Tuukka Rask backstopped the Boston Bruins to their, 3-0, shutout victory over the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden Saturday night, while David Pastrnak added yet another goal to his league-leading goal scoring totals in the win.
Rask (5-0-1, 1.48 goals against average, .952 save percentage in six games played) turned aside all 26 shots that he faced for his 2nd shutout of the season (and 47th of his career).
The Bruins have three shutouts in 10 games this season.
Meanwhile, Blues goaltender, Jordan Binnington (4-2-3, 2.53 GAA, .916 SV% in nine games played) made 21 saves on 23 shots against (.913 SV%) in the loss.
Boston improved to 4-0-1 at home this season and 7-1-2 (16 points) overall– good enough to remain in 2nd place of the Atlantic Division. St. Louis fell to 5-3-3 (13 points), but stayed in 3rd place in the Central Division standings.
Bruins defenders, Kevan Miller (knee) and John Moore (shoulder) have yet to make their season debuts, but are progressing according to plan with Miller expected to begin practicing with the rest of the team next week and Moore still sidelined until mid-November.
David Krejci (upper body) missed his 3rd consecutive game and was ruled out for the weekend by Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy. Krejci is hopeful to return on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks.
Meanwhile, Joakim Nordstrom returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper body injury and Karson Kuhlman (hairline nondisplaced fracture of the right tibia) is out for at least four weeks.
Kuhlman sustained his fractured tibia in Boston’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, Oct. 19th while blocking a shot. He missed his 2nd consecutive game this season Saturday against the Blues.
As a result of all the injuries plaguing the B’s, Cassidy switched things up among his bottom-six forwards with Nordstrom’s return to action.
Anders Bjork joined Par Lindholm on the left side, while Danton Heinen was shifted to right wing on the third line.
Meanwhile, Nordstrom was reunited with Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner in their usual spots on the fourth line.
David Backes and Steven Kampfer were Boston’s only healthy scratches against St. Louis.
Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body) was out for the Blues in their first matchup against the Bruins in Boston since winning their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history on June 12th at TD Garden in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
Less than a minute into the action, Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara leveled Oskar Sundqvist with a big hit near St. Louis’ bench.
Blues forward, Brayden Schenn, responded to Chara’s hit and the two players were escorted to the penalty box with roughing minors 38 seconds into the first period.
Both teams skated 4-on-4 as a result for two minutes, then resumed full strength afterwards with no issues until about five minutes later when Torey Krug and David Perron got into a bit of a shoving match.
Krug was penalized for holding the stick and Perron received a roughing infraction as a result. Both penalties were called at 6:13 of the first period and once again– the two teams skated 4-on-4 for a couple minutes.
Late in the opening frame, Perron was guilty of holding Charlie Coyle and sent to the sin bin as a result at 14:08.
Boston capitalized on their first power play opportunity of the night as Pastrnak (11) blasted a one-timer through Binnington’s seven-hole to give the B’s the game’s first goal at 14:59.
Krug (7) and Brad Marchand (10) had the assists on Pastrnak’s power play goal and the Bruins led, 1-0.
Less than a minute later, Kuraly was penalized for cross checking Vince Dunn and the Blues went on the power play at 15:49.
St. Louis wasn’t able to convert on the skater advantage– what would become a trend for the Notes all evening.
Finally, to wrap up the first frame, Sundqvist got his stick caught in Connor Clifton’s skate and tripped the Bruins defender at 18:12.
Boston’s ensuing power play would carryover into the second period.
Through 20 minutes of action Saturday night, the Bruins led St. Louis, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-9, in shots on goal.
The B’s also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2) and giveaways (5-1) entering the first intermission, while the Blues led in takeaways (6-3), hits (10-9) and faceoff win percentage (57-44).
St. Louis was 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the second period.
Despite starting the middle frame with 12 seconds left on the power play, Boston’s skater advantage went powerless for the rest of the night after Pastrnak’s first period power play goal.
But midway through the middle frame, Bjork (1) ripped a one-timer over Binnington’s glove on a pass from Matt Grzelcyk to put Boston ahead, 2-0.
Grzelcyk (2) and Heinen (1) tallied the assists at 9:31 of the second period as Bjork snapped a 17-game goal drought.
Just 11 seconds later, Krug hooked Perron and presented St. Louis with their second power play of the night at 9:42. The Blues did not convert on the advantage.
In the vulnerable minute after a special teams effort, Sundqvist didn’t use his better judgment and boarded Charlie McAvoy at 12:06, resulting in a power play for the Bruins.
At least Boston didn’t score on the ensuing skater advantage.
With less than a minute left in the second period, Grzelcyk interfered with Alexander Steen at 19:17 and was sent to the penalty box accordingly, yielding 1:17 of time carried over on the power play for St. Louis to start the third period.
After two periods in Boston, the Bruins led, 2-0. The B’s held a, 19-16, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 9-7, advantage in the second period alone– and led in giveaways (7-3), while the Notes led in takeaways (10-6), hits (21-16) and faceoff win% (68-33).
Both teams had five blocked shots aside entering the second intermission.
Boston was 1/3 on the power play, while St. Louis was 0/3 on the skater advantage.
St. Louis began the third period with 1:17 left on their power play, but couldn’t muster anything on the fresh sheet of ice, leaving the Bruins unharmed.
Early in the final frame of regulation, Colton Parayko hooked Bjork and was sent to the box at 4:02 of the third period.
Boston didn’t score on the resulting power play.
Midway through the third, Krug was penalized for holding 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Ryan O’Reilly, and sent to the box at 8:22, but once again the Blues were powerless and let another skater advantage slip by.
With 2:35 remaining in the game, Blue head coach, Craig Berube pulled Binnington for an extra attacker.
At 19:11 of the third, Brandon Carlo (1) cleared the puck out of his own zone and into the empty twine to make it, 3-0, Boston with an unassisted goal.
The Bruins won, 3-0, at the final horn, despite being outshot, 26-24, in the action.
Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (11-8), while St. Louis finished leading in hits (27-22) and faceoff win% (60-40).
Both teams ended up with nine giveaways each.
Boston travels to Madison Square Garden for their second game in back-to-back days for a Sunday night matchup with the New York Rangers before finishing the month of October at home Tuesday night versus San Jose.
