s my column. I’ll just pad an extra 900 words onto it, the Globe can run headlines like Bruins’ loss evokes memories of 1990 and Drawn-out loss drags us back to 1990.  Phew, I thought I was going to have to write something about a Boston team not opening a championship series in Chicago since 1918 when Babe Ruth beat the Cubs.

Sullivan: Great. That would be really brave of you to bring up such a sore topic. It’s so timely, too. Hey, let’s play this up big on that Twitter thing! The web geeks can make a Tweet about it from the @BostonGlobe account.

Shaughnessy: Make sure they include the word “devastating.” Then I’ll even retweet it. Or rather, you can tell whomever runs my account do it. Is it Silva still?

Sullivan: Wow, Dan, that’s great. Tell you what, I’ll retweet your retweet of the tweet about about your column. I’ll be the only person on the entire planet to do it. This is gonna be huge.

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Patriots to add talk format to preseason TV booth – Chad Finn reports that the preseason duo of Don Criqui and Randy Cross is no longer. Instead, the plan is to go non-traditional and have a “host” (probably Dan Roche) and an analyst (Christian Fauria) along with another former Patriots player on the team sideline.

Rather than doing play-by-play, it will be more of a discussion. This should be an improvement, especially during the second half of games when many of the participants on the field are not likely to be big contributors, or even make the team. It’s an idea I think that has been considered by other networks as they question the traditional setup of play-by-play and analyst in the booth, but the Patriots are the first to do it.

I think it’s safe to say though, that the broadcast team will still wear Patriots polo shirts, which has been an annual topic of rage among certain columnists in town.

Bruins, Blackhawks goalies on two paths to greatness – Bill Doyle has thoughts from Eddie Olczyk on the two goaltenders in the series, and thoughts from other NBC personnel on the series.

A few other links of note:

Clippers, Doc Rivers show mutual interest – Baxter Holmes has the Celtics coach reportedly interested in the potential of the LA Clippers, and of leaving the Celtics to coach them.

I have to think that if things have gotten to this stage, it’s going to be very hard for Rivers to come back here and coach this team, no matter what it looks like. It’s fair to say I’m disappointed in Doc, but it’s also his life and happiness, and if he doesn’t think he’d be satisfied working through a rebuild here, then it’s probably best for all to move on. (Aside: Vinnie Del Negro? Ugh.)

Coming of (young) age: Understanding Xander Bogaerts’ superstar potential – Alex Speier has a look at the youngest player in Triple A and how the Red Sox are managing his progress through the system.

All Hail The Hoodie – Peter Richmond isn’t a fan of the Patriots (He’s loyal to the Giants) but the Sports on Earth writer can’t imagine the NFL without Bill Belichick, whom he does root for.

Despite the disappointing outcome of game one, hopefully it can be appreciated for just what a phenomenal exhibition of sports that it was.

The game ended just a tick before 1:00 EST, but the ratings for the game locally approached NFL levels.

The overnights have this one pulling in a 28.1 locally for WHDH channel 7 which had the game. Compare that to game one of Boston/Vancouver of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals which did a 25.5 locally.

Nationally, the allure of having two Original Six teams translated well in ratings too, which the game doing a 4.8. That is the highest rating for a game one of the Stanley Cup Finals since 1997 (Detroit/Philadelphia, 5.1).

Last year’s game one between the Kings and Devils did a 2.4, so last night represented a 100% increase.

Bruins now face steep uphill battle – Kevin Paul Dupont says that the Bruins are in trouble.

Classic Cup battle tough for Bruins to swallow – Steve Buckley says that the have a lot of work to do if they intend to recover from this one.

For Bruins, this was opportunity wasted – Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins will lament this one as the one that got away.

Bruins lament lost chance, but it won’t be their last chance – Chad Finn says that as tough as this one was to lose, all is not yet lost.

Bruins let Hawks off hook in Game 1 – Joe McDonald has the Bruins just letting this one get away.

Bruins learn extra-long lesson in Game 1 – DJ Bean says that the Bruins proved to be human last night.

