BOSTON — Top to bottom depth got the Bruins and Blues to the Stanley Cup Final, and was seen as a key when the series finally began on Monday night.
The Bruins won the battle, as their fourth line scored two goals to help the B’s win Game 1, 4-2, at TD Garden.
Game 2, also at the Garden, is on Wednesday night.
Sean Kuraly broke a 2-2 tie at 5:21 of the third period, after linemate Noel Acciari won a [...]
BOSTON — Top to bottom depth got the Bruins and Blues to the Stanley Cup Final, and was seen as a key when the series finally began on Monday night.
The Bruins won the battle, as their fourth line scored two goals to help the B’s win Game 1, 4-2, at TD Garden.
Game 2, also at the Garden, is on Wednesday night.
Sean Kuraly broke a 2-2 tie at 5:21 of the third period, after linemate Noel Acciari won a battle at the front of the net to keep the puck alive. Earlier in the game, Kuraly set up defenseman Connor Clifton for the second-period goal that started the Bruins’ comeback from a 2-0 deficit. Brad Marchand’s empty-net goal closed the scoring
Bruins goal Tuukka Rask only faced 17 shots, while Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was peppered with 37.
The rust that was feared after the Bruins went 10 days without a game was evident in the first period, and seemed to have accumulated most on their top line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak. The trio was on the ice for the only goal of the period, scored by the Blues’ Brayden Schenn, and was ineffective during two power plays after the Blues went ahead.
Schenn’s goal at 7:23 began with a hard forecheck by Vladimir Tarasenko on B’s captain Zdeno Chara, which resulted in the Blues maintaining possession in Bruins territory. When Pastrnak missed an opportunity to collect and clear the puck from the slot, Jay Bouwmeester and Jaden Schwartz combined to get it to Schenn, who snapped his third goal of the post-season past Rask’s blocker.
David Perron (tripping, against Danton Heinen) and Robert Thomas (hooking, against Bergeron) took penalties at 13:15 and 16:45, respectively, but the NHL’s top post-season power play (34.0 percent entering the game) didn’t threaten much. The best chances came from the Bruins’ second unit, with a Marcus Johansson opportunity the best: With Perron in the box, Johansson split the Blues’ defense and beat Binnington with a wrister from the slot, but it hit the post.
All in all, the first 20 minutes were a plus for the Blues, who had been outscored 17-16 over 19 previous first periods in the playoffs. The B’s surrendered just their seventh first-period goal in 18 games, and trailed after the first period for just the second time.
Pastrnak’s terrible turnover in the first minute of the second period allowed the Blues to go ahead 2-0. Back first on a puck in the defensive zone, Pastrnak made a blind reverse pass that Schenn intercepted and held just long enough to find Tarasenko, who converted an easy chance from between the circles.
The Bruins finally began to find their legs,though, with the third (Johansson-Charlie Coyle-Heinen) and fourth (Joakim Nordstrom-Kuraly-Acciari) grinding down the Blues with long cycles in the offensive zone. The fourth line answered Tarasenko’s goal after just 1:16, and the B’s were on the way to a dominant period, outshooting the Blues 18-3.
Clifton brought the Bruins within 2-1 at 2:16, chipping a shot past Binnington from the weak side after Kuraly drove into Blues territory as far as the right circle before finding Clifton at the far post.
Clifton later drew a cross checking penalty from Oskar Sundqvist, and the Bruins cashed in that power play to tie it. Charlie McAvoy scored the goal at 12:21, when his shot off a 1-on-2 rush deflected off defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and eluded Binnington’s glove.