Alex Ovechkin scored less than two minutes into last night’s Game 6 and goalie Braden Holtby stopped 30 shots as the Washington Capitals forced a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup with the New York Rangers. And other long, uninterrupted sentences.

The Rangers handed Washington an early power play last night. The Capitals capitalized on Anton Stralman’s tripping penalty, when Nicklas Backstrom found Alex Ovechkin, who laced a one-timer past Henrik Lundqvist. The Capitals added a 2^nd period goal to take a 2-0 lead.

Rangers forward Marian Gaborik put a scare into the DC crowd when he scored a goal with a minute to play in the third, but Holtby and the Caps defense held the Rangers to just that one goal.

Saturday night, the Rangers will welcome the Capitals into Midtown Manhattan for Game 7.  The Capitals have already played in (and won) one Game 7 this playoffs. They’ll look to make it two after a few days of (much needed, but difficult to understand from a television standpoint) rest.

In what seems like the longest first round EVER, we have one more advancement and one more series heading toward a possible Game 7.

The Miami Heat closed out the New York Knicks last night behind a 29 point, 8 rebound, 7 assist game from LeBron James. The Heat will now wait for their second round opponent.

Out (sort of) West, the Memphis Grizzlies pushed the Clippers to a 6^th game, with a 12 point victory. Pau Gasol’s brother led Memphis with 23 points.

Going back to the first line in this bit, the Heat and Knicks played 5 games in their series. A series that began on April 28. It’s May 10. 11 days for 5 games. This needs fixing.

You’ll recall that last season, Red Sox pitcher and fried chicken-aficionado Josh Beckett  got himself in hot water (or hot grease). Beckett (along with teammates Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester) was accused of spending game days eating fatty food, drinking beer, and playing video games, rather than exercising and eating healthy. In short, they were role models for every Sophomore at Boston University.

The problem, of course, is that Beckett (and the others) is a professional athlete who is paid lots of money to perform at his peak. So the Red Sox brought in Bobby Valentine, a manager famous for holding his players accountable. The Red Sox clubhouse was apparently not happy. But that’s okay. They’d win games. And all would be well in Beantown…

Except, no. The Red Sox are terrible. Very terrible. And when teams are terrible, clubhouse friction becomes more visible.

Yesterday, Boston’s 98.5 FM (that’s something called a “radio station”) reported that just two days prior to missing a start with a sore lat muscle (in the back), Beckett was out golfing with Clay Buchholz. Boston manager Bobby Valentine was relatively dismissive of the report saying that golf is as synonymous with pitching as a curveball.

Still, this reeks of fried chicken for many in Red Sox Nation, who were already questioning Beckett’s commitment to the team and to his pitching. This, combined with the Red Sox lack of on-field ability, will simply draw more attention to the hottest soap opera in New England. So grab your favorite Heineken (mine is “Light”) and a bucket of extra crispy. Things are only going to get more dramatic.

They lost. Again. To the Pirates. Again.

Stephen Strasburg will try to salvage the series tonight when he faces Kevin Correia. Game at 7:05.

Three elimination games in the NBA tonight. As follows:

Chicago @ Philadelphia (PHI leads 3-2)….(7 p.m./NBA TV)

Atlanta @ Boston (BOS leads 3-2)….(8 p.m./TNT)

Los Angeles @ Denver (LAL leads 3-2)….(10:30/TNT)