Daily Sports: All Eyes On Boston For Wednesday

TV cameras will be honed in on the city of Boston tonight, as hockey and baseball coverage goes to the Hub for the two highlights of the Wednesday daily sports schedule.

The more important game is hockey, as the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals resume in Boston Garden for Game 3 of the Bruins-Penguins series. Pittsburgh will try to follow Los Angeles’ lead from yesterday, and cut into a series lead, but the Pens have to pull it off on the road in front of a hockey-crazy fan base. NBC Sports Network has the game at 8 PM ET.

One hour earlier is when baseball from Fenway gets started. The Texas Rangers are in town to continue their series with the Boston Red Sox, with a 7 PM ET start. It completes both ends of the Boston Parlay for tonight’s TV viewing. I might have to throw in one my old DVDs of Cheers reruns to complete the theme.

If you don’t want to watch Boston teams, there’s not anything in the way of live games, unless you have a subscription package. But there are a few good features out there. NFL Network has a feature on former Chicago Bears’ running back Walter Payton. It starts at 7 PM ET and is called “A Football Life.” Payton belongs in any conversation about the greatest running back of all-time and won the MVP in 1977.

NHL Network has the 2012 Stanley Cup video that was released in honor of the Los Angeles Kings. After last night, Los Angeles fans still have a reasonable hope of a sequel being cut to honor this year. The video airs at 8 PM ET.

Here at TheSportsNotebook, the focus today is about basketball. We’ll have NBA commentary previewing the Finals, as the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs get set to open on Thursday night. NHL analysis was updated yesterday, and will return again tomorrow afternoon once both series have three games in. MLB coverage focused on the Baltimore Orioles this past Monday, and will take a National League tack later in the week.