With the series at 2-2 heading back to Boston, here are the seven lessons learned from the Bruins and Blues.
The Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues has gone back and forth between games. Each offensive spurt has been met with a counterpunch. Each loss is followed by a necessary adjustment. No real fireworks (yet), though plenty of players trying to antagonize opponents (exactly how many David Perron wrestling matches have we seen in front of Boston’s net? Our unofficial count is at three).
The result? A series tied at two games apiece heading back to Boston for Game 5 on Thursday. Here are seven observations through four games, both on how this series will shake out and how it will affect the NHL on a bigger-picture scale.
The Bruins have already been without starting defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (concussion protocol), which has thrust John Moore into the lineup. Now they might be primed for an even bigger blow: losing Zdeno Chara for the rest of the series.
The Athletic reported that Chara suffered a broken jaw after taking a puck to the face in Game 4 — in which he was not cleared to return for the third period — and the Bruins should provide a more thorough update after the captain meets with doctors in Boston. Chara had been averaging nearly 22 minutes per night in the postseason and was a big factor on Boston’s penalty kill, which has been excellent (the Bruins recently had a string in which they killed off 19 consecutive power plays, spanning the Eastern Conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.)
“This matchup is not good with Z out, let’s face it,” coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday. “[The Blues] are a big, heavy team, so we lose that element. But someone else is going to have to step up and I think we can do it as a group.”
There’s a chance Grzelcyk can return in this series. Meanwhile, Cassidy floated the idea of dressing seven defensemen because there is no obvious singular replacement for Chara. Steven Kampfer is the most experienced reserve the Bruins have available, and he’s played in two playoff games so far, but he’s a right-shot defenseman, not left like Chara, so that messes up some pairings. The Bruins could turn to youngsters: Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon are all left-handed shots, but they have very limited NHL experience (20 combined games among them). This is an area where St. Louis can exploit Boston.
A team can win a Stanley Cup without exceptional special teams; in fact, the 2011 Bruins had a pretty crummy power play. The Blues have been, at times, a better team at 5-on-5, but lost two of the first three games due to taking a combined 14 penalties (and also being without one of their primary penalty killers, Oskar Sundqvist, in Game 3). Boston’s power play is historically good, and has the power to deliver big punches. Look no further than Game 3, when Boston went 4-for-4 on the power play… on only four shots.
The Blues’ power play, meanwhile, was almost a liability for them in the Game 4 victory; they couldn’t sustain any momentum from it, and even gave up a short-handed goal. Credit the Bruins for having an underrated penalty kill, but it’s clear that special teams will matter in the outcome of this series.
Rookie sensation Jordan Binnington has been the avatar for the Blues’ unflappability in the second half of the season. There’s no way St. Louis makes it to this point without the goaltender, and he’s up for a new contract this summer. The problem for St. Louis is that there are no obvious comparables for Binnington’s next deal. The Blues obviously want to keep him around, but as a byproduct of their own success, they’ll just have to shell out more money to do so. It’s likely the sides settle for a bridge deal if they can’t agree on terms.
