Sunday Night Thrillers: Bruins, Devils, Flames Victorious with Improbable Third-Game Triumphs

Following a great Saturday of action in sports, hockey fans were treated to three thrillers on Sunday night: a trio of heart-stopping Game Threes.

And oh, I included some comments on a forgettable night for a local sports anchor too--some dude named Pires, whom I'd never heard of before.

But on to the action first...

The Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils both got back into their series with dramatic OT triumphs to avoid starting out 0-3, while the Calgary Flames have seemingly taken control of theirs with a potentially momentum-changing, improbable, come-from-behind victory.

The Bruins, hosting a playoff contest for the first time since 2004, finally beat the Canadiens for the first time this season with Marc Savard's OT marker. The win ended an ugly 13-game slide versus their long-time memesis from Montreal.

Meanwhile, New Jersey beat the New York Rangers for the second time in 11 tries this season less than half an hour later, sending the Madison Square Garden faithful home disappointed. And it was a fluke goal by John Madden which won it six minutes into the extra period, on a centering pass that went off Ranger rookie Marc Staal and into the net.

For both the Bruins and Devils, are they merely "prolonging the inevitable" (as my Zonk pal Trout on www.overanything.com suggested), or making strong bids for series comebacks? We'll have to wait and see.

BR Columnist Mark Marino (http://bleacherreport.com/users/2604-Mark_Marino) no doubt is hoping for a Boston miracle. (Keep the faith, Mark! :D)

Finally, the Flames fell behind 3-zip just 3:33 into their game against the San Jose Sharks, and the game looked as though it was going to be a rout. After all, this was a Sharks team that had the best road record in the entire league at with an amazing 27 wins away from The Shark Tank, and one that many are picking for the Stanley Cup Finals.

But Flames coach "Iron" Mike Keenan pulled goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, who had allowed those three goals on five shots, in favor of Curtis Joseph, Calgary started playing physical, and the home team rallied for an unbelievable 4-3 victory. And it was the ex-Shark, Owen Nolan, who took the biggest bite on San Jose, potting the game-winner with under four minutes remaining.

I'm sure BR's own M MacDonald Hall (http://bleacherreport.com/users/9279-M_MacDonald_Hall), a big Calgary fan, was overjoyed at this Flames' victory.

Great stuff indeed on a memorable playoff night, unless of course, if you were the Sharks. Could they rebound from this meltdown? Or will they fold the way they've always done, much to long-time Shark fans like Danielle Marchell (http://bleacherreport.com/users/6636-Danielle_Marchell) and others on BR's chagrin?

But one other thing was not so memorable, on the nightly sportscast on CTV Channel 9 in B.C.

I don't usually watch this station for sports news, but had it on just by fluke. And my gosh, the sports anchor was terrible.

Someone named Jason Pires, whom I had never seen before, made at least four mistakes on his sports recap, including the following:

- "Iginla and Owen Nolan chips in (with assists)" on one of the Flames' goals.

- (Calgary now has a) two games to none lead." WRONG. How can a series be 2-0 when it's three games in?

- "Martin Birror-- Biron pitches the shutout" in reference to the Flyers goaltender who got a goose-egg in the Washington game early on Sunday.

- "(Blue Jay closer B.J. Ryan's) first save since April 11th, 2006." WRONG. B.J. had three saves in 2007.

What horrible mistakes! Geez, better go back to the video room and check out your mistakes, pal!