ST. LOUIS — This Stanley Cup Final is now tied at 2-2 and the Bruins regained their home ice advantage in their two-game sojourn to the Midwest. But, boy, it’s hard to feel all that good about the Bruins’ chances right now after their 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday. It wasn’t […]
ST. LOUIS — This Stanley Cup Final is now tied at 2-2 and the Bruins regained their home ice advantage in their two-game sojourn to the Midwest.
But, boy, it’s hard to feel all that good about the Bruins’ chances right now after their 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday.
It wasn’t just that the Blues, as they did in Game 2 in Boston, were able to play their physical game from beginning to end. But now the infamous “war of attrition” that the playoffs have become is starting to weigh heavily on the B’s. With Matt Grzelcyk on the shelf with a concussion absorbed on a dirty hit by Oskar Sundqvist in Game 2 — the centerman was back and played a key defensive role after his one-game suspension — the B’s lost Zdeno Chara at 3:07 of the second period on Monday.
It was no cheap shot that felled the captain, but just terrible luck that happens in this sport. With Chara trying to block Brayden Schenn’s shot, the puck went off the defenseman’s blade and up into his mouth area. It cut him open, he went down in obvious pain and he left a trail of blood as he eventually skated off. The fact that he could not return to the game gives you the sense that this is a little more than a case of a few missing chiclets. He did come back to the bench for the third period with a full shield on, but he never played a shift.
“We clearly know he got a puck to the face, very uncomfortable, he was advised not to return to play. He had some stitches, probably some dental work in the near future,” said coach Bruce Cassidy.
