Down the Frozen River

Tag: Robert Thomas

Bruins beat Blues in overtime on the road, 3-2

For the first time since Game 6 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins paid a visit to Enterprise Center on Tuesday night and snapped the St. Louis Blues’ nine-game winning streak with a, 3-2, overtime victory on the road.

Charlie McAvoy scored the game-winning goal for Boston less than a minute into the extra frame, while Jeremy Swayman (22-12-3, 2.33 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 38 games played) made 20 saves on 22 shots against in the win.

St. Louis goaltender, Ville Husso (24-6-6, 2.46 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 38 games played) stopped 32 out of 35 shots faced in the overtime loss.

The Bruins improved to 47-24-5 (99 points) on the season and are now one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (46-22-8, 100 points) for 3rd in the Atlantic Division, while remaining 4th place in the division and in command of the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Blues, meanwhile, fell to 46-20-11 (103 points) overall and dropped to 3rd in the Central Division as a result of the Minnesota Wild’s, 2-0, victory against the Montréal Canadiens Tuesday night– forcing St. Louis and Minnesota in a tiebreaker that the Wild currently hold by virtue of having played in one fewer game than the Blues so far this season (76 games to St. Louis’ 77).

Boston finished 1-1-0 in their 2021-22 regular season series against St. Louis having previously gone 1-0-0 in their 2019-20 campaign that was cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (which also prevented the two teams from meeting in the regular season in 2020-21).

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters ahead of the game that David Pastrnak (undisclosed), Hampus Lindholm (lower body) and Linus Ullmark (undisclosed) would not make the two-game road trip against the Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins and are likely to return next week prior to the conclusion of the regular season.

As such, the B’s were without Pastrnak, Lindholm and Ullmark in addition to being short Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) on Tuesday.

Frödén’s injury meant that Curtis Lazar would slide in on the right side of the second line with Tomáš Nosek returning to the lineup to center the fourth line.

Cassidy made no other changes to his lineup from last Saturday’s, 2-1, victory against Pittsburgh to Tuesday night at Enterprise Center.

Jack Studnicka, Josh Brown, Jack Ahcan and Anton Blidh made up Boston’s list of healthy scratches in St. Louis.

Nathan Walker hooked Erik Haula and presented the Bruins with the first power play opportunity of the night at 5:40 of the first period, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage as it was cut short when Mike Reilly caught Brayden Schenn with a high stick at 6:49.

The B’s fell to 0-for-26 on the power play in their last 26 opportunities as a result.

St. Louis didn’t convert on their abbreviated skater advantage as the Bruins made the kill and Reilly returned to the ice from his sixth penalty in his last last games (four of which were, in fact, for high sticking).

Midway through the opening frame, McAvoy hooked Ryan O’Reilly at 11:11 and presented the Blues with another power play.

This time St. Louis made quick work of the skater advantage as Pavel Buchnevich (28) redirected a one-touch pass from Vladimir Tarasenko past Swayman to give the Blues a, 1-0, lead at 11:49 of the first period.

Tarasenko (44) and Jordan Kyrou (43) tallied the assists on Buchnevich’s power-play goal.

Late in the period, the two teams went into the first intermission at 4-on-4 after Ivan Barbashev and Lazar went into the box for roughing and an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction, respectively, at 19:15.

The two clubs would resume 5-on-5 action early in the middle frame after the penalties expired.

After one period, St. Louis led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding an, 11-8, advantage in shots on goal.

The Bruins also led in blocked shots (8-3), takeaways (5-3) and faceoff win percentage (57-43), while the Blues led in giveaways (5-1) and hits (12-7).

St. Louis was 1-for-2 on the power play, while Boston was 0-for-1 on the skater advantage heading into the middle period.

Jake DeBrusk (23) sent a shot over Husso’s short side under the crossbar and off the back bar in the net before the puck rebounded back out of the twine.

The goal was waved off at first before a quick official review determined that the rubber biscuit had gone in and out so quickly– rendering an assist to Matt Grzelcyk (20) in the process while DeBrusk tied the game, 1-1, at 1:33 of the second period.

Almost midway through the middle frame, Haula sent a one-hand pass back to the point where Derek Forbort got a shot off towards the slot that Taylor Hall (17) tipped from below the crossbar past Husso– giving the Bruins their first lead of the night, 2-1, in the process.

Forbort (10) and Haula (25) notched the assists on Hall’s goal and the B’s had momentum well on their side at 9:44.

Late in the period, however, Forbort cut a rut to the penalty box for tripping Dakota Joshua, but Boston was able to make the kill on the ensuing infraction and special teams action at 17:00 of the second period.

In the vulnerable minute thereafter, though, the Blues managed to fling a shot at the net that Robert Thomas (19) tipped while skating through the slot to tie the game, 2-2, at 19:57.

Buchnevich (43) and Tarasenko (45) had the assists on Thomas’ goal with 2.4 seconds left on the clock in the second period as the Bruins gave up their 19th goal against in the final minute of any period this season.

Through 40 minutes the score was tied, 2-2, despite Boston holding a decisive advantage in shots on goal, 28-17. The Bruins even outshot the Blues, 17-9, in the second period alone.

The B’s held the advantage in blocked shots (10-8), takeaways (11-5) and faceoff win% (63-38), while the Blue Notes led in giveaways (8-5) and hits (15-14) heading into the final frame.

St. Louis was 1-for-3 on the power play while Boston was 0-for-1 on the skater advantage.

Neither team scored in the third period, while only Barbashev took a penalty at 6:34 for tripping Haula.

The Bruins fell to 0-for-27 on their last 27 power play opportunities as the skater advantage came and went by the wayside.

After 60 minutes of regulation, Boston and St. Louis were tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard despite the Bruins holding a, 34-22, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 6-5, advantage in the third period alone.

The B’s led in takeaways (16-11), hits (22-20) and faceoff win% (59-41), while the Blues led in giveaways (11-4) after three periods.

Both teams had 13 blocked shots each, while St. Louis finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play and Boston went 0-for-2 on the skater advantage as no penalties were called in the extra frame.

Cassidy sent out Charlie Coyle, DeBrusk and McAvoy to start the overtime period, while Blues head coach, Craig Berube, countered with Thomas, Tarasenko and Justin Faulk.

It didn’t take long for the Bruins to nearly blow it, then win it.

One Boston skater misplayed a loose puck before DeBrusk over-skated it prior to Swayman emerging from the crease to clear it off the boards in the neutral zone while facing pressure from a St. Louis forward.

The Bruins quickly recovered from their own unforced error and entered the attacking zone on a rush with DeBrusk cutting to the trapezoid rather than shooting the puck prior to sending a pass back to McAvoy (9) as the defender crept into the high slot and snapped a shot past Husso for the game-winning goal.

DeBrusk (15) and Coyle (26) had the assists on McAvoy’s goal 48 seconds into overtime and the Bruins won, 3-2, almost as quickly as the extra frame began.

Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 35-22, including a, 1-0, advantage in overtime alone, as well as maintaining their advantage in hits (22-20) and faceoff win% (60-40).

St. Louis left their own ice with the lead in giveaways (11-4), while both teams managed to amass 13 blocked shots each.

The Bruins snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Blues in the process on Tuesday night, while improving to 9-3 in overtime this season (11-5 past regulation overall in 2021-22).

The Blues fell to 3-9 in overtime this season, as well as 5-11 past regulation overall.

St. Louis also dropped to 27-8-6 (16-4-3 at home) when scoring first, 20-1-4 (14-0-3 at home) when leading after one and 8-4-5 (3-2-3 at home) when tied after two periods in 2021-22.

Boston improved to 13-15-3 (6-7-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 6-13-2 (2-6-1 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 14-5-0 (7-4-0 on the road) when tied after the second period this season.

The Bruins head to PPG Paints Arena for a matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night before hosting the New York Rangers Saturday afternoon at TD Garden on ABC.

Boston heads to Montréal on Sunday before hosting Florida and Buffalo next Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, prior to their regular season finale in Toronto next Friday.

April 20, 2022
Tarasenko nets two in St. Louis’, 4-2, road victory

Vladimir Tarasenko scored a pair of goals to extend the St. Louis Blues’ winning streak to six games with a, 4-2, win against the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Blues goaltender, Ville Husso (23-6-5, 2.37 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in 36 games played), made 39 saves on 41 shots against in the win.

Meanwhile, Bruins goaltender, Jeremy Swayman (20-11-3, 2.34 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 35 games played), stopped 26 out of 30 shots faced in the loss.

Boston fell to 45-23-5 (95 points) overall and remained 4th in the Atlantic Division, while St. Louis improved to 43-20-10 (96 points) on the season and in command of 3rd place in the Central Division.

Despite the loss, the B’s remain in command of the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Tuesday night marked the first time that the Bruins and Blues faced each other since Oct. 26, 2019, when Boston won, 3-0, on home ice in the first regular season meeting between the two clubs since the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

The B’s went 1-0-0 against St. Louis in 2019-20, and did not face the Blues in the 2020-21 regular season due to the temporarily realigned divisions, as well as the condensed 56-game schedule.

The Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), David Pastrnak (undisclosed), Hampus Lindholm (lower body) and Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) on Tuesday.

With Grzelcyk joining the list of injured players, Bruce Cassidy, made a few tweaks to his defensive pairings ahead of the 500th game of his NHL head coaching career (390th with Boston).

Derek Forbort suited up alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Mike Reilly slotted next to Brandon Carlo to fill out the top-four defenders.

Connor Clifton returned to action on the third pairing with Josh Brown, while Jack Studnicka and Anton Blidh comprised the short list of healthy scratches for the Bruins.

Tuesday night marked Torey Krug’s 31st birthday in addition to his return to Boston since joining the Blues via free agency prior to the 2020-21 season.

