The Stanley Cup Finals shift to St. Louis with the Blues and the Boston Bruins tied a 1-1. That came courtesy of a 3-2 victory by the Blues in overtime in Game 2 that evened the series.
Twice the Boston Bruins had the lead in this contest. The first lead came 4:44 into the contest when Charlie Coyle scored his seventh goal of the playoffs. The power-play goal made it 1-0, but St. Louis would tie it about five minutes later on Robert Bortuzzo’s second goal of the post-season. Forty seconds later, Boston was back on top when Joakim Nordstrom scored his third goal of the playoffs. The lead lasted just over four minutes when Vladimir Tarasenko would tie the score again, netting his 10th goal.
A wild first period turned into a tense, tight-checking second and third. Neither team would find the back of the net, sending the contest into overtime where Carl Gunnarsson would score his first goal of the playoffs just 3:51 into the extra frame to give St. Louis the victory, tying the series at one.
Featured Game
Boston Bruins (-104) vs. St. Louis Blues (-115)
Boston Notes
Brad Marchand remains hot for Boston, leading the team in scoring with 19 points. He has a goal and three of his last four games and has scored four goals and added six assists over his last nine games.
David Pastrnak has also played well, scoring 16 points in the postseason. In his last nine games, he has three goals and five assists, including an assist in the overtime loss on Wednesday.
St. Louis Notes
The victory by St. Louis in Game 2 snap a nine-game losing streak against the Bruins in playoff meetings. The victory shifted the odds as St. Louis is now the favorite for the upcoming contest.
After missing five straight games with an upper-body injury, it looks like Vince Dunn will finally suit up for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He has been skating since May 25 but has been out since the first period of Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. The injury occurred when he took a shot in the mouth off the stick of Brenden Dillon. Dunn has two goals and five assists in 16 playoff games this year.
Goaltending Matchup:
Except for a wild first period (at least by Stanley Cup Finals standards), both goaltenders looked spectacular. Tuukka Rask stopped 34 of 37 shots but saw his eight games winning streak come to an end with the overtime loss. He still has allowed just five goals in the Stanley Cup Finals and his goals-against average are in the playoffs is still below two at 1.91. Rask has posted a .939 save percentage and is having the best postseason of his distinguished NHL career.
Jordan Binnington is building quite a legacy in his rookie season. The goaltender gave up two early first-period goals, then kept the Bruins out of the net for the remainder of the contest. The defense did an amazing job in front of him, allowing only 23 shots through nearly 64 minutes of play. Binnington now has a 2.37 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage through the first 21 games of the playoffs.
Stat Pack:
Bruins:
Goals For: 3.32
Goals Against: 2.00
Power-Play: 31.7%
Penalty Killing: 87.5%
Blues:
Goals For: 2.95
Goals Against: 2.57
Power-Play: 17.9%
Penalty Killing: 78.4%
Trends to Know
Boston Bruins are:
4-0 in their last four games on the road.
1-4 in their last five Stanley Cup Finals games.
35-16 in their last 51 games.
St. Louis Blues are:
19-7 in their last 26 games at home.
37-18 in their last 55 games.
7-2 in their last nine games at home when facing a team with a winning record on the road.
Prediction
If history repeats itself in this postseason, neither team is going to come out of these two games in St. Louis with a commanding lead. The reality is that this series is going to be tied when it heads back to Boston for Game 5 because this is simply how these two teams have played when the first two contests of the series went 1-1.
Now, the pick is to decide which team wins Game 3. Like Boston fed off of their crowd for Game 1, the same thing should be expected for the Blues in this contest. Look for the same tempo that we saw in Game 2 to start this contest before St. Louis settles down to hang on to the victory.
The total is set at 5.0, which is what we would believe to be the total in this contest. This game is likely to end with St. Louis winning once again 3-2. However, we can’t go with the push here. If we are forced to take an over or under then we take the under, as the Blues prevail 3-1.
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