ST. LOUIS — The Bruins reasserted themselves as the alpha males in the Stanley Cup Final. But first, they had to withstand an early push…
ST. LOUIS — The Bruins reasserted themselves as the alpha males in the Stanley Cup Final.
But first, they had to withstand an early push from a St. Louis Blues squad playing its first Cup Final game in front of its fanbase in 49 years. Feeding off the energy from a rowdy Enterprise Center crowd, the Blues peppered Tuukka Rask with the game’s first six shots — four coming on their early first-period power play.
It all came together once the Bruins got their legs going en route to three first-period goals. Their top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak bounced back with a dominating performance. The power play displayed surgical precision every time it had the chance. Rask stood tall when needed. And the Bruins, both physically and mentally, overwhelmed the Blues in a 7-2 victory.
“Every building is loud and full this time of year. We lived it in Toronto, we lived it in Columbus, and we lived it in Carolina,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said about earning a victory in front of another hostile environment.
“Early on, I thought we were ready to play. I thought we would be, because the guys have been here and done it, and they tend to respond well after a loss. Did I think that we score three goals in the first period? No, but being in the game, and being in a competitive first period, [pucks] happened to go in for us.”
Here’s what we learned after one of the more dominating efforts of Boston’s postseason run.
You can’t keep Marchand, Bergeron, and Pastrnak down for long.
The potent trio came into St. Louis with a mere two points on a goal and an assist. Their lone tally came on Marchand’s empty-netter to seal Boston’s come-from-behind win in Game 1.
They couldn’t get anything going together defensively either in their top line matchup against Jayden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, and Vladimir Tarasenko, giving up three goals against St. Louis’ No. 1 trio.
The script changed in Game 3.