St. Louis’ first rush into the attacking zone yielded a 2-on-1 as Ryan O’Reilly worked a pass to David Perron while Reilly and Carlo were left trailing in the dust.

Perron (24) deked around Swayman and backhanded a shot high on the blocker side to give the Blues a, 1-0, lead 34 seconds into the first period.

O’Reilly (31) and Brandon Saad (24) tallied the assists on the goal.

The Bruins tied things up 15 seconds later, however, as Boston worked the puck deep where Brad Marchand fished the rubber biscuit from the endboards to Patrice Bergeron (20) in the bumper for a one-timer goal.

Marchand (42) and Forbort (9) notched the assists on Bergeron’s goal as the B’s tied things up, 1-1, 49 seconds into the first period.

The goal also marked Bergeron’s 395th career tally– tying the Bruins captain with Ray Bourque for the fourth-most goals in franchise history.

It was also Bergeron’s 20th goal of the season– marking No. 37’s 13th season with at least 20 goals in his 18-year NHL career.

Moments later, the Blues had the first power play of the night when Reilly was assessed a cross checking infraction at 4:03.

St. Louis failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage and had another chance go by the wayside when Marchand tripped Jordan Kyrou at 7:40 of the opening frame.

Midway through the period, Perron tripped McAvoy, but the Bruins weren’t able to capitalize on their first power play of the night at 13:24.

Krug thought he scored in the vulnerable minute after special teams action on a shot from the point that deflected off of Clifton on the rebound and pinballed past Swayman, but Cassidy used a coach’s challenge on the basis that he believed the Blues were offside upon entry into St. Louis’ attacking zone.

Video review confirmed that Robert Thomas was just ahead of the puck at the blue line and therefore offside as the on-ice officials reversed the call on the ice.

Krug’s would-be goal was wiped off the board at 15:51 of the first period.

Less than a minute later, Boston surged in momentum– crescendoing as Clifton wrapped the puck around the boards to Erik Haula in the trapezoid before Haula one-handed a backhand pass to Marc McLaughlin as McLaughlin (2) crashed the slot for a one-timer goal that slipped through Husso’s five-hole.

Haula (24) and Clifton (7) had the assists as the B’s pulled ahead, 2-1, at 16:59 of the first period.

Heading into the first intermission, Boston led, 2-1, on the scoreboard despite trailing, 18-15, in shots on goal.

St. Louis also held the advantage in blocked shots (4-1), takeaways (3-2), giveaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (63-38), while the Bruins led in hits (8-7).

The Blues were 0/2 on the power play, while the B’s went 0/1 on the skater advantage entering the middle period.

Clifton sent the puck over the glass and received an automatic delay of game penalty as a result at 3:55 of the second period, but St. Louis failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Brayden Schenn cut a rut to the sin bin for cross checking at 10:41, but Boston failed to score on the resulting power play.

Moments later, Trent Frederic received a roughing minor at 14:17. This time the Blues made the most of their power play opportunity.

It didn’t take Krug (9) long to snake his way into the high slot and sent a wrist shot off of Swayman’s blocker side and into the twine for a power-play goal at 15:10 of the second period.

Schenn (31) and Perron (28) tallied the assists as Krug’s power-play goal tied things up, 2-2.

Shortly thereafter, the Bruins tweeted that Carlo was unlikely to return to the night’s action after leaving the game about midway through the first period.

Cassidy told reporters after the game that Carlo wasn’t feeling well and that it was not due to an illness.

Late in the middle frame, Thomas was the beneficiary of a forced turnover before feeding the puck to Pavel Buchnevich as the Blues broke out.

Buchnevich returned the package back to the sender before Thomas setup Tarasenko (27) on a between the legs pass for a catch and release goal on Swayman’s blocker side.

Tarasenko gave St. Louis a, 3-2, lead at 18:12 of the second period, while Thomas (48) and Buchnevich (36) recorded the assists on the goal.

Through 40 minutes of action Tuesday night, the Blues led, 3-2, on the scoreboard despite trailing the Bruins, 28-26, in shots on goal– including a, 13-8, advantage for Boston in the second period alone.

St. Louis led in takeaways (8-2), while the B’s held the advantage in blocked shots (8-6), hits (17-14) and faceoff win% (57-43).

Both teams had five giveaways each heading into the final frame.

As there were no penalties called in the third period, the Blues finished the night 1/4 on the power play, while the Bruins went 0/2.

Midway through the final frame, Tarasenko (28) buried the puck for an insurance goal– giving the Blues a, 4-2, lead after St. Louis forced another turnover with Reilly left all along to defender in front of his goaltender.

Buchnevich (37) and Krug (28) tallied the assists on Tarasenko’s second goal of the game at 9:27 of the third period and the Blues had the first and only two-goal lead of the night.

With 2:05 remaining in the game, Cassidy pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail.

The final horn sounded and signaled a St. Louis regulation victory, 4-2, despite Boston finishing the night leading in shots on goal, 41-30, including a, 13-4, advantage in the third period alone.

The Bruins left their own ice leading in giveaways (8-6), hits (25-21) and faceoff win% (56-44), while the Blues took home two points in the standings, as well as the final advantage in blocked shots (15-8).

The win extended St. Louis’ current winning streak to six games, while Boston has now dropped three out of their last four games.

The B’s dropped to 12-15-3 (7-8-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 25-4-1 (12-2-0 at home) when leading after one and 4-17-2 (3-10-1 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

The Blues, meanwhile, improved to 26-8-5 (11-4-3 on the road) when scoring first, 7-10-4 (3-6-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 31-3-3 (13-2-2 on the road) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

Boston hosts the Ottawa Senators on Thursday before the Pittsburgh Penguins pay their last visit of the regular season to TD Garden Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins travel to St. Louis next Tuesday and Pittsburgh next Thursday before returning home to host the New York Rangers next Saturday (April 23rd) in a game that will be broadcast across the United States on ABC.

April 13, 2022
St. Louis Blues 2021-22 Season Preview

2020-21 record 27-20-9, 63 points

4th in the Honda NHL West Division

Eliminated in the First Round by Colorado

Additions: F Pavel Buchnevich (acquired from NYR), F Matthew Peca, F Brandon Saad, F Nathan Todd, D Tommy Cross, D Calle Rosén, G Charlie Lindgren

Subtractions: F Sammy Blais (traded to NYR), F Mike Hoffman (signed with MTL), F Curtis McKenzie (signed with Texas Stars, AHL), F Jaden Schwartz (signed with SEA), F Alexander Steen (retired), D Vince Dunn (expansion, SEA), D Carl Gunnarsson (retired), D Petteri Lindbohm (KHL)

Still Unsigned: F Robert Thomas (RFA), G Jon Gillies

Re-signed: F Ivan Barbashev, F Tyler Bozak, F Dakota Joshua, F Tanner Kaspick, F Jordan Kyrou, F Zach Sanford, F Nolan Stevens, F Nathan Walker

Offseason Analysis: Winning the Cup comes with a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing to win it (especially as the Blues had never won prior to 2019, since their inception in 1967) and it’s a curse because it sets an expectation for success.

St. Louis might have had a short window to win their second Cup in franchise history.

After being swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, their face of the franchise before Ryan O’Reilly’s arrival, Vladimir Tarasenko, requested a trade.

Blues General Manager, Doug Armstrong, has yet to fulfill that request and has indicated that he’s in no rush to do so– after all, he’s in control of the cards at hand and like when Avs General Manager, Joe Sakic, ultimately traded Matt Duchene, Armstrong can command a steep price for Tarasenko if he’s patient enough.

Injuries have limited Tarasenko to 34 games in the last two seasons, including 3-7–10 totals in 10 games in 2019-20 and 4-10–14 totals in 24 games in 2020-21.

From 2014-15 through the 2018-19 season Tarasenko recorded five consecutive seasons with at least 65 points– including his career-high 75 points in 82 games in 2016-17, as well as a 40-goal season in 80 games in 2015-16.

Tarasenko’s situation isn’t the only concern in St. Louis, however, as the depth of the Blues that made them Cup contenders turned champions in 2019, has withered away– leaving Armstrong with the difficult task of overhauling both the top-six forward group and experimenting with the right mixture of replacement players.

Jake Allen, Sammy Blais, Jay Bouwmeester, Vince Dunn, Joel Edmundson, Robby Fabbri, Carl Gunnarsson, Patrick Maroon, Alex Pietrangelo, Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen have all left one way or another since winning the Cup in St. Louis.

In their place, guys like Ivan Barbashev, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou and Mackenzie MacEachern have climbed the development ladder, while Torey Krug, Justin Faulk and Marco Scandella were acquired by other means.

Some will rise and exceed expectations. Others will be gifted contracts through their prime– though their use may be time limited and the chemistry pulled apart.

At the very least, Barbashev and Kyrou’s extensions this summer lead the youth movement for the Blues in an ever-changing league.

Meanwhile, the introduction of Brandon Saad on a five-year deal worth $4.500 million per season– only a smidge more than what Mike Hoffman was making on a one-year contract that wasn’t renewed– and Pavel Buchnevich via trade and subsequent four-year, $23.200 million extension has solidified St. Louis’ top-six forward group for the foreseeable future.

Saad spent last season with the Avalanche and had 15-9–24 totals in 44 regular season games before coming up clutch in the postseason– albeit at times the only goal scorer, it seemed, for Colorado– with 7-1–8 totals in 10 games.

At 28-years-old, the Blues should have him for what’s left of his prime in what’s been a respectable career thus far with 371 points (184 goals, 187 assists) in 632 career games since making his league debut in the 2011-12 season with Chicago, winning two Stanley Cup rings with the organization in 2013 and 2015, then spending time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Chicago again and Colorado.

Armstrong acquired Buchnevich from the New York Rangers in exchange for Blais and a 2022 2nd round pick on July 23rd in the only trade that involved roster players for St. Louis this offseason.

