Soul-Crushing Losses In the NHL Playoffs? It's Called (Boston) Bruins

There will never be a more wide open path to the Stanley Cup than the one laid out for the Bruins in the 2019 NHL playoffs. The Lightning, Capitals and Penguins all went down in the first round which meant that after they survived a seven game first round series vs. Toronto for the second year in a row, they got Columbus in the second round and they eliminated them in six rugged contests before sweeping the overmatched Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals. Meeting up with the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final on paper seemed like a dream: this after all was a team that was in last place for the entire NHL on January 3. They were here for a reason but with home ice and a wealth of experience on their side, the B's surely would find a way to get their seventh Cup in franchise history and first since 2011, rectifying 2013's loss to the loaded Blackhawks in 2013.

The 2019 Stanley Cup Final is a perfect example of why we love sports: the team that nobody believed in all year (Blues) actually got the job done. Tonight at TD Garden in the first ever Game 7 of the SCF on home ice for the B's, they fell flat on their Black and Gold faces. St. Louis never trailed, scoring two goals in the first period before choking the life out of the Bruins en route to a shockingly easy 4-1 victory that clinched their first Cup in their team's long-tortured history (52 years). This series was unpredictable from start to finish so it was only right that the final chapter followed that same unpredictable route. Boston went 1-3 at the Garden vs. St. Louis, including three straight losses to close it out where they scored a grand total of four goals.

Boston had the top-ranked power play in the playoffs which is great but you can't always rely on that, especially in a Game 7 where only one penalty was called all night (delay of game on Colton Parayko in the first period). St. Louis was the better team 5-on-5 and their top defensemen (Parayko, Alex Pietrangelo and even ancient Jay Bouwmeester) completely shut down the Bruins' so-called perfection line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. Who knows if Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington will ever turn into a star but he just set an NHL record for most wins (all 16 in the postseason) by a rookie so it's tough to knock that. Center Ryan O'Reilly earned the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP) with 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists) which tied for the league lead in the postseason and the most points in the SCF (5 goals, 4 assists). Equally impressive, he helped make Bergeron (who has to be battling some type of injury given his ineffectiveness) turn invisible vs. the Blues. O'Reilly capped off his tour de force with the opening goal in Game 7 and an assist on the final tally which gave St. Louis an insurmountable 4-0 lead late in the third period.

Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (16 saves) was a shoe-in for the Conn Smythe if he teammates hadn't choked this all away in the biggest moment. He deserved better as he was brilliant and it's tough to dump much on him this evening despite the fact that St. Louis scored on exactly half of its shots on goal (4) in the first. In front of its loudest crowd of the postseason (who paid undoubtedly the highest price ever for a sporting event in Boston), the Bruins came out on fire, outshooting the Blues 12-4 but they had nothing to show for it. Binnington robbed Marchand, he made a nice save on David Krejci's backhander and finally had a spectacular stop on Marcus Johansson. In soccer, they talk about goals that come against the run of play and that's precisely what the Blues got when O'Reilly tipped in Bouwmeester's shot from the point at 16:47 of the first period. Pietrangelo had the second assist (his team-high 16th) on O'Reilly's goal that extended the former Sabre's point streak to six games (5 goals, 4 assists) and that gave him 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in his last eight games.

For the most part, this was a low-scoring series aside from Boston's random offensive explosions in Game 3 (7-2) and Game 6 (5-1) at Enterprise Center. Still, 1-0 in the first period doesn't feel insurmountable. However, the Blues going up 2-0 with 7.9 seconds left in the frame was the definition of a backbreaker. For some unknown reason, Marchand decided to come off for a line change which left Pietrangelo all the time and space that he could ever dream of. The All-World Canadian and Blues captain beat Rask with a backhander for his third goal of the postseason, assisted by Jaden Schwartz who had done absolutely nothing all series. Going into the first intermission down 2-0 instead of the 1-0 it should have been (not to mention tied or even ahead) had to eat away at Boston's fragile confidence.

Boston showed that the pressure was truly getting to them in the second period as they played one of their worst stanzas of the entire season let alone the postseason. They outshot St. Louis 11-6 but there were no Grade A chances and Binnington hardly had to break a sweat. The Blues have to be one of the toughest teams in the NHL to play from behind against too because they love to just continually dump the puck in your end, make you chase it then continually pound you against the glass. The Bruins seemed flummoxed as to how to solve this problem. The team played nervy and you can't blame the fans for being equally on edge.

Comparing comebacks from other sports is silly but we had to cling to memories of the Patriots 28-3 Super Bowl comeback vs. the Falcons as if that meant anything for the B's. They huffed and puffed but could never gain any semblance of control in the game as Binnington extinguished all hope with a brilliant save on Sean Kuraly early in the third period. Brayden Schenn's one-timer at 11:25 made it 3-0 as the first wave of Bruins fans headed for the exits (who could do that after dropping so much money?). Vladimir Tarasenko and Schwartz had the assists on Schenn's fifth goal of the postseason. Salem, MA native and BC alum Zach Sanford had the honor of putting the last nail in Boston's coffin when he scored on a similar one-timer at 15:22. His first goal of the playoffs was assisted by David Perron and O'Reilly. The only thing that prevented Binnington from a joke shutout was Matt Grzelcyk's goal with an extra skater at 17:50 that cut it to 4-1 Blues. He returned to action after being out with a concussion since Game 2. David Krejci had the lone assist on the Charlestown native and BU alum's fourth goal of the postseason.

