With the Rangers rarely threatening and his team seemingly on its way to the Conference Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask must have been dreaming about an off-season invite to appear on Dancing With The Stars.

Enter the Tuukka Two Step and suddenly the Rangers had a new lease on life.

When Rask inexplicably ended up on his derriere and whiffed on a harmless backhander off the stick of Carl Hagelin it was as if he had performed CPR to the Rangers offense which up to that point had been barely breathing and his embarrassing misstep ignited a fire in the crowd which moments before were preparing to give their team last rites.

The mental mistake proved to be contagious as Zdeno Chara circled behind his net with no sense of urgency only to have his pocket picked by Derek Stepan just 1:15 into the 3rd period to tie the game at 2-2.

Death sentence rescinded.

The Bruins are a lot of things but one thing they are not is closers. Under Coach Claude Julien the B’s are now 3-8 in non-game 7 series clinching games. I wasn’t a math major but even I know that is not good.

Since the Monday Night Miracle on Causeway Street against the Leafs the Bruins have been a different team. They have played like a team on a mission destined to meet the vaunted Pittsburgh Penguins in the Conference Finals. You have to wonder if their focus shifted a bit on the bench when it looked as if they had buried the Rangers early in the 2nd period Thursday night.

Game 5 will take place at the odd hour of 5:30 Saturday evening and the Garden is sure to be rocking. Although I would have preferred to see a series sweep and it not such a bad thing to have some hockey to watch over the weekend, it will disrupt the mushroom growing marathon that this rain soaked Memorial Day weekend looks to be.

As they head into another game with the opportunity to close the series the question still remains we will the Bruins be rocking and rolling their way to victory or will Tuukka’s two step be the mishap that leads to the Rangers extending the dance?

EVERYDAY DUSTIN: Dustin Pedroia has played in each of the Red Sox 1st 48 games, the most games played in the majors…He has reached base in all but 5 of his 48 contests and ranks tied for 3rd in the AL with a .417 OBP.
· Pedroia has hit safely in 37 games, including 14 of his last 15 contests at a .393 clip (24-for-61)…His team-best .330 AVG ranks 7th in the AL and he is also among AL leaders in hits (T-4th, 62), multi-hit games (T-3rd, 20), runs (T-4th, 34), and walks (5th, 28).

SALTY’S STREAK: Jarrod Saltalamacchia has reached base safely in a career-high 13 games straight games with a plate appearance dating back to 5/6…During the stretch, he is hitting .326 (14-for-43) with 6 walks and a .408 OBP.

DAVID DRIVING: Since making his season debut on 4/20, David Ortiz is 2nd among all major leaguers with 34 RBI, trailing only Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera who has driven in 37 runs in that time.

· Catcher David Ross was activated from the seven-day concussion disabled list. To make room for him on the 25-man roster, catcher Ryan Lavarnway was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after last night’s game.

· Right fielder Shane Victorino was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to May 21) with a left hamstring strain. To fill his spot on the roster, right-hander Alfredo Aceves was recalled from Pawtucket.

· Third baseman Will Middlebrooks was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a low back strain. To fill his spot on the roster, infielder Jose Iglesias was recalled from Pawtucket.

Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcements.

Ross, 36, experienced concussion symptoms after taking a pair of foul balls off his catcher’s mask in the game on May 11 against Toronto. He made a one-game rehab assignment for Double-A Portland yesterday, going 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI as the starting catcher. In 15 games for Boston this season, he is hitting .209 (9-for-43) with four home runs and five RBI.

Lavarnway, 25, has had two stints with the Red Sox this season. In three games (two starts) for Boston, he has hit .250 (2-for-8) with one double and two RBI. Lavarnway will rejoin Pawtucket where he has hit .313 (25-for-80) with seven doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI in 22 contests.

Victorino, 32, experienced tightness in his left hamstring in the sixth inning of Monday’s game in Chicago. In 34 games for Boston this season, he is batting .283 (36-for-127) with four doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI. Victorino, who has yet to commit an error in the field in 2013, has a team-leading four outfield assists, tied for fifth-most among American League outfielders.

Aceves, 31, will rejoin the Red Sox for his second stint with the club in 2013. He worked out of the starting rotation at Pawtucket, going 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA (8 ER/23.0 IP) with 11 walks and 21 strikeouts in four starts. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his four starts. With Boston this season, Aceves was 1-1 with an 8.66 ERA (17 ER/17.2 IP) in five games (three starts).

