The series shifts back to St. Louis for Game 3 on Saturday night (8, NBCSN) and Game 4 on Monday (8, NBC). This result also means that there will be at least one more game at TD Garden this season-Game 5 next Thursday (8, NBC). I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV but I'm guessing that Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk will miss some time after he left late in the first period after a nasty hit by Oskar Sundqvist that sent his head crashing into the boards. The Charlestown native went to the hospital and there was no update on his condition immediately following the tilt at Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy's press conference.
As you would expect with so many big bodies and rugged players, the Blues turned up the physicality from Game 1 as they outhit the Bruins 50-31 (a lopsided margin that rarely happens to the B's on their home ice). In addition to that, they were called for two goaltender interference penalties on rookie Sammy Blais and Jaden Schwartz. They were clearly making a concerted effort to be rough with Tuukka Rask (34 saves). Boston's power-play was 1-for-5 just like they were in Game 1 but that is a bit misleading since they clicked on their first one for a goal by Charlie Coyle then went 0-for-4 the rest of the way including a late third period slash on Brayden Schenn.
It was a weird one since Boston led two different times and all four goals before overtime came in the first period. Jordan Binnington (21 saves) had a shaky start as Coyle's power play strike was one that he'd definitely like to have back. Coyle one-timed a pass from Jake DeBrusk and David Pastrnak for his seventh goal of the postseason. Binnington was too far over to one side to recover enough to stop the average shot that went through his five-hole. The Blues answered back pretty quickly though as defenseman Robert Bortuzzo's shot sneaked by Rask from a tight angle; in real time, I thought that Pat Maroon had tipped it but either it went off of Grzelcyk or I'm simply seeing things in my old age. Tyler Bozak and Gunnarsson had the assists on Bortuzzo's second goal of the postseason at 9:37.
Before that goal was even announced on the PA system, the B's were up 2-1 40 seconds later as Joakim Nordstrom deposited a backhander through Binnington's five-hole. Sean Kuraly caused the turnover and had the lone assist (also a backhander) on Nordy's third goal of the playoffs. Vladimir Tarasenko tied it up at two at 14:55 after he went in a 2-on-1 with Jaden Schwartz. Rask made a couple saves before that but he couldn't stop the Russian's backhander which extended his point-streak to eight games (5 goals, 5 assists). Schwartz (12 goals, 4 assists in his last 17 games) had the lone assist on Tarasenko's 10th goal of the postseason.
St. Louis dominated the second period, outshooting Boston 14-6 but they couldn't grab a lead. Connor Clifton had a rough 20 minutes with a pair of penalties including a double-minor for high-sticking (Schwartz's penalty negated the second half of that). Really the only highlight of the second for the Bruins was an incredible shift by Nordstrom (game-high 5 blocked shots) who got in front of not one but two absolute rockets by Blues hulking defenseman Colton Parayko. That sequence was unforgettable (and luckily Nordstrom didn't suffer a serious enough injury to miss time) as Nordy made one block, hobbled around for awhile as St. Louis kept the puck in the offensive zone and then was able to block another before later Rask tied up the puck to mercifully let his banged up teammate get off the ice.
Boston seemed to find much more of a groove in the third period as the shots were even at nine and both goaltenders made Grade-A stops. The Bruins' top line has not been themselves in these first two games vs. St. Louis (so much so that they were temporarily broken up tonight) but Patrice Bergeron nearly put the B's ahead after a nifty feed by Backes from behind the net. Gunnarsson rang the post-foreshadowing his game-winner-before David Pastrnak was stopped after a faceoff win by Krejci. Still, for most of the third, you could sense that it would take overtime to decide this.
It was the first time since 2016 that a Stanley Cup Final game ended in OT and as is often the case, it did not take very long to end it. I'm pretty sure the puck was in Boston's defensive zone the whole time before Gunnarsson's hard shot through traffic beat Rask. Ryan O'Reilly (who was 11-6 on faceoffs) and Sundqvist (who should be hearing from the NHL Department of Player Safety about that Grzelcyk hit) had the assists on what is undoubtedly the biggest goal in Gunnarsson's life and also one of the most important in Blues history. Playing for over two full periods with only five defensemen for sure caught up to the Bruins but that doesn't hide the fact that they were outplayed basically all game long in every conceivable fashion.
The Blues are here for a reason and anyone who thought that this would be a one-sided series, especially after the relative ease of Game 1's victory, needed this reality check. St. Louis improved to an NHL-best 8-3 on the road this postseason but keep in mind that means that they are only 5-5 at Enterprise Center. Boston was tied 1-1 after two games in the first round vs. Toronto and the same deal in the following round vs. Columbus. Forget Carolina, that team did not belong in the Eastern Conference Final with the Bruins and they were overmatched the whole time.
You could argue that Boston's fourth line has been better than the first and it's not really a stretch to say the same thing about the third line vs. the second. I still believe that the B's are the better team and in this series that should be proven when their depth ultimately is too much for the Blues to handle. I don't worry about such a veteran team getting down about Game 2, they get an extra travel day off so I have no doubt that they will bounce back and play way better on Saturday (like St. Louis did this evening). It's the Stanley Cup Final, you should want a quality series and not a forgettable walkover.
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