There is nothing that puts me to sleep faster than complaining about referees or officials in any sport, at any level (kids, high school, college, pros, etc). It is the low-hanging fruit that any slob can grab onto when their favorite team (God forbid!) loses a game. With that said, when you see something like the clown show that transpired in Game 5 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Bruins and Blues tonight at TD Garden, it would be a disservice not to at least mention what actually happened. St. Louis held on for a 2-1 win and took a 3-2 series lead thanks to a no-call (midway through the 3rd period) that Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy termed "egregious."
Wouldn't you know that turned out to be the game-winning goal as the B's finally got on the board late in the third down 2-0 but they ran out of time and ultimately paid the price for going 0-for-3 on the power play and wasting 38 other shots that were stopped (some barely) by Blues rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. It is truly a shame that a tilt with such high stakes and that featured a ton of thrilling action between the hits, saves and top-notch plays on both sides had to be decided by a garbage goal by David Perron (who else?) that shouldn't have counted after Tyler Bozak tripped/slew-footed Noel Acciari right onto his head in Boston's defensive zone.
This also wasted a Herculean effort by Bruins captain Zdeno Chara who broke his jaw on Monday in Game 4 at St. Louis. Being the cyborg that he is, some dental work at the Enterprise Center followed by surgery between games allowed him to play 16:42 this evening. Cassidy dressed seven defensemen (Steven Kampfer made his first appearance of the SCF) and sat David Backes for the first time since the Columbus series. As was the case for much of this series thus far, the B's couldn't muster nearly enough scoring chances 5-on-5 and now that their power play isn't going 4-for-4 (like in Game 3) every night, they are shit out of luck and making Binnington look way better than he is, juicy rebounds and all.
The first period was one big wasted opportunity for the Bruins as the crowd naturally went bananas every time that Chara was shown on the Jumbotron and Boston came out on fire, outshooting St. Louis 17-8. Tuukka Rask (19 saves) wasn't tested nearly as much as Binnington in the opening stanza nor the entire contest but he made some big saves when he had to. Brad Marchand continues to be mostly invisible as the best he could was take a shot that deflected off the crossbar. Like a prize fighter that takes an opposition's best body blows then counter-punches their way to victory, the Blues followed the same recipe for their second win in a row (the 1st team to do that in this SCF).
Ryan O'Reilly has been a force on faceoffs all series (19-9, 68% tonight) but his offensive output has really picked up with a pair of goals in Game 4 followed by the opening tally in Game 5. BC's Zach Sanford has gone from a healthy scratch for most of the playoffs to a key contributor to St. Louis who squeezes all the offense that it can get from a team of many plumbers and few skilled laborers. Sanford won a puck battle behind Boston's net and backhanded a nifty pass out front to O'Reilly who swung around Rask and finished a backhander of his own 55 seconds into the second period. His sixth goal of the postseason extended his point-streak to four games (3 goals, 3 assists) while also giving him nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in his last six games. Alex Pietrangelo (who played 27:55) had the other assist-his team-leading 14th of the postseason-on O'Reilly's goal.
Boston outshot St. Louis 8-6 in the second but it was played at much more of a Blues pace as they basically are grinding the Bruins into dust before our very own eyes. The only real scoring chance for the B's was a great one by Marcus Johansson: he found himself wide open in front of Binnington but his backhander missed the net. Ironically given how the third period and game-winner played out, the Blues almost bagged what would have been another super controversial goal. With time winding down in the frame, goon Oskar Sundqvist held Torey Krug's arm which led to Pietrangelo having a lane to the net with Rask down and out of position trying to anticipate the shot. Major props to David Krejci who's done very little in the SCF but he pulled a Michael Ryder from the 2011 first round series vs. Montreal as he blocked a shot with his body that would have gone in.
Down 1-0 heading into the third, Bruins fans were understandably nervous since their team did very little to inspire confidence in them that they would figure out a way to cobble together some offense. Boston finished with 65 shot attempts (15 blocked, 11 missed net) which is an absurd sum when it only results in one measly goal. As you can probably guess even if you didn't see a second of the game, they were clearly squeezing their sticks too tight and not burying the looks that they normally would. Charlie McAvoy had a 2-on-1 but he missed the net, earlier on that same shift he had bumped into teammate Jake DeBrusk. Colton Parayko had a shot hit the post and Rask kept his team in it with a big save on Ivan Barbashev.
There is deflating (the Patriots have no idea what you're talking about) and then there's seeing such an obvious penalty go uncalled and then directly lead to a soul-crushing goal. Perron's seventh goal of the postseason was assisted by O'Reilly and the main offender-Bozak. There was a delay after the goal as plenty of water bottles and rally towels were thrown onto the ice. I'll never condone that type of idiocy but imagine paying hundreds of dollars to see that group blindness by some of the supposed best referees and linesmen in the league?
This being the Bruins, they couldn't just go quietly into the night. Nope, they were required by law to make it interesting with Jake DeBrusk's one-timer at 13:32 from Torey Krug (who got a high-stick in the face and Boston was about to go on another power play). DeBrusk's goal was only his fourth of the postseason and you can tell how much he and Krejci have been struggling that they were the line to lose a forward (Backes) in the lineup shuffle. St. Louis could have put this to bed earlier as Rask made a game-saving stop on Vladimir Tarasenko and after DeBrusk's goal, Perron had a breakaway but missed the net. After it took a couple tries, Rask was able to eventually get pulled for an extra skater and Cassidy used his timeout but Boston couldn't take advantage of multiple faceoffs in St. Louis' defensive zone with time running out.
So here we are: another Game 6 with the Black and Gold facing elimination (see 1st round at Toronto) this postseason. On the other end, St. Louis is bidding for their first Stanley Cup in 52 years of forgettable existence. Gee, do you think that you'll be tuning in on Sunday night (8, NBC)? Even through all of their success with this strong nucleus of players (Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, Rask, Krejci, etc.), I've always said that the Bruins will often find the most difficult path to get something done. Why should this campaign be any different? I have no idea what will happen in Game 6 but would it surprise you at all if the B's found a way to win to send it back to Boston for an epic Game 7 on Wednesday? Of course, before we start worrying and/or daydreaming about that scenario, they have to take care of business on the road in what should be a crazy environment of its own. All I ask is that whatever result happens on Sunday that the refs stay out of the spotlight and fade to the background where they belong. This is not the NBA, I never want to be focusing this much on them in the Stanley Cup Final.