Middlebrooks, 24, left last night’s game against Cleveland in the fifth inning due to low back spasms. In 46 games this year, he has hit .201 (35-for-174) with 12 doubles, eight home runs and 21 RBI. Middlebrooks’ eight home runs are tied with David Ortiz for the club lead and are fourth-most among AL third basemen.

Iglesias, 23, also rejoins the Red Sox for his second stint of the year. In 33 games for Pawtucket this season, he has hit .202 (24-for-119) with two doubles, four home runs and 15 RBI. Iglesias made his first career Opening Day roster with the Red Sox in 2013 and hit .450 (9-for-20) with two doubles and one RBI in six games at the major league level.

Tortorella should get fired right after the game he has ruined all of his players confidence #Richardswillget80pointsnextyear #ByeByeTorts

— marc savard (@MSavvy91) May 23, 2013

The tweet came in response to Tortorella’s decision to make Brad Richards a healthy scratch for Game 4 against the Bruins. This would technically qualify as trash talk, as Savard is still under contract with the Bruins through 2017, though his career is effectively over due to concussions.

(Reprinted from WEEI)

That’s the way both coaches kept their press conferences on Thursday before Game 4 and that’s the way the Bruins would like to wrap up their Eastern Conference semifinal series tonight at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re here to win a hockey game tonight,” Claude Julien said at the beginning of his 98-second press briefing. “We’re going to do whatever it takes.”

Julien’s press conference was about a minute longer than John Tortorella‘s press briefing with reporters, that was limited to two questions.

Speaking of Julien, the Bruins coach was asked about the importance of the home crowd at MSG, and keeping the New York fans on their hands.

“As important as it has been in every game,” Julien said. “Whether at home or away, you get the crowd in or crowd out. That’s not going to change.

“I think we want to play a 60-minute game. That just shows the character of our guys playing hard right ot the end. It’s a great thing to have and you hope you can keep it.”

Brad Richards has been informed that he’s been benched for tonight as a healthy scratch and Aaron Asham is likely to sit out as well.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Julien said.

“I think it’s going to be more difficult just because they’re going to have two players who are going to step in there and want to change the game and they’ll probably be their two best players tonight,” Daniel Paille said. “It’ll most likely going to be a low-scoring game and make sure we’re not panicking out there and stay focused on our system and things will go well for us.”

As for Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden, both of whom skated with the team Thursday, Julien said he won’t reveal anything until game time.

“Our lineups will be on the ice tonight for warmups and that’s all I’m going to say about that,” Julien said.

As for the players, they’re taking the typical one-game-at-a-time approach.

“I don’t think we focus too much on sweeping,” Paille said. “We focus more on today. Obviously, it’s great to look at on paper but there’s a lot that goes into that. Everyone is in a confident, positive attitude and we want to continue that trend today.” Paille was reminded that if the Bruins win tonight, they will have matched the same path as 2011, when they won a Game 7 in OT in the first round and swept the Flyers in Round 2.

“It’s kind of too early to talk like that,” Paille said. “We’re still in the second round here, trying to finish it. I haven’t even thought about it. I’m more focused on trying to get that win tonight than what we’ve done in the past.”

Added Chris Kelly, “We were up 3-1 and we barely won that series. We’re in a good situation here, but that can quickly change. We know that and we’re focusing on this game.

(Reprinted from WEEI)

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Clay Buchholz improved to 7-0 last night, tossing 7.0-innings of 1-run ball in the Red Sox 6-2 victory in Chicago…The Sox are 9-1 in his starts this year.
· Buchholz, who leads the AL with a 1.73 ERA, became only the 2nd Red Sox hurler ever to go 7-0 or better with an ERA below 2.00 through his 1st 10 starts of a season, joining Sonny Siebert who was 8-0 with a 1.62 ERA through 10 starts for Boston in 1971 (Elias).

OPENING ACT: The Sox are 11-4 (.733) in their 1st game of a series, tied for the 2nd-best such mark in MLB (also Detroit at 11-4), behind the Braves (13-2, .867).

PEN MARKS: Sox relievers have tallied 12.1 scoreless frames over the last 4 games, yielding 9 hits (.205 opp. AVG) and 4 walks while recording 13 K’s…Boston’s bullpen has a 0.41 ERA (1 ER/22.0 IP) over the 1st 7 games of this road trip.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW: Andrew Miller is celebrating his 28th birthday today…His 15.4 strikeouts per 9.0 IP this season rank 3rd among MLB relievers.

