For the first time in quite a while three of the four Boston professional sports teams were all in action on the same day on Sunday. The Boston Bruins returned to play with their first round robin game at the bubble in Toronto against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Celtics played the Portland Trailblazers in their second game in the Orlando bubble, and the Red Sox were at Yankee Stadium for the finale of a three game series with the Yankees.
In Toronto at Scotiabank Arena, the Flyers scored three second period goals and cruised to a 4-1 win over the Bruins in the first of three round robin games to decide the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference.
Michael Raffl and Nate Thompson scored 3:58 apart in that second period for a 2-0 Philadelphia lead, before Chris Wagner got Boston within one with a marker at 18:51. Just eight seconds later however Philippe Myers reinstated a two goal Flyers lead. Scott Laughton added a third period goal at 4:07 to finish the scoring.
Joakim Nordstrom and Charlie McAvoy had an assist each for the Bruins, and Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves in the loss. Raffl had a goal and an assist in the Flyers win, and goaltender Carter Hart made 34 saves. Boston plays their second round robin at 4 p.m. Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In Orlando at the Walt Disney World Resort, Jaylen Brown hit a late corner three-pointer with 32.3 seconds remaining as the Boston Celtics held off the Portland Trailblazers 128-124.
Boston (44-22) led by 13 at the end of the first quarter after a close back and forth early on. The Celtics opened that up in the second to as many as 24 spurred by a trio of three-pointers from Jayson Tatum, who shot just 2-18 in the return to play Friday in a loss to Milwaukee. The green led by 19 at the break. Portland (30-38) though diced into the Boston lead when Gary Trent Jr. nailed a three-pointer late in the third, and Damian Lillard converted on a four point play to make it 92-86. The Blazers took the lead for the first time since the opening quarter when CJ McCollum buried a three-pointer with 9:51 to play in the game at 101-98. After the C’S regained control and went back up five, Trent Jr. hit another one from behind the arc to make it 119-118 Portland. Boston though would score seven straight points over the next 1:25 to take back a six point advantage. The Blazers did cut it to a single point with 3.4 seconds showing on the clock, but Gordon Hayward nailed two from the line and then after a Portland turnover Tatum sank the second of two shots from the stripe to seal the win.
Tatum had 34 points, four rebounds, eight assists, and two steals in the victory. Brown finished with 30 points and six rebounds. Hayward added 22 points, eight rebounds, and three assists, Kemba Walker had 14 points in 22 minutes, and Enes Kanter rounded out the double digit scorers with 11 points and eight rebounds. Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic each had 30 points in the Portland loss. Lillard added 16 assists, and Nurkic had nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. The teams combined to hit 37 three-pointers in the game (18 for Boston and 19 for Portland). The Celtics will face the Miami Heat Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.
At Yankee Stadium, the Boston Red Sox couldn’t hold a one run eighth inning lead as Aaron Judge made it six homeruns in five games with a tiebreaking two run homer as the New York Yankees finished off a three game sweep with a 9-7 win.
Xander Bogaerts led Boston (3-7) with a pair of homers, a two run shot and a solo shot, and had four hits on the night. Rafael Devers had an RBI single and also a solo homer his first of the season but it wasn’t enough. DJ LeMahieu tied it with an RBI single in the eighth, and then Judge crushed the game winner his second of the night that went 468 feet and allowed New York (7-1) to sweep away the visiting Sox. Matt Barnes (0-1) took the loss in relief allowing three runs on two hits in the New York eighth inning. Adam Ottavino (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning in relief to pick up the win, while Zack Britton got his third save. Judge had five RBI on the night with an earlier three run homer and the game winning two run jack. Gio Urshela had three hits, while LeMahieu also added a pair.
Boston will open up a two game series at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay against the Rays on Tuesday night at 6:40. The pitching matchup expects to be a good one as the Sox send out Nathan Eovaldi, to be opposed by Charlie Morton for the home team.
