[ad_1]
Nearly 50 years after being swept away by the Boston Bruins in their last appearance in the Stanley Cup final, the St. Louis Blues avenged their 1970 defeat historically, beating the champions of the Boston Conference. East 4-1 at TD Garden on Thursday night to claim victory. first title
The Bruins may have taken the advantage, boasting of losing four goals to Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington in a 6-1 game, but he smothered an attack. offensive to start the showdown on Thursday. This allowed St. Louis to maintain a 2-0 lead after two periods although he only took six of his own shots at half the action. From that moment on, while Boston supporters are muzzled and the Bruins' biggest names are in the shadows, St. Louis is simply setting up a clinic where he's demonstrating a great deal. perfect control, a transition defense and a check – all before a third period pair. Goals sealed their first title in the history of the franchise.
For a team that was in last place on the first day of 2019, the Blues looked much more like a team of playoff veterans than the Bruins, who were essentially sapped of all energy and pace at the end of the first period. Ryan O 'Reilly scored history by getting St. Louis in first place, beating Tuukka Rask and becoming the first player to score goals in four consecutive games since Wayne Gretzky in 1985. Zach Sanford's goals and Brayden Schenn The last eight and a half minutes sealed the deal. Matt Grzelcyk scored the last goal on Boston.
At the beginning of the seventh game, everyone guessed which version of the Blues and Bruins would be presented. Boston seemed to be the favorite after a win in the opening game that established them as the "veterans of the series", and the Blues needed extra time to hook into match 2. An eruption The match that followed apparently reaffirmed that the Bs were the team to beat for the Cup, but St. Louis stole the lead in the series with two consecutive wins, including one at TD Garden, before a new Bruins blast in the sixth game – a 5-1 defeat. this marked the long-awaited emergence of Boston's front-line stars.
The discipline haunted the Blues at different times in the series, with two different players justifying suspensions for illegal tubes. Still, St. Louis remained stuck where it mattered, especially in Game 7. In addition to a late play in the first period that played in Boston's momentum, the team of Craig Berube remained strong, especially in defense, to maintain his initial lead of 2-0.
Relive the entire championship final here:
Boston has no answers, little life through two periods
After starting so aggressively and effectively in the first period, the Bruins seemed to be without Jordan Binnington in no time. The next 35 minutes, however, proved that Boston's rapid rise was perhaps nothing more than a mirage. Even though St. Louis had only managed six shots midway through the seventh game, the Blues had full control of the second period, wiping out any hope of a quick rebound for the Bs. on their own ground thanks to a defensive clinic. , especially in transition through the neutral zone.
In addition, Binwallton Stonewalling has left more of life not only the frighteningly quiet first line of Boston, but also the crowd of TD Garden who, at one point, highlighted the highlights of the New England Patriots Super Bowl to encourage applause.
Without the help of the crossbar, Tuukka Rask might also have yielded a third goal from the Blues to second base.
Blues hit first and second despite Bruins domination
The Bruins had everything planned to start the seventh game. As soon as they came out of the portal, they absolutely spiced Jordan Binnington with shots and were very dynamic. They limited St. Louis to one shot on goal more than 10 minutes into the period. An insane game delay on a pass sent by the post by Colton Parayko even gave Boston the first added benefit of the evening. But Binnington refused to back down, blocking Boston with several close stops.
Meanwhile, Ryan O'Reilly rewarded Binnington's perseverance by placing the Blues in first place with 3:13 to go in the first period, dropping a difficult shot from Sammy Blais to Rask and setting a franchise record with 22 career points in the playoffs. .
If the sudden advance from St. Louis seemed improbable due to the Bruins' obvious energy advantage early in the game, Alex Pietrangelo assured that TD Garden would remain silent for longer. He opened the net during a bad change for the Bruins and placed the puck over Rask to increase the Blues' lead to 2-0 with 7.9 seconds left in the first.
Game 7 updates
[ad_2]
Source link