Blais leaves the Blues after breaking into the league in the 2017-18 season and amassing 17-18–35 totals in 119 games with St. Louis, including 8-7–15 totals in 36 games last season.

Buchnevich joins the Blues riding a productive season with the Rangers– notching 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) in 54 games in 2020-21, as well as 79-116–195 totals in 301 career games with New York since making his league debut in the 2016-17 season.

After nine loyal seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tyler Bozak won the Cup in his first season with St. Louis in 2018-19.

Through three seasons with the Blues, Bozak’s amassed 31-53–84 totals in 170 games– despite injuries that kept him to 31 games out of the 56-game schedule in 2020-21.

At 35-years-old and in love with the St. Louis uniform, Bozak is ready to be part of the transitional plans from 2019 Stanley Cup champions to getting back to Cup contention for the Blues– signing a one-year extension worth $750,000 against the cap.

He’ll either be back to full health as a low-risk, high-reward gamble to hang onto or he’ll be trade bait for another team looking to add a touch of experience at the deadline.

It might have been a blessing in disguise for the Blues to have kept Bozak and lost Schwartz this offseason.

Schwartz’s five-year contract worth $5.500 million per season with the Seattle Kraken contains a no-movement clause in the first three seasons for a player that’s suffered from a recent decline in production at 29-years-old.

Contrasted with Phillip Danault’s two-way style that ultimately went to the Los Angeles Kings with an additional sixth-year in his contract– albeit their similar scoring totals– the Blues were never going to be able to afford to keep Schwartz and account for patching a couple of holes at the same time.

After skyrocketing to the top of the league standings and winning the Cup in 2019, Jordan Binnington’s looking to reinvent himself as a surefire starter in the National Hockey League.

On the wings of a six-year extension worth $6.000 million per season, he better prove it.

A 30-13-7 record in 50 games played with a 2.56 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and three shutouts in that span in 2019-20, was followed by an 18-14-8 record in 42 games played with a 2.65 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.

That doesn’t exactly scream long-term option in net if it worsens.

In five postseason games in 2020, Binnington went 0-5 and had a 4.72 goals-against average, as well as an .851 save percentage.

In 2021, he went 0-4 with a 3.59 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage. While that is better than his 2020 performance, it also means that the two postseason wins since winning the Cup in 2019, were recorded by a goaltender not named “Binnington” (they were, in fact, recorded by current Montréal Canadiens backup and former Blues netminder, Jake Allen).

If St. Louis can’t get things tamed in the crease, then they might have even more issues to resolve than already planned.

Offseason Grade: C

While Saad and Buchnevich are quality pickups for the Blues, most teams in playoff contention make one or two moves and otherwise stand pat.

St. Louis got an upgrade over Hoffman’s departure, sure, but they are limited in spending power with about $782,000 left in cap space and burdened by lengthy contracts that haven’t really gone one way or another yet.

Armstrong knows how to build a team up over a period of time, but hasn’t encountered what it means to sustain that success over the years in the postseason, as well as through the course of developing a system to supplement it while talent comes and goes in the ebbs and flows of the salary cap era.

Whereas the Blues once mastered building the foundation for a team that could contend for a decade or more, it seems as though there are cracks starting to form and if they’re not careful, serious structural damage could affect their core.

September 16, 2021
Avalanche sweep Blues, advance to the Second Round in, 5-2, win

The Colorado Avalanche were the first team to punch their ticket to the Second Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs as they swept the St. Louis Blues with a, 5-2, victory on the road in Game 4 at Enterprise Center on Sunday afternoon.

Philipp Grubauer (4-0, 1.75 goals-against average, .937 save percentage in four games played) made 18 saves on 20 shots against in the win for Colorado.

Blues goaltender, Jordan Binnington (0-4, 3.86 goals-against average, .899 save percentage in four games played) stopped 29 out of 32 shots faced in the loss.

With the series win, the Avs also improved to 2-0 in all time best-of-seven game series matchups with the Blues (Colorado previously eliminated St. Louis in five games in the 2001 Western Conference Final).

David Perron remained in the league’s COVID protocol for St. Louis and was not available for any game in the series.

Colorado forward, Nazem Kadri (suspension) appealed his eight-game suspension on Sunday and will away to find out if he’ll still be sitting out for the team’s next six postseason games.

Late in the opening frame, Mikko Rantanen tripped up Vladimir Tarasenko and presented the Blues with the first power play of the afternoon at 18:41 of the first period.

St. Louis did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage as the two teams went scoreless through the first 20 minutes of action, tied, 0-0, at the first intermission.

Colorado held the advantage in shots on goal, 10-6, after one period and led in faceoff win percentage (73-27), while the Blue Notes dominated in just about everything else– leading in blocked shots (9-4), takeaways (3-2), giveaways (4-2) and hits (8-3).

The Avs had yet to see any action on the skater advantage while St. Louis was 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Tarasenko (1) got a breakaway early in the second period and sent a shot over Grubauer’s glove side to make it, 1-0, St. Louis as the Blues led for the first time in the series.

Ryan O’Reilly (2) had the only assist on Tarasenko’s goal at 4:25 of the second period.

Less than a minute later, Carl Soderberg and Torey Krug went at it after Krug slashed Soderberg.

The two players each received minor infractions– Soderberg for roughing, Krug for slashing– at 5:09 and necessitated two minutes of 4-on-4 action early in the second period.

Moments later, Niko Mikkola was penalized for roughing at 9:39, presenting Colorado with their first power play of the night.

Late in the ensuing skater advantage, Cale Makar brough the puck from end-to-end before setting up Brandon Saad (3) for the snap shot over Binnington’s blocker to tie the game, 1-1, at 11:37 of the second period.

Makar (2) and Grubauer (1) tallied the assists on Saad’s power-play goal.

A few minutes later, the Avalanche took control of the game as Gabriel Landeskog (2) deflected a shot from the point by Samuel Girard to give the Avs their first lead of the night, 2-1, at 14:53.

Girard (2) and Rantanen (6) notched the assists on Landeskog’s goal.

After 40 minutes, Colorado led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 24-11, in shots on goal, including a, 14-5, advantage in the second period alone.

The Avs were 1/1 on the power play and the Blues were still 0/1 on the skater advantage.

Nathan MacKinnon led Rantanen in on a 2-on-1 break-in whereby MacKinnon sent a pass to Rantanen (1) for the catch and release goal on the glove side to make it, 3-1, Colorado.

MacKinnon (3) and Landeskog (6) tallied the assists on Rantanen’s goal as the Avs extended their lead to two-goals at 4:20 of the third period.

A few minutes later, Tyson Jost caught Krug with a high stick and cut a rut to the box at 7:29.

It didn’t take long for the Blues to work the puck from Robert Thomas to O’Reilly back to Thomas and finally over to Tarasenko across the high slot whereby Tarasenko (2) sent the rubber biscuit past Grubauer on the glove side to make it a one-goal game.

Thomas (3) and O’Reilly (3) had the assists on Tarasenko’s power-play goal as St. Louis trailed, 3-2, at 8:39.

Late in the period, Mike Hoffman caught MacKinnon with a high stick and drew blood, yielding a four-minute double minor penalty in the process at 18:12.

Blues head coach, Craig Berube, pulled Binnington for an extra attacker with nothing left to lose as the seconds ticked down.

MacKinnon (6) buried an empty net power-play goal from the neutral zone for some insurance at 19:04 of third period to make it, 4-2.

50 seconds later, Valeri Nichushkin (1) added another empty net power-play goal at 19:54 to make it, 5-2, Colorado.

At the final horn, the Avs had won and eliminated the Blues in four games– completing the sweep on the road at Enterprise Center in the process.

The Avalanche finished the afternoon leading in shots on goal, 34-20, including a, 10-9, advantage in the third period alone, while St. Louis dominated in just about everything else, including blocked shots (19-13), giveaways (11-7), hits (20-11) and faceoff win% (53-47).

The Blue Notes finished 1/2 on the power play, while Colorado went 3/3 on the skater advantage on Sunday.

The Avs became the first team to win their first four postseason games by at least three goals in each game since the New York Rangers did so in the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

New York, of course, went on to win the Cup that year, for the record.

The Avalanche won the series 4-0 and await the winner of the other Honda NHL West Division First Round matchup– the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Minnesota Wild series.

Vegas currently leads their series with the Wild 3-1 with Game 5 on the Golden Knights’ home ice on Monday.

Having won the Presidents’ Trophy for the 2020-21 season, Colorado will have home ice throughout the playoffs as far as they go.

May 23, 2021
MacKinnon’s hat trick gives Avs 2-0 series lead

Nathan MacKinnon scored a hat trick as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues, 6-3, in Game 2 of their 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round series on Wednesday, but that’s not the only big thing to have happened in the matchup.

Avalanche forward, Nazem Kadri, is likely to face supplemental discipline from the league’s Department of Player Safety for his high, blindside, hit on Blues defender, Justin Faulk, in the third period of Wednesday night’s action at Ball Arena.

Kadri has not been suspended since the 2019 First Round when he retaliated– then as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs– with a cross check to the face of Boston Bruins forward, Jake DeBrusk.

He has faced numerous fines and suspensions before prior to the DeBrusk incident– though in accordance with the league’s 18-month timeline for repeat offenders it’s more than likely that Kadri won’t be defined as one in whatever additional discipline he’s about to face.

Nevertheless, the hit was bad.

Whether Kadri will be back at all in this series or at all in the remainder of the 2021 postseason remains to be seen.

Philipp Grubauer (2-0, 2.00 goals-against average, .931 save percentage in two games played) made 32 saves on 35 shots against in the win for Colorado.

St. Louis goaltender, Jordan Binnington (0-2, 4.07 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in two games played), made 29 saves on 33 shots faced in the loss.