Earlier this week, Marchand talked about how that 2013 loss to Chicago still haunts him to this day and he already admitted in this postgame that this was the worst loss of his career, a sentiment echoed by another guy that's been a Bruin for a long time (Krejci). The toughest part to swallow from all of this is that St. Louis isn't a super team like the Blackhawks were in 2013. Unfortunately, I feel like in a few years, we'll look back at this Blues team as one of those fluky NHL clubs that somehow finds its way to a Cup that then proceeds to fall off a cliff never to be heard from again. Teams change every year in professional sports so undoubtedly at least one or two Bruins that we like probably won't be on the team next season. Sadly, it also is unlikely that the nucleus of Bergeron, Marchand, Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Rask that has been so productive in Black and Gold will ever capture another Cup, at least all together. This was their chance to really put a stamp on the franchise and the NHL as a whole. 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final looks a hell of a lot better than 1-2 and frankly 2011 seems like a lifetime ago. The Cup is the hardest trophy to win in professional sports but I have a feeling that this will always be remembered by the Bruins and their fans as the painful one that they left sitting on the table.

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Blues Pick Up Their 1st Ever Win In the Stanley Cup Final, 3-2 in OT to Even the Series At 1 vs. B's

It only took two games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final to conclude that the Blues are not the Hurricanes. There will be no sweep for the Bruins as St. Louis outplayed them for most of Game 2 and deserved the 3-2 overtime decision that came via the first career NHL playoff goal for defenseman Carl Gunnarsson. For the contest, the Blues outshot the Bruins 37-23 which included a 4-0 advantage in the brief extra session that basically felt like a St. Louis power play the entire time (the Blues had an extra skater on the ice during the game-winning goal since it was a delayed penalty on the Bruins).

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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The Bruins Rallied For A Thrilling 4-2 Victory In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final vs. the Blues

For two teams (Boston and St. Louis) that had been off for roughly a combined three months since their last contests in the Conference Finals, you have to say that Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final was way more exciting than most would have expected. The Blues built a 2-0 lead a minute into the second period before the Bruins came roaring back (sorry for that bad pun) with a pair of goals in the second and two more in the third to come away with a 4-2 win at TD Garden on a picture perfect Memorial Day. It marked the first time this postseason that Boston actually won a game after they trailed by two goals, the other four times had all resulted in losses.

If you've been paying attention for this entire playoff run by the B's, there were some familiar patterns throughout the 60 minutes that emerged for the home team: the incredible depth of Boston's roster was once again on full display as their first the three stars of the night (as chosen by the NHL's official scorers) were a fourth-line center (Sean Kuraly), a third-line winger (Marcus Johansson) and a third pairing defenseman (Connor Clifton). Also, the Bruins' top-ranked power play managed to score a goal despite starting 0-for-3 and their penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2. Tuukka Rask barely had to break a sweat after that second goal by St. Louis as he only was forced to make 18 saves for his and the team's eighth straight win.

I don't think it has all that much relevance since we're talking about nearly 50 years ago but I still think it's funny that with tonight's result, the Blues remain winless all-time in the Stanley Cup Final (0-13). I'm certainly not enough of a Bruins honk to say that this series is over (all you have to refer to is last season's Stanley Cup Final when Vegas took Game 1 then proceeded to lose the next four to Washington) but there were a lot of reasons if you root for the Black and Gold to be confident following this first step.

Honestly, both goals for St. Louis could be directly attributed to fatal mistakes by Boston: Brayden Schenn scored the first goal of the series at 7:23 of the first period when he was able to put in a loose puck that multiple Bruins failed to clear out of danger after an initial save by Rask. Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester had the assists on Schenn's third goal of the postseason. The shots were even at eight after one frame but it felt like the Bruins should have been up since Jordan Binnington (34 saves) made a couple great saves on one-timers by David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk missed the net on a breakaway and Johansson hit the post with a shot. An unforgivable turnover by Pasta behind his own net was the beginning of the goal that made it 2-0 thanks to Vladimir Tarasenko's snipe (his 9th of the playoffs) from Schenn.

Down 2-0, the Bruins didn't allow themselves or their fans (many of whom had paid obscene amounts of money to be in the building) much time to dwell on the hole that they built as Connor Clifton of all people cut it to 2-1 just 1:16 after Tarasenko's backbreaking goal. The Quinnipiac University product drove to the side of the net and was able to re-direct enough of a pass from Kuraly for the puck to sneak in. Joakim Nordstrom had the second assist on Clifton's second career playoff goal. St. Louis then started to take some very dumb penalties (high-sticking on Joel Edmundson and cross-checking on Oscar Sundqvist) and wouldn't you know it, Boston eventually made them pay dearly for their utter stupidity.

