It's one point. A shootout loss. One goal. The Bruins will gratefully take it right now. With the offense struggling to even find the goal, let alone put the puck in it, and with swine flu racing towards the team, it's time to think about baby steps.

Sure it took two games, two periods, and 19 minutes for the B's to find the net, but Patrice Bergeron did, just in the nick of time, beating Montreal's Carey Price with an extra skater in the final minute. Sure, they lost the shootout, but they'll take it. "I think it was great getting that goal there and pushing it to overtime and getting a point out of the game. It’s a great step in the right direction," summed up Blake Wheeler.

The B's put their share of pressure on Price, outshooting the Habs 43-26, but they came up 0-for-3 on power plays, which concerns coach Clade Julien: "They’re squeezing the sticks. We’re trying to make them relax." Quiet, you. The lone Montreal goal in regulation came from old friend Glen Metropolit. Mike Cammalleri scored for the Habs in the shootout. Buffalo is next, tomorrow night.

The Red Sox made their first move of the brand-new offseason, sending two lefties (Jose Alvarez and Hunter Jones) to the Marlins for outfielder Jeremy Hermida. "This was not a blockbuster," cautioned Theo Epstein. The plan now is to have Hermida as a fourth outfielder, but since nobody knows how many outfielders we'll actually have by spring training, don't count on that. Jason Bay filed for free agency, and while the Sox have 15 days to talk to him exclusively, they're not expected to make him an offer he can't refuse. Also filing for free agency were Rocco Baldelli and "Country Time" Wagner, and don't expect the Sox to work too hard on either of those.

The NBA has decided not to make a big thing out of the Rajon Rondo/Chris Paul feud that flared up in Sunday's game. We've heard from a couple of sources that the contretemps started when Rondo reminded Paul that he won a ring and opined that Paul never would. And then Paul decided after the game he needed to teach Rondo "to respect me as a man." Quiet, you.

Filed in Sports and tagged Blake Wheeler, Bruins, Claude Julien, Jason Bay, Patrice Bergeron, Rajon Rondo, Red Sox, sports redux, sportsredux