David Perron remained on the league’s COVID protocol list as the Blues, Vegas Golden Knights and a few other teams across the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball had an issue with COVID testing at a lab.

Though Perron was unaffected by the mass false positive tests produced, the Blues and Golden Knights were promptly retested and cleared to play.

Joonas Donskoi (1) kicked things off with a deflection goal 35 seconds into the first period as the Avs went up, 1-0, on the scoreboard thanks to his presence in front of the net while Ryan Graves got a shot off from the point.

Graves (1) and Kadri (1) had the assists on Donskoi’s first goal of the night and the Avalanche got off to a hot start– wasting little time to pull ahead of the Blues on home ice.

Late in the period, St. Louis’ Robert Thomas sent the puck over the glass and out of play, yielding an automatic delay of game penalty and presenting Colorado with the night’s first chance on the power play at 17:35.

It took the Avalanche less than a minute to dominate on the skater advantage and capitalize on their first power play of the game as MacKinnon (3) cut to the middle of the point with heavy traffic in front of Binnington before firing a shot through the legs of a Blues defender, as well as MacKinnon’s own teammate, Gabriel Landeskog, and into the twine.

Cale Makar (1) and Donskoi (1) notched the assists on MacKinnon’s power-play goal and the Avs led, 2-0, at 18:05.

After one period of action, Colorado led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 19-6, in shots on goal.

The Avalanche also dominated in blocked shots (7-6), takeaways (4-1), giveaways (4-0) and faceoff win percentage (70-30), while St. Louis held the advantage in hits (13-8).

The Blues had yet to see time on the power play, while the Avs were already 1/1 heading into the first intermission.

Early in the middle frame, Ivan Barbashev hooked MacKinnon and presented the Avalanche with a power play at 2:48 of the second period.

Less than a minute into the ensuing skater advantage, MacKinnon sent a shot from the point that Donskoi (2) deflected while acting as a screen in the slot with Landeskog.

MacKinnon (2) and Mikko Rantanen (3) picked up the assists on Donskoi’s power-play goal as the Avalanche extended their lead to, 3-0, at 3:14 of the second period.

Late in the middle frame, Sammy Blais (1) sent the puck off of Grubauer from about the goal line as the rubber biscuit had eyes and trickled through the Colorado netminder’s five-hole and into the net.

Kyle Clifford (1) and Torey Krug (1) recorded their first assists of the postseason on Blais’ goal as the Blues cut Colorado’s lead to two-goals, 3-1, at 16:17.

Though the Avs led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 28-20, in shots on goal after two periods, St. Louis held the advantage in second period shots alone, 14-9.

The Blue Notes also led in blocked shots (11-8) and hits (23-16) after 40 minutes, while the Avalanche maintained an advantage in takeaways (8-3), giveaways (9-5) and faceoff win% (68-33).

Colorado was 2/2 on the power play heading into the final period as the Blues had still yet to encounter a legal skater advantage in the action.

Then it happened.

Early in the third period, Kadri hit Faulk from a blindside angle, right to the head.

Faulk was visibly unwell and laying facedown on the ice– the CNBC broadcast briefly showed Faulk motionless on the ice, looking dazed and– even to the untrained eye– clearly unconscious as a scrum gathered along the side boards closest to the penalty benches.

Kadri was given a five-minute major for an illegal hit to the head, which was reviewed and confirmed. He was also given a match penalty at 6:30 of the third period.

St. Louis was already down a skater in Robert Bortuzzo– who had taken something up high earlier in the night– and was now short Faulk on the bench for the remainder of Wednesday’s action.

Late in the five-minute power play, Brayden Schenn (1) buried a rebound off of a rush that he generated with Tyler Bozak entering the zone– with Bozak firing the initial shot before Schenn collected the garbage.

Bozak (1) and Krug (2) had the assists on Schenn’s power-play goal as the Blues pulled to within one, 3-2, at 10:07 of the third period.

About five minutes later, however, Colorado answered.

MacKinnon (4) sent another shot from the point over Binnington’s blocker side with traffic in front of the net.

Devon Toews (1) and Landeskog (3) collected the assists as the Avalanche bumped their lead back to two-goals, 4-2, at 15:25.

But 15 seconds later, Mike Hoffman (1) had a quick breakout the other way and sent one of his patented quick-release shots off of Grubauer under his blocker side and into the top left corner of the goalframe.

Niko Mikkola (1) and Thomas (2) had the assists on Hoffman’s goal as the Blues pulled back to within one, 4-3, at 15:40.

St. Louis’ head coach, Craig Berube, pulled Binnington for an extra attacker with about 2:18 remaining in the game.

It didn’t take long for Colorado to score.

Brandon Saad (1) simply cleared the puck from behind the red line into the open 4×6 net as Tyson Jost (1) and Toews (2) picked up the assists to make it, 5-3, Colorado at 17:51.

Once more the Blue Notes pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker after getting possession deep into the attacking zone.

Though the Avalanche would also once again capitalize on the empty net– this time as MacKinnon (5) completed his hat trick with the assists going to Rantanen (4) and Landeskog (4) as the Avs pulled ahead, 6-3, at 19:48.

At the final horn, the Avalanche secured a 2-0 series lead with a commanding, 6-3, victory in Game 2 at Ball Arena in Denver.

Colorado finished the night leading in blocked shots (17-14), giveaways (11-5) and faceoff win% (64-36), while St. Louis exited the building leading in hits (26-19).

Both teams finished with 35 shots apiece, though the Blues led in shots on goal in the third period alone, 15-7.

St. Louis went 1/2 on the skater advantage while Colorado was a perfect 2/2 on the power play on Wednesday.

The Avs lead the series 2-0 as the venue shifts to Enterprise Center for Game 3 in St. Louis on Friday.

Puck drop is expected a little after 9:30 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to national coverage on USA Network, while those in Canada can watch the action on SN360 or TVAS2.

May 20, 2021
MacKinnon’s pair powers Avs past Blues, 4-1, in Game 1

Cale Makar opened the scoring for the Colorado Avalanche in their, 4-1, victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of their 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup, but it was Nathan MacKinnon that scored the eventual game-winner as well as an empty net goal and Gabriel Landeskog that had a “Gordie Howe hat trick” in the bout.

Philipp Grubauer (1-0, 1.00 goals-against average, .957 save percentage in one game played) turned aside 22 out of 23 shots in the win for Colorado in front of their home crowd at Ball Arena.

St. Louis goaltender, Jordan Binnington (0-1, 3.05 goals-against average, .939 save percentage in one game played), made 46 saves on 49 shots faced in the loss.

The Avalanche and Blues are meeting for just the second time in Stanley Cup Playoffs history with Colorado having beaten St. Louis in five games in their only previous series matchup in the 2001 Western Conference Final.

Colorado, of course, would go on to win the Cup that year– and their second in franchise history– while the Blues would wait until 2019 for their first Stanley Cup ring.

The Avalanche are making their 26th appearance in the postseason dating back to their days as the Québec Nordiques, while the Blues are appearing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 44th time in their history.

Colorado went 5-3-0 in the regular season against the Blue Notes in 2020-21.

St. Louis was without David Perron for Game 1 as Perron remains in the league’s COVID protocol.

Landeskog and Brayden Schenn kicked things off with an exchange of fisticuffs at 10:47 of the first period after Landeskog took exception for a perceived cheap shot by Schenn directed toward Mikko Rantanen.

The two skaters received fighting majors and were sent to the penalty box.

Moments later, Blues captain, Ryan O’Reilly, tripped MacKinnon and presented Colorado with their first power play of the night at 14:04.

It didn’t take the Avs long to convert on the resulting skater advantage as Rantanen fed Makar a pass off of an attacking zone faceoff, whereby Makar (1) waltzed along the blue line before wiring a shot from the point past Binnington to give the Avalanche a, 1-0, lead.

Rantanen (1) had the only assist on Makar’s power-play goal at 15:15 of the first period.

Entering the first intermission, the Avs led, 1-0, and were outshooting the Blues, 18-5.

St. Louis held the advantage in blocked shots (8-4) and hits (9-7), while Colorado led in giveaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (57-44). Both teams had four takeaways aside, while only the Avalanche had seen any time on the skater advantage and were 1/1 in that department heading into the middle frame.

Blues defender, Justin Faulk, caught Avalanche blue liner, Samuel Girard with a slash one minute into the second period.

This time, however, Colorado could not beat the Blue Notes on the ensuing power play.

Ryan Graves sent the puck over the glass and out of play for an automatic delay of game minor infraction at 7:10 of the second period and presented St. Louis with their first power play of the night.

The Blues, however, were no match for Colorado’s penalty kill.

Midway through the middle frame, Sammy Blais hooked Andre Burakovsky at 10:21, but once more the Avalanche were stumped on the power play.

Late in the period, Jordan Kyrou (1) sent a one-timer past Grubauer’s blocker side as Nazem Kadri was separated from the puck in the neutral zone– leading to St. Louis’ break and Colorado’s defense to be out of position.

Ivan Barbashev (1) and Robert Thomas (1) had the assists on Kyrou’s goal as the Blues tied the game, 1-1, at 16:31.

Through 40 minutes of action at Ball Arena, the Avs and Blues were even, 1-1, on the scoreboard, despite Colorado outshooting St. Louis by a 2:1 ratio (32-16, to be exact, including a, 14-11, advantage in the second period alone).

The Avalanche maintained an advantage in takeaways (8-7), giveaways (7-5) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the Blues led in blocked shots (14-11) and hits (16-8).

Colorado was 1/3 and St. Louis was 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

It didn’t take the Avalanche very long to get going in the third period as Rantanen sacrificed his body to absorb a hit while Landeskog pursued a loose puck in the attacking zone.