Charlie McAvoy burst through the middle of the St. Louis defensive zone and a pair of Blues defensemen were too slow to react as he beat Binnington with a low shot at 12:41 of the second period that tied it up 2-2. The ex-BU star's second goal of the postseason was unassisted. That extended Boston's power play goal streak to five games and in that span they are 8-for-20 (40%). The Bruins outshot the Blues 18-3 in the second and yet it somehow felt like even more than that. Marchand had two great chances to score late in the stanza as he spun around for a brilliant backhander that was stopped by Binnington and then in the closing seconds, he also hit the post.

Boston kept at it in the third period and they were rewarded by another key goal from Kuraly (all he does is score important goals) that gave them their first lead at 3-2. Noel Acciari fed him a pass across the goal-line and he was able to flip in the rebound for his third goal of the postseason at 5:21 with Zdeno Chara picking up the second assist. The Blues came in with the ninth ranked power play in the playoffs and they looked average in their few chances (including in the 3rd when David Krejci was called for an illegal check to the head). The highlight of Game 1 that will surely be remembered for a long time (assuming that you cheer for the Bruins) was a thunderous hit by Torey Krug on Robert Thomas. Krug had been tangled up for what seemed like five minutes in his own end with David Perron (causing him to lose his helmet) but he returned to the play and lined up Thomas from a mile away.

Blues head coach Craig Berube probably pulled Binnington too early (with 2:13 left in regultion) which allowed Marchand to quickly take out the suspense with an empty-netter at 18:11, his eighth goal of the postseason. Game 2 is Wednesday (8, NBC) and while I expect St. Louis to play much better, I believe that Boston can take it up another level too (at least as far as many of their stars are concerned). For what it's worth, the Bruins are 37-16 all-time in best-of-7 series when they lead a series 1-0 (5-1 in the Stanley Cup Final) while the Blues are 6-24 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail 0-1 (although they did beat San Jose in the last round after dropping Game 1). The B's are 32-20 in Game 2s when leading a series 1-0 (4-2 in SCF) and the Blues are 14-16 when trailing a series 0-1. As we just saw vs. overmatched Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals, a 2-0 series lead is a huge thing so Boston would love nothing better to put some more pressure on St. Louis by going back to what would be an absolute must-win Game 3 if they trailed 0-2.

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It Is Time to Give St. Louis Much More Respect, Because They are One of the NHL's Top Teams

The playoffs are a different story but for now at least, you can reasonably conclude that the Blues (21-11-4) are one of the best teams in the NHL. St. Louis came to Boston for the second night of a back-to-back (they choked away a 3-goal lead in a 4-3 loss in Philly) and they impressively beat the Bruins (19-10-4) 2-0 at TD Garden. It was Boston's first regulation loss since December 7 (3-2 vs. Nashville) and it cost them a chance at first place in the Atlantic Division after Montreal (20-13-3) lost 2-1 to Minnesota. Still, the B's are only one point back of the Habs with a game in hand. Who would have predicted that after their respective starts?

Goaltender Jake Allen made 32 saves for his fifth shutout of the season (tying him with Corey Crawford for the league lead) and 10th of his NHL career. Budding superstar right wing Vladimir Tarasenko tied Dallas' Jamie Benn for the NHL lead with his 22nd goal of the season and rookie Robby Fabbri added the insurance tally.

This was the first time that Boston was blanked in 2015-16 so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it was also the first instance where they didn't have a single power play. When you have the top-ranked power play in the NHL, not giving them at least one chance figures to be an issue. Additionally, they didn't crash the net with their typical fervor, meaning that Allen's shutout could not have been the hardest one of his life.

It was 0-0 after the first period and the only power play of the game occurred late in the second period when Brett Connolly stuck his leg own and tripped a Blues player. St. Louis' power play couldn't take advantage and it was 0-0 after two. There were some chances in that frame as Alexander Steen had hit the post, the Blues bungled a 2-on-1 and Allen stuffed Marchand's backhander following a juicy rebound.

Tyler Randell and Ryan Reaves had a heavyweight bout early in the third that got the crowd into it. A defensive breakdown by Boston led to a breakaway for Tarasenko at 7:35 and the MVP candidate did what he does. Magnus Paajarvi and David Backes (USA, USA, USA!) had the assists. Fabbri's goal at 12:50 was an absolute snipe over Tuukka Rask's (27 saves) shoulder. Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester had the helpers on Fabbri's seventh goal of the season. Truthfully there was nothing that Rask could have done better on either tally, they were simply outstanding plays by talented players.

The B's used their timeout with 2:38 left in regulation and they pulled Rask shortly after that but it wasn't to be. St. Louis earned a big two points that propelled them to second-place in the stacked Central Division and second-place in the Western Conference. The entire NHL is off for the next three days and Boston returns with a back-to-back on Saturday (7, NESN) vs. Buffalo (14-16-4) and Sunday (5, NESN) at Ottawa (17-12-5). It is surprising but they have yet to play either of those Atlantic Division foes so far this campaign, which makes those two particular games mighty important in the old Eastern Conference standings.

Happy Holidays everybody!

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