“We knew when we drafted him in 1996 that ‘Bruschi’ was going to be a fan favorite in New England,” owner Robert Kraft said in a statement. “But he was so much more than that. During the most successful era in the history of the franchise, Tedy was the heart and soul of the defense and proved to be a champion, both on and off the field. He was a high-energy, tenacious defender whose playmaking abilities helped propel the Patriots to three Super Bowl championships in four years. His remarkable and courageous return to the field following a stroke only added to his legend and solidified his place among the most iconic Patriots in franchise history. We look forward to celebrating his induction with our fans.”

A 19-person nomination committee comprised of media, alumni and staff selected three candidates for the Patriots Hall of Fame in April: coach Chuck Fairbanks, offensive tackle Leon Gray and Bruschi. Fans had a month to vote at patriots.com.

Bruschi, selected by the Patriots in the third round of the 1996 draft, helped New England to an AFC championship in his first season. He went on to appear in four more Super Bowls during his 13-year career.

A two-time All-Pro selection (2003, ’04), Bruschi finished his career with 1,110 tackles, 30.5 sacks, 12 interceptions and 11 forced fumbles in 189 games (139 starts). He is the only player in NFL history to return four consecutive interceptions for touchdowns.

(Re-printed from WEEI.com)

Indianapolis Indians LHP Andy Oliver (3-1, 2.61) vs. Pawtucket Red Sox LHP Chris Hernandez (2-2, 4.31)

Day Baseball – The Pawtucket Red Sox play the finale of their 4-game series against the Indianapolis Indians this afternoon at 12:05 pm at McCoy Stadium to close out their third homestand of the season. After today’s game the PawSox will be 33% of the way through their home schedule (24 games played of the 72 scheduled games at McCoy this year). They are 3-4 on this homestand after going 5-3 and 4-4 during their first two homestands. The PawSox are just 8-10 in day games compared to 18-9 in night games. They only have two day games in their next 17 games from May 23 – June 8.

This Series – The Indians grabbed a 2 games to 1 lead in this series by virtue of their 8-4 victory last night. Pawtucket (tied for the IL North lead with Buffalo) and Indianapolis (atop the IL West) split the first two games in this match-up of division leaders. Indianapolis got the jump with a 6-3 victory Saturday night but the PawSox rebounded nicely rolling to an 11-3 win Sunday afternoon. These two teams will meet again in less than a week next Monday though Thursday for another 4-game set at Victory Field in downtown Indy (May 27-30).

The Road Ahead – Pawtucket will enjoy their second scheduled off-day the season tomorrow before heading out on an 8-game roadtrip beginning Thursday night in Louisville. The trip will feature a pair of 4-game sets at Louisville and in Indianapolis. The Sox and Bats play Thursday & Friday nights at 6:35 pm and Saturday & Sunday nights at 6:05 pm. PawSox catchers (and pitchers for that matter) will have to contend with Louisville OF Billy Hamilton who leads the International League with 22 stolen bases this season (in 26 attempts) after setting a professional baseball record with 155 SB last season. Pawtucket’s roadtrip will continue next week with a 4-game set against these Indianapolis Indians on Memorial Day Monday at 6:05 pm, next Tuesday at 7:05 pm, a Wednesday matinee at 1:35pm, and the finale next Thursday at 7:05 pm. The PawSox will return to McCoy Stadium one week from Friday to close out the month of May with a May 31 game vs. Syracuse (their first against an IL North rival since April 26) kicking-off another 8-game homestand (four with Syracuse and four with Charlotte) from May 31 – June 7.

BOSTON, MA – The Boston Red Sox today activated right-hander Andrew Bailey from the disabled list. To make room for him on the 25-man roster, right-hander Jose De La Torre was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after yesterday’s game in Minnesota.

Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington made the announcement.

Bailey, 28, is 1-0 with five saves and a 1.46 ERA (2 ER/12.1 IP) in 13 outings for the Red Sox this season, including 11 scoreless appearances. With 20 strikeouts, he ranks fourth among qualifying American League relievers with 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 6 (retroactive to April 29) with a right biceps strain. Bailey struck out two batters and allowed one run in 1.0 inning during a rehab appearance with Pawtucket on Saturday night.

Recalled on May 9, De La Torre made two relief appearances for the Red Sox during his first career major league stint. He allowed two runs over 2.0 innings and recorded two strikeouts. The 27-year-old has appeared in 10 games for Pawtucket this season, all out of the bullpen, going 1-0 with one save, a 1.56 ERA (3 ER/17.1 IP), and 17 strikeouts.