The two players quickly exchanged touches while Rantanen setup MacKinnon (1) with a pass for the top-shelf one-timer goal.

Rantanen (2) and Landeskog (1) had the assists as Colorado’s first line trio put the Avs ahead, 2-1, 30 seconds into the third period.

Moments later, Graves cut another rut to the sin bin– this time for tripping Blais at 5:32– but the Avalanche’s penalty kill managed to kill off the minor with ease.

A few minute later, Devon Toews sent the puck to Rantanen along the boards, who dealt it back to the point where Girard then moved the rubber biscuit to MacKinnon for a blast from the high slot.

MacKinnon’s shot was deflected by Landeskog (1), however, as the Avalanche captain was battling in front of the net as a screen.

Landeskog’s goal made it, 3-1, Colorado at 8:30 of the third period and MacKinnon (1) and Girard (1) were credited with the assists as Landeskog completed the “Gordie Howe hat trick” (goal, assist and a fight) on the event sheet.

With 1:32 remaining in regulation, Blues head coach, Craig Berube, pulled Binnington for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as Jared Bednar’s Avalanche kept St. Louis from establishing a prolonged 6-on-5 advantage in the attacking zone.

Landeskog broke up a play with a diving poke check at the blue line that led MacKinnon into a race for the loose puck before MacKinnon (2) scooped it up and buried an empty net goal with punctuation.

It wasn’t just a nonchalant tap-in. It was a statement.

Colorado had taken a three-goal lead, 4-1, with Landeskog (2) earning his third point of the night on MacKinnon’s second goal of the game at 19:20.

As the final horn sounded and a scrum ensued after the, 4-1, victory was complete for the Avalanche in Game 1, Binnington charged down the ice like a bat out of hell looking to fight what we can only assume to have been Grubauer had an on-ice official not grabbed the Blues netminder before he could enter the slot.

Binnington previously charged then San Jose Sharks goaltender turned current Avalanche backup, Devan Dubnyk, earlier in the regular season in the calendar year, 2021.

Though St. Louis came back to beat the Sharks that night, Binnington’s nightmare in the crease didn’t end in Game 1– not at least until he was pulled away and sent to the dressing room with the loss.

Colorado finished the night with the advantage in shots on goal, 50-23, including an, 18-7, advantage in the third period alone.

St. Louis, on the other hand, had wrapped up the action leading in blocked shots (19-15), giveaways (8-7), hits (21-16) and faceoff win% (53-47) despite being outplayed.

The Blues went 0/2 and the Avalanche went 1/3 on the power play on Monday.

Colorado takes a 1-0 series lead heading into Game 2 on home ice Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Puck drop is expected a little after 10:30 p.m. ET.

Viewers looking to catch the action in the United States can tune to CNBC for national coverage, while those in Canada can choose from SN360 and TVAS.

May 18, 2021
Bruins force Game 7 after, 5-1, win in St. Louis

For the first time since 2011, there will be a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final as a result of the Boston Bruins’, 5-1, victory over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Sunday.

Boston has never hosted a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final since the adoption of the best-of-seven format in the Final in 1939.

The Bruins last defeated the Vancouver Canucks on the road in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final and have not won the Cup at home since beating the Blues in 1970.

Tuukka Rask (15-8 record, 1.93 goals against average, .938 save percentage in 23 games played this postseason) made 28 saves on 29 shots against (.966 SV%) in the win for the B’s.

Rask entered Game 6 with a 5-5 record in 10 career games when facing elimination (2.64 GAA, .899 SV%)– including a 2-0 mark during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs (1.50 GAA, .947 SV%).

He’s made 145 saves on 149 shots faced in five elimination games this postseason for a .973 SV% and improved to 3-0 with a 1.33 GAA and .953 SV% when facing elimination this spring.

The Boston goaltender also became the 19th NHL goaltender to record 50 career playoff wins.

Blues goaltender, Jordan Binnington (15-10, 2.52 GAA, .911 SV% in 25 GP this postseason) stopped 27 out of 31 shots faced (.871 SV%) in the loss.

He is 13-2 in games after a loss in the regular season and postseaosn this year.

St. Louis finished 6-7 at home this postseason, while Boston finished 8-3 on the road. The Blues are a league-best 9-3 on the road this postseason as the series heads back to TD Garden.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, inserted rookie winger, Karson Kulhman, on the second line with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci, while reverting back to 12 forwards and six defenders in the lineup.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches included Chris Wagner, Lee Stempniak, Zachary Senyshyn, Peter Cehlarik, Zane McIntyre, Paul Carey, Ryan Fitzgerald, David Backes, Steven Kampfer, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Anton Blidh and Trent Frederic.

Wagner returned to practice on Saturday for the B’s, but was ruled “doubtful” to return to game action for the first time since blocking a shot in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Matt Grzelcyk was not medically cleared and remains in concussion protocol, while Kevan Miller (lower body) is still out.

Blues head coach, Craig Berube added Robert Thomas back into his lineup for the first time since Game 1 in the series, while Ivan Barbashev served his one-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Bruins forward, Marcus Johansson, in Game 5.

Sean Kuraly sent the puck over the glass and out of the playing surface 2:42 into the first period and was charged with an automatic delay of game minor penalty.

St. Louis did not convert on their first power play of the night and followed up with a penalty of their own– Brayden Schenn for boarding Joakim Nordstrom at 7:17 of the first period.

The Blues held a, 4-1, advantage in shots on goal at the time of their first penalty and killed off five-straight penalties through the last two games in the series.

A little over a minute later, Ryan O’Reilly sent the puck out of play and received an automatic infraction, yielding a two-skater advantage to the Bruins at 8:19.

It was Boston’s first 5-on-3 advantage this postseason and the B’s weren’t going to go quietly on the power play for long.

Almost 20 seconds after the 5-on-3 began, Torey Krug worked the puck over to David Pastrnak at the point, whereby No. 88 in black-and-gold sent a pass across the ice to Brad Marchand (9) for the one-timer over Binnington’s glove– giving Boston the first lead of the night, 1-0.

Pastrnak (10) and Krug (16) notched the assists on Marchand’s power play goal at 8:40 of the first period.

The goal was Boston’s 24th power play goal this postseason– tying their franchise record set in 1991. It was also Marchand’s 7th career goal in the Stanley Cup Final (19 games)– tying for 2nd with Wayne Cashman (7 Stanley Cup Final goals in 26 games).

Only Bobby Orr (16 games) and Johnny Bucyk (24 games) had more goals in the Stanley Cup Final for the Bruins with eight.

Late in the opening frame, Zdeno Chara was tied up with David Perron in front of the goal and received the only minor penalty from their net front fracas– a two-minute minor for interference at 18:21.

St. Louis’ ensuing power play would extend into the second period after the Blues failed to capitalize on the skater advantage by the first intermission.

After one period of play, the Bruins led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 12-9, in shots on goal. Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (8-4) and hits (10-9), while St. Louis led in takeaways (6-1), giveaways (4-1) and face-off win percentage (59-41).

The Notes were 0/2 on the power play entering the second period and the B’s were 1/2.

With 21 seconds left to kill on Chara’s minor, Boston began the second period shorthanded. The Bruins successfully killed off the remainder of Chara’s penalty.

Midway through the middle frame, Marchand tripped Alex Pietrangelo and sent the Blues on the power play at 9:11 of the second period.

Though St. Louis didn’t capitalize on the ensuing power play, they did send five shots on goal, including one that rang the post and off of Rask’s back as the Bruins goaltender reached around his back to guide the puck with his glove hand while twirling out of the crease.

Moments later, Charlie McAvoy tripped up Vladimir Tarasenko and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 13:43 of the second period.

Once again, Boston killed off the penalty.

Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 20-19, in shots on goal– despite St. Louis’, 10-8, advantage in shots on goal in the second period alone.

Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (12-7) heading into the second intermission, while the Blues led in takeaways (9-4), giveaways (9-3), hits (23-19) and face-off win% (56-44).

Heading into the third period, the Notes were 0/4 on the skater advantage, while the Bruins were still 1/2 on the power play.

Early in the final frame of regulation, Brandon Carlo (2) let go of a floater from the point that Vesa Toskala’ed Binnington on an odd bounce (the puck bounced off his blocker and into the twine) to make it, 2-0, Bruins.

DeBrusk (7) had the only assist on Carlo’s goal at 2:31 of the third period.

The goal would become the eventual game-winner and Carlo’s first career game-winning postseason goal.

Midway through the third, Kuhlman (1) unloaded a wrist shot from the face-off dot to the left of the Blues goaltender and sent the puck over Binnington’s blocker to give Boston a three-goal lead.

Krejci (11) had the only assist on Kuhlman’s first career Stanley Cup Playoff and Stanley Cup Final goal at 10:15 of the third period and the Bruins led, 3-0.

As a result of his goal, Kuhlman became the 21st Bruin to score a goal in the postseason– tying the 1987 Philadelphia Flyers for the most goal scorers by a team in one postseason.

Less than a couple minutes later, O’Reilly (7) squeaked a one-timer just past the goal line after the puck bounced off of Rask’s leg pad and out.

Video review determined O’Reilly had indeed scored at 12:01 of the third period and cut Boston’s lead to two-goals with Pietrangelo (15) and Perron (8) tallying the assists on O’Reilly’s goal.

Rather than backing down, the Bruins pressed forward as Kuraly used the body to free the puck along the end boards and work a short pass to Marchand in the low slot.

No. 63 in black-and-gold pushed the puck to Pastrnak (9) for the drag and top-shelf goal while Binnington dove to poke-check the puck off of Pastrnak’s stick in desperation.

Marchand (14) and Kuraly (6) were credited with the assists on Pastrnak’s goal at 14:06 and Boston led, 4-1, after amassing three goals on their last nine shots including Pastrnak’s goal.

