After 8 months of blood sweat and tears, the final 2 teams have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Representing the Eastern Conference is the 2nd seed Boston Bruins who went through the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Carolina Hurricanes. From the Western Conference is the 5th seed St. Louis Blues who beat the Winnipeg Jets, the Dallas Stars, and the San Jose Sharks. This years finals is a rematch of the last time the Blues were in the Stanley Cup Finals. Back in the 1970 finals when Bobby Orr scored the most infamous goal in NHL history to secure the Cup for the Bruins in overtime. Boston has won a Cup since then, whereas the Blues haven’t been back to the promised land until now. The stage is set for a rematch 49 years in the making, who will take the early series lead in Boston?
It was very obvious from the get go of the first period that Boston’s bigger break was showing in the first period. They looked sluggish next to the Blues, and it hurt them as the Blues would score first. Brayden Schenn would pot home the games first goal at the 13 minute mark by sneaking into the slot and finding the puck, then burring it high blocker on Tuukka Rask. Despite the 1-0 deficit after the 1st, the shots were an even 8-8 and Boston would find it’s game again come period 2.
However it started looking worse as just 1 minute into the 2nd frame the Blues would add to their lead. A bad turnover by David Pastrnak to Schenn would result in a feed to Vladimir Tarasenko who beat Rask in about the same spot as the 1st goal to make it 2-0 St. Louis. This must have ignited a spark in Boston as it was all Bruins from that point forward. In fact it took little over a minute after the 2-0 goal for the Bruins to find the score-sheet. It would be Connor Clifton who’d get the puck from Sean Kuraly and he then fluttered it over the outstretched stick of Blues net-minder Jordan Binnington. with the score now 2-1 things were heating up and as such more penalties were soon called. Boston would tie the game up on one of those powerplays at the 12 minute mark of the 2nd. Defenceman Charlie McAvoy would enter the zone and take a distant shot that ricochet off a Blues defenceman and past Binnington making it a 2-2 tie going into the 3rd. The shot count was egregiously 1 sided as Boston put up 18 shot to St. Louis’ 3 with just 1 period to go.
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Unfortunately for the Blues the 3rd was much more like the 2nd than the 1st. Boston would take the lead around the 5 minute mark courtesy of Sean Kuraly. In a mad scramble in front of Binnington the puck found its way to a waiting Kuraly who buried it low glove side giving Boston their first lead of the game at 3-2. The Blues put forth some more shots than the 2nd, but none were of really high scoring opportunities. Then at the 18 minute mark Brad Marchand would force a turnover and end the game at 4-2 with an empty net tally. The shots were closer in the 3rd as the Bruins held a 12-9 edge, and a 38-20 shot advantage in the game. The Bruins will look to improve on their 1-0 game advantage on Wednesday May 29th in Boston, there will be another full Game recap coming your way after the game so stay tuned.