A great night, just not for the Bruins  – Chris Gasper says its time to move onto game two.

Elsewhere:

Doc Rivers’ eyes open to other options – Steve Bulpett says that while Doc Rivers said that he would either coach the Celtics or nowhere, the coach is now open to at least considering other jobs as he may not be interested in rebuilding the Celtics.

Two-run HR just adds to Nava’s career year – Sean McAdam looks another big hit for the Red Sox outfielder, who may legitimately be in the All Star discussion. Nava hit a two-run homer last night which couple with a strong start from Alfredo Aceves was the difference for the Sox in a 2-1 win over Tampa.

I’m still laughing.

It was put well by BSMW messageboard poster “Kingasaurus:”

This is amazing on so many levels.

-BB (as usual) doesn’t care about the media reaction to anything he does.
-Silver’s sources wrong
-Jets fans confused, nervous and fatalistic
-Local media confused
-National media confused

The whole thing just makes me laugh.

Where do we even begin? The Patriots signing Tim Tebow basically brought Twitter and the Internet to a standstill yesterday.

Immediately national media booked flights to get to Foxboro for today’s mini-camp. This might be the biggest media crowd ever for a Patriots mini-camp, which is saying something.

There’s plenty of talk about how the Patriots have brought a media circus upon themselves, and how basically this is the worst and stupidest thing they’ve ever done.

When media (and fans) say these things, I can only shake my head at the fact that they clearly haven’t been paying attention for the last dozen years.

There will be no circus. There will be plenty of media at the beginning, but as each day goes by, and Tebow isn’t available to speak, and Belichick won’t give them anything, and Patriots players won’t give them anything, the crowds will thin.

Tebow is no lock to even make it out of this week with the team, let alone make it out of training camp. The scenario I keep seeing in my head is Tebow sustaining some sort of injury, being placed on IR, and basically disappearing for an entire year. During that time, he’ll be around the team, be coached on his technique and playbook, and won’t be seen in the locker room or by the media at all.

That’s if they even decide to keep him around.

This morning’s Belichick press conference might’ve been the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. Thanks for coming, fellas.

Meanwhile, there are some of the worst columns ever written out there today. That’s not hyperbole. Check these out:

Patriots’ arrogance on full display with Tim Tebow signing – Typical Pete Prisco. It’s saying something when Dennis and Callahan are saying your column is a little too slanted against Belichick. Kirk Minihane kept asking Prisco how it would be a circus here, and Prisco had no answer. Clown.

With Tim Tebow, Patriots show desperation – This is a tape-measure shot by James (don’t call me J.J.) Walker of ESPN.com. Holy crap. This might be the worst column ever written. Ever. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Bill Belichick accepts the Tim Tebow challenge – Mike Silver, who is becoming the new Tom Jackson/Charlie Casserly, and who wrote the article that said that Belichick hated Tebow’s game, scrambles and doubles-down on his original claims.

Five Tim Tebow coverage tips for the lucky Boston sports columnists – If you want to see basically everything that is wrong with sports media today in one place, Steve Politi of the Star-Ledger gives it to you in one handy (and incredibly annoying) spot.

The sad thing is, everything in that column will happen. The media is all about the media.

On the other side, you’re bound to have a  really good column or two out there too.

Tim Tebow’s reported signing with Patriots puts QB in perfect position – This one from Dan Wetzel might be the best one I’ve seen.

Hindsight is always a fun activity to engage in. Let’s look at this March column from Kevin Paul Dupont for instance:

Jarome Iginla made the right call

The finger-wags that Dupont takes within the column at Bruins fans are outstanding:

Anyone faulting, or even questioning, Jarome Iginla’s decision to drop himself into the Pittsburgh lineup instead of the Boston lineup just isn’t paying attention to what’s going on in the NHL.

The Penguins are a powerhouse, all the more mighty now that Iginla, the aged star right winger, is joining the roster. About the only thing left for Trader Ray Shero to do now is coax Mario Lemieux out of his owner’s box in Pittsburgh, have him suit up, and maybe have Mario Magnifique ask Wayne Gretzky to come along for the ride.