With about 4:12 remaining in the action, Berube pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail.

Shortly thereafter, Chara (2) flipped the puck from his own face-off circle to the left of Rask into the empty twine at 17:41.

The 42-year-old captain became the 2nd oldest goal scorer in the Stanley Cup Final in Bruins franchise history since Mark Recchi (43 in 2011).

In the closing seconds of the game, Sammy Blais slashing Connor Clifton and the two engaged in a shoving match resulting in two minor penalties for Blais (slashing and roughing) and a minor penalty for Clifton (roughing) at 19:38.

Five seconds later, after a face-off in Boston’s attacking zone, Robert Bortuzzo cross checked Noel Acciari and picked up a minor infraction as well as a ten-minute misconduct at 19:43.

The Bruins finished the action with a 5-on-3 advantage as the final horn sounded on Boston’s, 5-1, victory in Game 6.

Boston finished the night with the series tied 3-3 and leading in shots on goal (32-29), as well as blocked shots (16-9).

St. Louis led in giveaways (12-4), hits (29-27) and face-off win% (59-41) in their final home game of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Blues went 0/4 on the power play, while the B’s went 1/2 on the skater advantage Sunday night.

Boston improved to 25-1 all-time in the postseason when Marchand has a goal and 8-0 this postseason when Marchand scores.

The team that scored first in this series has won Games 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The Bruins forced a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final for the 17th time in league history and first since their Cup-clinching victory in 2011.

The Bruins have also faced a 3-2 deficit in a best-of-seven series 25 times in franchise history– winning four of their 24 prior instances, including the 1941 Semifinal, 1994 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, 2011 Stanley Cup Final and 2019 First Round.

Puck drop for Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final is slated for a little after 8 p.m. ET at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday. Viewers in the United States can tune in on NBC, while those in Canada can choose from CBC, SN or TVAS.

It’ll be the 2nd Game 7 of the postseason for both clubs and 6th Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs– tied for the 2nd most Game 7s in one postseason in league history.

June 10, 2019
O’Reilly nets two, Blues even series in Game 4

Ryan O’Reilly scored two goals and helped even up the series as the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2, on home ice Monday night

It was the first home win in the Stanley Cup Final for the Blues at Enterprise Center and in their entire franchise history.

Jordan Binnington (14-9 record, 2.52 goals gainst average, .909 save percentage in 23 games played this postseason) turned aside 21 out of 23 shots faced in the win for St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (14-7, 1.96 GAA, .938 SV% in 21 GP this postseason) made 34 saves on 37 shots against in the loss.

Binnington now has seven wins following a loss this postseason and trails only Nikolai Khabibulin (2004), Mikka Kiprusoff (2004) and Ron Hextall (1987) who all had eight wins following a loss in their respective playoff years.

In the 25 instances in which the team that tied the series 2-2 in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final format– prior to Monday night– that team has gone on to win the Cup 10 times.

Three out of the last five instances have resulted in Cup championships, including 2015, 2013 and 2011 (Chicago, Chicago and Boston, respectively).

Bruce Cassidy made no changes to his lineup for the Bruins, while Chris Wagner (upper body), Kevan Miller (lower body) and Matt Grzelcyk (undisclosed) remained out of the action for Game 4.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches including Lee Stempniak, Zachary Senyshyn, Peter Cehlarik, Zane McIntyre, Paul Carey, Ryan Fitzgerald, Steven Kampfer, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman.

Blues head coach, Craig Berube, had Oskar Sundqvist and Vince Dunn back in his lineup for Game 4. Sundqvist returned from his one-game suspension and Dunn made his first appearance in this series after being injured in the Western Conference Final and missing the last six games.

Robert Thomas remained out for St. Louis, while Zach Sanford suited up in his place for the second straight game.

O’Reilly (4) scored the game’s first goal in the opening minute of the action on Monday after jumping on a loose puck and wrapping around the goalframe.

Boston couldn’t clear the zone and Sanford made just enough of a redirection to yield a rebound for O’Reilly to pounce on and bury in the twine as Rask was forced to go end-to-end in the crease.

Sanford (2) and Dunn (6) tallied the assists on O’Reilly’s goal 43 seconds into the first period and St. Louis led, 1-0.

With the secondary assist, Dunn collected his first point of the series in his first game back from injury.

Midway through the opening frame, Danton Heinen absorbed a hit while bringing the puck into the attacking zone, whereby Zdeno Chara scooped up the rubber biscuit and sent it to the net– generating a rebound.

Charlie Coyle (9) collected the puck and pocketed it in the twine to tie the game, 1-1, at 13:14 of the first period– his third goal in as many games, joining Devante Smith-Pelly (2018) and Jake Guentzel (2017) as the only players to score a goal in three straight games in the Stanley Cup Final in the last three years.

Chara (4) had the only assist on the goal as the B’s got on the scoreboard.

Almost a couple minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko (11) banked in a rebound past Rask after Alex Pietrangelo kept the puck in the zone while entering fresh off the bench in the midst of a line change.

Pietrangelo (12) and Brayden Schenn (7) notched the assists on Tarasenko’s goal and the Blues led, 2-1, at 15:30 of the first period.

After one period of play, St. Louis was leading on the scoreboard, 2-1, and in shots on goal, 13-9. The Blues also held the advantage in giveaways (6-4) and hits (24-16), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (5-0) and face-off win percentage (52-48).

Both teams had four takeaways aside and neither team had yet to see time on the skater advantage heading into the first intermission.

With 16:53 left in the second period, Chara took a shot that ricocheted off his own stick and into his mouth, causing the 6-foot-9 defender to bleed and leave the ice for repair.

Early in the middle frame, Coyle caught Carl Gunnarsson with a high-stick and was assessed a minor penalty at 5:47 of the second period.

St. Louis did not convert on their first power play opportunity of the night.

Gunnarsson, in turn, flipped the puck over the glass without any deflections, yielding an automatic minor penalty for delay of game at 8:31 of the second period.

Though the Blue Notes almost scored a shorthanded goal, nothing happened on the special teams opportunity– Boston’s first power play of the game– and both teams resumed 5-on-5 action two minutes later.

Shortly thereafter, Connor Clifton caught Tarasenko with an illegal hit to the head as Tarasenko attempted to back-check the Bruins defender.

Clifton was sent to the penalty box with a minor penalty at 13:53 after finishing a shift that spanned 3:06.

While shorthanded, Brad Marchand sent Patrice Bergeron up-ice in the attacking zone whereby the longest-tenured alternate captain in the NHL fired a shot and generated a rebound off Binnington.

Brandon Carlo (1) buried the rebound for his first career Stanley Cup Final goal and tied the game, 2-2, with Boston’s first shorthanded goal of the series.

Bergeron (8) and Marchand (13) had the primary and secondary assists, respectively, on Carlo’s goal at 14:19 of the second period.

Carlo’s goal was also the first shothanded goal by a defender since Scott Niedermayer scored a shorthanded goal for the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the 2000 Stanley Cup Final.

No. 25 in black-and-gold scored the 19th shorthanded goal by a defender since the league began tracking the stat in the 1933-34 season.

The Blues did not capitalize on the power play as both teams went to the second intermission tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard with St. Louis still ahead in shots on goal, 25-19 (including a, 12-10, advantage in the second period alone for the Notes).

Through 40 minutes of play, the Blues maintained an advantage in takeaways (9-8), giveaways (9-6), hits (32-29) and face-off win% (51-49), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (12-3).

St. Louis was 0/2 on the skater advantage– while allowing a shorthanded goal– and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play.

Chara returned to the bench for the third period– wearing a fishbowl– but did not take a shift. He is one of the few remaining players that were grandfathered in after the mandatory visor rule was put in place prior to the 2013-14 season.

Early in the final frame of regulation, Heinen tripped up Jaden Schwartz and was sent to the box at 2:08 of the third period.

Once again, St. Louis was not able to capitalize on the power play, but at least the Blues didn’t allow a shorthanded goal against this time around.

Jay Bouwmeester caught Coyle with a high-stick at 6:42 of the third period and was charged with a minor penalty.

Boston did not score on the resulting power play.

Midway through the third period, Pietrangelo sent a shot off of Rask’s blocker and generated enough of a rebound for O’Reilly (5) to bury for his second goal of the game.

Pietrangelo (13) and Gunnarsson (2) had the assists on O’Reilly’s goal at 10:38 of the third period and the Blues took the, 3-2, lead thanks to O’Reilly’s eventual game-winning goal.

Cassidy pulled Rask for an extra attacker with about 1:43 left in the action and Schenn (4) subsequently forced a turnover, then buried the puck in the empty net to seal the deal on St. Louis’ Game 4 efforts.

Torey Krug and Bouwmeester got into a fracas that resulted in a slashing minor for Krug and an elbowing infraction for Bouwmeester at 19:34, yielding 4-on-4 action to finish the night.

At the final horn, the Blues had won their first Stanley Cup Final game on home ice in franchise history with a, 4-2, victory over the Bruins and evened the series 2-2.

St. Louis finished the night leading in shots on goal (38-23), giveaways (9-6), hits (44-41) and face-off win% (52-48), while Boston led in blocked shots (15-7).

The Blues went 0/3 on the power play and the B’s went 0/2 on the skater advantage on Monday.

The team that has scored first in each game has now won the last two games in the series as Boston took down St. Louis, 7-2, in Game 3 and St. Louis beat Boston, 4-2, in Game 4.

Binnington improved to 13-2 after a loss in his career (regular season and playoffs), while the Blues improved to 7-2 when leading after one period this postseason.

Of note, as a result of Carlo’s goal, the Bruins have now had 20 different goal scores in this postseason– the most in franchise history, surpassing the previous record (19) established in 1988.

