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Just as the Blues of St. Louis had the Boston Bruins on their heels and continued the game, they gave up a goal and the roar took place right out of the building.
The Blues could have let the talented Bruins seize the opportunity, letting things escape home. Again.
They do not have it. The team that was stuck in last place in the NHL in January, which had missed several playoff calls and had suffered heavy losses, showed the determination of a contender in the championship and now has two victories to win the Stanley Cup.
Ryan O'Reilly scored the first goal at 43 seconds and the winner with 9:22 to go. He and the Blues defeated the Blues in the chaotic fourth game of the Stanley Cup final on Monday night to beat the Bruins 4-2 and tie the blue series to two games each.
"We knew what we had to do tonight to be a better team," said coach Craig Berube. "We were relentless tonight, we did not stop for 60 minutes."
The fifth game will be held Thursday night in Boston.
It was a back-and-forth thriller, with Boston's Tuukka Rask and St. Louis's Jordan Binnington, each giving up tons of rebounds for scoring chances and frantic scrums.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored his eleventh goal in the playoffs and Binnington made 21 saves to improve to 7-2 in the playoffs after a loss. Even more impressive was the rookie's rebound after being shot in the third game for the first time in his NHL career. Rask allowed three goals on 37 shots and was the recipient of several Blues attacks.
"He spat out rebounds," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of Rask. "But I do not have a problem with his rebound control."
Charlie Coyle scored for the third consecutive game, and Brandon Carlo scored a shorthanded goal for Boston, but their stars went silent again and a big problem might be in the works: Boston captain Zdeno Chara was eliminated of the match by a puck. stuffy. Chara has been allowed to sit on the bench, but he does not know if he will be able to play in the fifth game while the Bruins could do without two of their top six defensemen.
O'Reilly ended an eight-goal drought by cashing two rebounds off Rask for his first multi-goal game since November. After losing 15 of his 23 clashes in a tough game, O & # 39; Reilly dominated on the ice.
"He was our best player all year and he was rewarded," said winger Patrick Maroon about O'Reilly.
Hockey Hall of Fame and Blues player Brett Hull screamed loudly in the microphone to get the crowd up a few seconds before the face-off: "Are you ready? Come on blues!"
They were ready, okay, and it started with the goal of O 'Reilly, sixth for the Blues in the first two minutes. They have already done it in all four rounds and have a 6-0 record when they have a 1-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of a match.
But that victory was a good response to a new momentum for the special teams: the Blues killed a Bruins power play and then blocked Boston for more than three minutes. While St. Louis pucked in the offensive zone and changed several forward lines and defensive pairings, the Boston defenders were gassed and Connor Clifton took a penalty for an illegal check at the head of Tarasenko.
Twenty-six seconds after the Blues' power play, however, the Bruins inexplicably managed to clear their way and Carlo scored shorthanded to equalize again. It's the fourth shorthanded goal that St. Louis only allowed in the playoffs for 13 power play goals – but St. Louis did not bend.
"I have said everything in the playoffs: things do not really seem to baffle us," said captain Alex Pietrangelo, who has contributed to O 's goals for Reilly.
Another rebound off Rask paved the way for O 'Reilly's goal. While St. Louis led, fans could happily sing John Denver's "Country Roads" after a timeout of less than 6 minutes. Brayden Schenn scored on the end-of-game score for an empty net goal, 1:29 from the end.
"It's everyone's game now," said Blues striker Oskar Sundqvist.
When the final horn sounded, they battled Laura Branigan's "Gloria" to celebrate the Blues' first ever home win in the Stanley Cup final.
"Every year, you hear, let's go in the final, let's win the Cup," said Tarsaenko. "Even after last year, you hear all this summer, people start to believe in us and we feel it."
NOTES: Sundqvist came back from a one – game suspension for boarding the Bruins D Matt Grzelcyk, who missed his second game in a row. Sanford stayed in training and Robby Fabbri was a healthy scratch. … Dunn replaced D Robert Bortuzzo in the St. Louis formation.
FOLLOWING
The Blues and Bruins start again with a three-game series for the Cup with the fifth game in Boston on Thursday night
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