An unbeatable powerhouse. Got it. He goes on to talk about how the Flames had offers from both the Penguins and Bruins, and the Flames GM wanted to take Boston’s but the choice was ultimately Iginla’s and he chose Pittsburgh.

Again, perfectly understandable on Iginla’s part. Bruins fans don’t want to hear it, but the Penguins are the better team this year, should win it all, and Iginla has been chasing a Cup since joining the Flames in October 1996. To have watched Ray Bourque here for a couple of decades is to know Iginla’s pain and wanting.

Then later, shades of Ron Borges here:

Meanwhile, Chiarelli will have to look elsewhere to improve a team that is now three trades behind the Penguins, who in recent days also acquired ex-Stars forward Brenden Morrow and ex-Sharks blue liner Doug Murray. The Bruins also tried to land Morrow, which leaves Chiarelli 0 for 2 in the mano-a-mano matchup with Trader Ray.

We’ve definitely all said things we’d like to take back, thankfully for most of us, those proclamations aren’t made in public. Normally I overlook failed predictions, but the smarm and finger-wags in this column were too much to be left out.

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Meanwhile, as the Bruins prepare to play for the Stanley Cup for the second time in three years, and the Red Sox sit in first place despite plenty of preason doom and gloom predictions, (not) surprisingly talk this morning in some circles seems devoted to whatever negative stories can be found. Mostly these two:

Wes Welker finally able to be himself as member of the Denver Broncos – Mike Silver of Yahoo! sports has the former Patriot no longer feeling the “urgency to walk the line between bland and unrevealing.”

So when John Fox, Jack Del Rio and Peyton Manning do their usual first-round exit, will Silver follow up about how happy Wes still is to be freed of the shackles of Belichick?

Looking closer at that article, it’s hard to know what inferences to the Patriots are Welker’s and which are Silver’s. For instance:

“It is [a bummer], but I think he understands it, and I understand it. … It’s been going on for years and years. I’m not the first [Patriots] player that this happened to, and I definitely won’t be the last.”

The [Patriots] is put in by the author. But was Welker saying he’s not the first Patriots player this has happened to, or first NFL player?

Doc Rivers mum on returning to Celtics – Gary Washburn of the Globe was able to touch base with Rivers, whose comment about his future with the Celtics was only “I’d rather not say.”

I think Doc Rivers is the best thing the Celtics have going for them at the moment, but even I’m annoyed at how he is essentially holding the team hostage right now. If he eventually quits, many of the top candidates are going to be off the market.

Here’s what ESPN Boston thinks are the top sports stories in Boston today:

Meanwhile the Boston Sports Live webshow on Boston.com has their hot topic for the day:

Joined by @AdamMKaufman on #BostonSportsLive today. We ask why do you think Doc Rivers is still hesitating on a return to the Celtics bench?

— Christopher Gasper (@cgasper) June 10, 2013

By the way, who at the Globe thought that a front-page cover story in the Sunday Globe was the place for an investigative story on why major league baseball games are longer than they were 50 years ago? Must be a slow news week.

The Bruins look to finish off the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in game four. Only the most miserable people in existence are bothering to bring up the collapse against the Flyers up 3-0 back in 2010.

A couple quick things today as I wrap up a very busy real world week. (rollout of a Shortel VOIP for 130 users)

Keith Olbermann back to baseball — his ‘passion’ - Chad Finn looks at the new gig for the former SportsCenter anchor, and also has Jerry Remy admitting that it is something a bit more series than allergies that are keeping off of NESN right now.

I understand completely Remy’s desire for privacy when it comes to his health, and wish him nothing but the best with it. But I get a little annoyed that statements that come out from Remy and NESN are often later found out to be false. It’s happened several times now. It makes it so that whenever he misses time, the worst is going to be assumed, and I’m sure that’s not what all involved want.

Boston Bruins bias lies in the eye of the beholder – Bill Doyle looks at the NBC announcing crew and where Bruins fans perceive that the crew’s loyalties lie.