The series shifts back to Boston for Game 5 at TD Garden on Thursday. Puck drop is expected a little after 8 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can catch the game on NBC. Fans in Canada can tune in on CBC, SN or TVAS for the action.

Whoever wins on Thursday will have a chance to win the Cup back in St. Louis in Game 6.

June 4, 2019
Kuraly leaps Bruins over Blues, 4-2, in Game 1

For the first time since the 1974 Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins won Game 1 in a Stanley Cup Final as the Bruins scored four unanswered goals to win in a comeback, 4-2, over the St. Louis Blues.

Boston leads the series 1-0 thanks to Sean Kuraly’s game-winning goal in the third period and Brad Marchand’s empty net insurance goal thereafter.

Tuukka Rask (13-5 record, 1.85 goals against average, .940 save percentage in 18 games played this postseason) made 18 saves on 20 shots against (.900 SV%) in the win for the Bruins.

St. Louis goaltender, Jordan Binnington (12-8, 2.40 GAA, .915 SV% in 20 GP) stopped 34 out of 37 shots faced (.919 SV%) in the loss, which was the Blues’ ninth-straight loss to the B’s in a playoff series.

The Bruins improved to 9-0 in nine all-time playoff contests against St. Louis, joining the Edmonton Oilers (16-0 against the original Winnipeg Jets from 1983 to 1988) and Montreal Canadiens (12-0 against the Blues from 1968 to 1977) as the third team in NHL history to win each of its first nine-plus playoff games against one opponent.

Since the best-of-seven series format was adopted for the Stanley Cup Final in 1939, the team that won Game 1 went on to win the Cup in 61 out of 79 series’ (a 77.2% success rate).

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, kept his lineup the same from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final in Carolina to Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final in Boston.

Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and Marchand were all good to go after missing practice time for various reasons, while Kevan Miller (lower body) and Chris Wagner (upper body) are out for the Final.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches this time of year included Lee Stempniak, Zachary Senyshyn, Peter Cehlarik, John Moore, Zane McIntyre, Paul Carey, Ryan Fitzgerald, Steven Kampfer, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman.

St. Louis head coach, Craig Berube, was without the service of Vince Dunn (upper body) for Game 1. In addition, the Blues had a long list of healthy scratches of their own, including Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Mackenzie MacEachern, Chris Thorburn and Ville Husso.

A little over a few minutes into the opening frame, Kuraly tripped up Brayden Schenn– catching a skate behind his leg– yielding the first power play of the series to St. Louis at 3:37 of the first period.

The Blues did not convert on their first skater advantage opportunity.

A couple of minutes after killing off Kuraly’s minor infraction, the Bruins couldn’t clear their own zone as the Blues sneaked their way around the attacking zone with ease.

Charlie McAvoy dove to block a shot that Schenn (3) ripped over the blocker side of Rask for the first goal of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final– and first Stanley Cup Final for the Blues since 1970.

St. Louis’ leading scorer, Jaden Schwartz (5), had the primary assist, while Jay Bouwmeester (6) picked up the secondary assist on Schenn’s goal at 7:23 of the first period. The Blues led, 1-0.

Past the midpoint of the first period, David Perron tripped Danton Heinen and was sent to the penalty box at 13:15.

Boston was not able to capitalize on their first power play of the night, despite Marcus Johansson ringing the far right post on an individual scoring chance.

Late in the period, Robert Thomas hooked Patrice Bergeron and sent the Blues back on the penalty kill at 16:45.

This time on the power play, the B’s struggled to maintain offensive zone time, but mustered a quick one-timer opportunity in the closing seconds of the skater advantage that Marchand fanned on while Binnington was behind the play.

Through one period of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, St. Louis led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, while both teams had eight shots on goal aside.

Boston led in blocked shots (5-2), while the Blues led in takeaways (5-3), giveaways (4-3), hits (12-11) and face-off win percentage (57-43).

Neither team had found the back of the net on the power play, as St. Louis went 0/1 in the first period and the Bruins went 0/2.

One minute into the middle frame, Vladimir Tarasenko (9) received a pass while breaking into the slot and one-time a wrist shot past Rask after David Pastrnak botched a play behind the net intended for one of his defenders.

Instead, Pastrnak’s turnover went right to Schenn then Tarasenko to make it, 2-0, St. Louis at 1:00 of the second period. Schenn (6) had the only assist on the goal.

A little over a minute later, Boston answered back in a hurry and cut the Blues’ lead in half, 2-1, with a one-timed tip-in of their own from Connor Clifton (2) on a pass through the slot from Kuraly while Binnington was left in the dust behind the play– reaching around with his blocker in desperation.

Kuraly (4) and Joakim Nordstrom (3) had the assists on Clifton’s goal at 2:16 of the second period and the Bruins were on the scoreboard.

Moments later, Joel Edmundson caught former Blues captain, David Backes, with a high-stick to the face and presented the B’s with their third power play opportunity of the night at 5:25.

Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Past the midpoint of regulation, Oskar Sundqvist cross-checked Clifton in front of the Bruins bench at 11:04 and was sent to the sin bin for his deed.

Late in the ensuing power play, McAvoy waltzed in through the neutral zone after St. Louis barely cleared the zone and broke through the penalty killers.

McAvoy (2) ripped a shot past Binnington’s glove side through the seven-hole to tie the game, 2-2, with an unassisted power play goal at 12:41.

After 40 minutes of play, the scoreboard remained tied, 2-2, heading into the second intermission. The Bruins led in shots on goal, 26-11, and had an, 18-3, advantage in the second period alone.

Boston also led in takeaways (7-6) and giveaways (8-7), while St. Louis led in face-off win% (53-47). Both teams had seven blocked shots and 21 hits aside.

The Blues were 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the third period, while the B’s were 1/4 on the power play.

About a quarter of a way into the third period, Kuraly (3) stashed the puck into the back of the net after receiving a pass off his right leg and kicking the puck to his stick.

Noel Acciari (2) and Chara (3) tallied the assists on Kuraly’s would-be game-winning goal at 5:21 of the third period after both Bruins worked hard to keep the puck in the attacking zone.

Chara became the first Bruin age 42 or older to record a point in the Stanley Cup Final since Mark Recchi did so in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final at the age of 43. Recchi had 3-4–7 totals in seven games en route to Boston defeating the Vancouver Canucks.

Almost 90 seconds later, Krejci clipped Sammy Blais with an unintentional elbow to the head while Blais lost his balance and was falling in the neutral zone.

Nevertheless, by the book, it was the right call as Krejci took a short skate to the penalty box at 6:55 of the third period.

Blais was drafted by the Blues in the 6th round (176th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft after St. Louis acquired what was originally a conditional 7th round pick in 2014 from Boston in exchange for defenseman, Wade Redden, on April 3, 2013.

The Blues had one shot on goal on the resulting power play.

After being on the receiving end of a penalty, Blais put his name on the event sheet with an interference minor of his own at 13:28, yielding the fifth power play of the night for the Bruins.

Boston did not score on the ensuing skater advantage.

Late in the final frame of regulation, after a stoppage of play with 2:13 remaining on the clock, Berube used his timeout and had his assistant coach, Steve Ott, draw up a way to try to tie the game.

Prior to play resuming, Berube pulled Binnington for an extra attacker.

It did not take St. Louis long to lose possession of the puck as Marchand started heading through the neutral zone, dumping the puck just wide of the empty net, whereby Krejci chased it down and the Blues tried to bail out of their own zone.

Marchand (8) came up with the rubber biscuit and pocketed an empty net goal to give the B’s a two-goal lead, 4-2, at 18:11.

St. Louis pulled their goaltender once more with about 1:28 left on the clock in regulation, but it was too little, too late as time expired and the Bruins won Game 1.

Boston finished the night dominating in shots on goal (38-20), blocked shots (12-7) and face-off win% (54-46), while the Blues led in hits (33-32).

Each team had 10 giveaways aside, the Notes went 0/2 on the skater advantage.

The Bruins finished Monday night 1/5 on the power play.

As a result of their win, the B’s have now won eight consecutive postseason games– their third longest playoff winning streak in franchise history (behind runs of 10-0 in 1970 and 9-0 in 1972). Boston is outscoring their opponent, 32-11, in the current streak.

Kuraly’s game-winning goal was the 28th time the Bruins won a playoff game in which they trailed by two-plus goals– and the first time they did so in the Final.

Game 1 also marked the 5th time that Boston had multiple defenders score a goal (Clifton and McAvoy) in a Stanley Cup Final game– and the first time since Game 2 (Ray Bourque and Greg Hawgood) of the 1990 Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton.

The B’s trailed more in Game 1 against St. Louis than they did in their entire series against the Carolina Hurricanes (13:08) and pulled off the first multi-goal comeback win in the Stanley Cup Final since the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Rangers, 5-4, in double overtime in Game 2 of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Monday night marked the 100th game of the regular season and playoffs for Boston.

The Bruins are hosting the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1990, as the series shifts to Game 2 on Wednesday. Puck drop at TD Garden is expected a little after 8 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune in on NBCSN. Canadian fans have an array of options to choose from to catch the action on CBC, SN or TVAS.

May 28, 2019
2019 Stanley Cup Final Preview

After what seems like an eternity has passed (drop the puck already), the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Eastern Conference champion, Boston Bruins, and the Western Conference champion, St. Louis Blues, kicks off Monday night at TD Garden.

Here’s a look at how the best-of-seven series should pan out.

A2 Boston Bruins (49-24-9, 107 points) vs C3 St. Louis Blues (45-28-9, 99 points)

Boston is making their third appearance in the Final in the last eight years– winning the Cup against the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in 2011 and losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games in 2013.

St. Louis is making their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 49 years– losing in four games to the Bruins in 1970.

Regardless of the series outcome– history will be made.

The Bruins outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the First Round, bested the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games in the Second Round and swept the “Bunch of Jerks” known as the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

The Blues grounded the Winnipeg Jets in six games in the First Round, beat the Dallas Stars in seven games in the Second Round and took a bite out of the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final.

Both teams have incredible depth scoring, solid defense and out-of-this-world goaltending.

Only one team can win it all, however.

Both cities have met in all four major North American professional sports championship games and/or series, with St. Louis last beating Boston in the 1967 World Series as the Cardinals defeated the “Impossible Dream” Red Sox.

Since then, the B’s beat the Blue Notes in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final as Bobby Orr soared through the air after scoring “The Goal”, the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams (R.I.P.) in Super Bowl XXXVI and the Red Sox beat the Cardinals twice in 2004 and 2013.

Brad Marchand led his team in scoring in the regular season with 100 points and his 18 points in 17 games played this postseason lead David Pastrnak (15 points), David Krejci (14), Patrice Bergeron (13), Charlie Coyle (12), Torey Krug (12) and the rest of the Bruins.

Bergeron leads his roster in goals so far in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with eight, including a postseason leading six power play goals– the most by a Bruin since Cam Neely scoring nine goals on the power play in 1991.

Marchand is tied with Pastrnak for the second-most goals for Boston, trailing Bergeron with seven goals each, followed by Coyle (six) and Krejci (four).

The only Bruins without a goal this postseason are Brandon Carlo (a lineup regular), John Moore (primarily a scratch throughout this postseason) and Karson Kuhlman (appeared in six games in the First and Second Round before David Backes took over in each round on the second line right wing).

There have been 19 different scorers for Boston in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

General Manager, Don Sweeney, addressed his apparent lack of secondary scoring with the acquisitions on Coyle (6-6–12 totals in 17 games this postseason) and Marcus Johansson (3-6–9 totals in 15 games) leading up to the trade deadline.

Head coach, Bruce Cassidy, has adjusted his game on-the-fly, mixing up the lines when necessary to rejuvenate the scoring touch of “The Perfection Line” (Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak), while lighting a fire under the annual playoff performer in Krejci and his wingers Jake DeBrusk and Backes.

Marchand and Krug are tied for the lead in assists with 11, while defender and captain, Zdeno Chara, leads his crew in plus/minus with a plus-11 rating in 16 games played this postseason.

Chara, 42, missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final in Carolina, but is ready and refreshed to try to earn four more wins against St. Louis and join Johnny Bower (42, 1967), Dominik Hasek (43, 2008), Mark Recchi (43, 2011) and Chris Chelios (46, 2008) as the only players to win the Cup at the age of 42 or older.

The rest of the B’s defenders have played a shutdown style that has led to the Bruins in control of all the important statistical categories at the end of the night– the final score.

Boston is 11-0 when leading after two periods this postseason and has only trailed in 9.9% of their minutes played since the start of the Second Round.

They’re also on a seven-game winning streak– their third longest in franchise history in the postseason– behind only runs of 10-0 in 1970 and 9-0 in 1972.

Both of those years, the Bruins won the Cup.

Though Chris Wagner (upper body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) are out for the remainder of the playoffs, the next man up mentality has landed Noel Acciari a spot on the fourth line with Joakim Nordstrom and Sean Kuraly in place of Walpole, Massachusetts native Wagner, as well as regular time for Connor Clifton on the blue line in place of Miller.

Coyle, Wagner and defender, Matt Grzelcyk, are seeking to join Myles Lane as the only Massachusetts-born players to win a Cup with the Bruins. Lane did so in Boston’s first Stanley Cup championship back in 1929.

Meanwhile, Tuukka Rask (12-5 record, 1.84 goals against average, .942 save percentage in 17 games played this postseason) is having a Conn Smythe worthy performance in the net for the B’s.

Rask’s stats are better than his 1.88 GAA and .940 SV% in 22 games played in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final and better than Tim Thomas’ 1.98 GAA and .940 SV% in 25 games played en route to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship.

The B’s have gone ten full days without a game, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for Rask as his workload was reduced with the help of backup goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, in the regular season.

Sweeney and Cassidy and wanted a dynamic duo of goaltenders that would let their starter in Rask find his groove and work efficiently.

There’s no better efficiency than the way he’s playing right now.

With the shutout in Game 4 against the Hurricanes, Rask improved to 8-0 in eight career appearances in the Conference Finals, as well as franchise record holder for most series-clinching shutouts in Bruins history with three (surpassing Gerry Cheevers and Thomas’ previous mark of two series-clinching shutouts).

Boston held an intra-squad scrimmage last Thursday to keep the game-flow going and charged fans $20 to attend and see their players in action that they might not otherwise be able to afford to see (with Stanley Cup Final tickets on the secondary market going for $1,000).

Every dollar went to the Boston Bruins Foundation, which redistributes funds to charities throughout New England that help enrich the lives of children in the region.

The Bruins are facing the St. Louis Blues for the 3rd time in a playoff series (previous, 1972 Semifinals, BOS W, 4-0). Boston also swept St. Louis in the 1970 SCF.

St. Louis is well-familiar with “The Hub of the Universe”. They were swept by Boston in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final– the Blues third appearance in their first three years of existence as a franchise in the Final.

Then the two clubs met again in the 1972 Semifinals. Once more, the Blues were swept by the Bruins.

The team with a blue music note with wings for a crest has yet to win a game in the Stanley Cup Final. 1968, 1969 and 1970 resulted in 12 straight Stanley Cup Final losses to the Montreal Canadiens and Boston.

A lot of franchise history has passed for St. Louis and names like Wayne Gretzky have even gone through the club (albeit for 31 games in the regular season and playoffs in 1996).

49 years later, hometown heroes, like Pat Maroon, and adopted hometown heroes, like David Perron (in his third stint with the organization) have led from the back-end of the top-nine group of forwards out.

Jaden Schwartz leads St. Louis in scoring with 12 goals– the second most in franchise history in a postseason, trailing Brett Hull’s 13 goals in 12 games played in the 1990 Stanley Cup Playoffs– and 16 points in 19 games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Schwartz even has two hat tricks this postseason and is the first NHLer to record two hat tricks in one postseason since Johan Franzen did so with the Detroit Red Wings en route to their 2008 Stanley Cup championship.

Offseason acquisition, Ryan O’Reilly, has proven General Manager, Doug Armstrong, worthy of being named a finalist for GM of the Year this season, as O’Reilly has 3-11–14 totals in 19 games

Vladimir Tarasenko– St. Louis’ regular star– has eight goals and five assists (13 points) and is tied for third in scoring on the roster with Perron (6-7–13 totals) and Alex Pietrangelo (2-11–13 totals).

All of the Blues are in search of their first Stanley Cup championship ring and must face former captain and current Bruin, David Backes. After 10 years with the organization, Backes joined Boston on July 1, 2016. In his 13th career season, he’ll face his former team for the Cup.

St. Louis has had helping hands on the blue line in Pietrangelo’s 13 points and Colton Parayko’s 11 points this postseason.

Among their regulars, only Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson have yet to score a goal in this year’s playoffs (Zach Sanford also hasn’t recorded a point in three games played).

Backes’ storyline isn’t the only familiarity with the Blues, however.

Rookie goaltender, Jordan Binnington (12-7, 2.37 GAA, .914 SV% in 19 GP) holds the franchise record for most wins in a postseason by a rookie netminder, but spent last season on loan to the Providence Bruins (AHL).

If there’s team with more internal notes on the goaltender that they’re facing in this year’s Stanley Cup Final– it’s the Boston Bruins.

But Binnington’s not nervous– he hasn’t been all postseason long, en route to eliminating the Jets, Stars and Sharks.

He is, however, about to face his biggest challenge yet in the Bruins, unless Craig Berube finds a way to coach his team into taming the bears charging at them down the ice.

While Robert Thomas is likely good to go in Boston for Game 1, Vince Dun will be out of the lineup and day-to-day.

That’s no worry for the cool, calm and collected Berube– who’s guided his team from 31st (dead last) in the league on the morning of Jan. 3rd to the Stanley Cup Final after being named interim head coach back in November, replacing Mike Yeo.

Ten out of the last 13 Cup winners have had the shorter turnaround from the Conference Finals to the Stanley Cup Final, but we’re talking a difference of a few days as opposed to an average of just over a week for the two opponents this year.

The winner of Game 1– since the best-of-seven series format was adopted for the Final in 1939– has gone on to win the Cup in 61 out of 79 series’ (77.2% success rate).

Though both teams expect to play sloppy coming out of the gate, it is vital for Cassidy to keep his players on edge at the top of their game.

Play your game and you control the game. Play the Blues’ game and you’ll fall behind.

Berube managed to frustrate the Jets and Stars, while St. Louis lucked out against a battered Sharks roster.

That’s not to say the Blues are any less dangerous this time of year. In fact, they’re quite good. They won the Western Conference.

However, this time of year is both a sprint and a marathon. How fast can you skate up and down the ice for a full 60-minute (sometimes more) effort and can you maintain that for up to seven games?

Boston is a team with enough experience to go the distance, but St. Louis is a team with enough history to overcome.

In the end, the Bruins should be the ones raising the Cup above their heads for what might the be final time in their current core group of players’ careers as Bergeron, Krejci, Chara, Marchand and Rask continue to leave their mark on franchise history– defining careers worthy of recognition in the rafters of TD Garden.

Time will tell over six games in the series as the events unfold.

Regular season outcomes:

2-1 F/SO STL at Enterprise Center on Feb. 23rd, 5-2 BOS at TD Garden on Jan. 17th

Schedule:

5/27- Game 1 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

5/29- Game 2 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

6/1-Game 3 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS

6/3- Game 4 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS

6/6- Game 5 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

6/9- Game 6 BOS @ STL 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

6/12- Game 7 STL @ BOS 8 PM ET on NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS*

*If necessary

May 27, 2019