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A "best-of-3" series or a potential elimination match – these are the two options that the St. Louis Blues faced after Game 4 on Monday night.
After an embarrassing home defeat at home in the third game – the first game of the Stanley Cup final in St. Louis since 1970 – the Blues went down on Monday. They tied the championship series at 2-2 with a 4-2 victory and are now heading to Boston for the fifth game later in the week.
Game Updates 4
CBS Sports will follow live action all the way through the third game of the Stanley Cup final between the Bruins and the Blues. If you can not see the live app below, click here please.
O & # 39; Reilly gets the winner
The playoffs were not great for Ryan O'Reilly, but the Blues center played a huge game Monday night. O & # 39; Reilly not only scored the Blues on the board earlier than expected, but he also gave them the lead late. He did a great job burying a rebound midway through the last period, giving the Blues a 3-2 lead.
This rebound was made by defender Alex Pietrangelo, who also had a great night for St. Louis on Monday.
Brayden Schenn added an empty net goal with just over a minute to play to conclude the 4-2 win.
A second bizarre period in the service of the Bruins
The second period was a hell of a roller coaster ride. The Blues exerted considerable sustained pressure and looked like the best team by far because they were hard and fast on the puck. There was a four or five minute sequence in which blues members tormented the Bruins and blocked them for their own purpose. In the end, the Blues were not able to score but they inflicted a (ghost) penalty on Connor Clifton to earn a power play opportunity with a chance to double their lead.
However, it was the Bruins who scored on the occasion.
Whether by chance or by the fact that the Hockey Gods paid off the terrible penalty, the Bruins earned a shorthanded goal from Brandon Carlo to tie the game after the Blues spent most of the time under control . This is Carlo's first goal in the playoffs, making him the 20th Bruins player to score in this round.
He continues to dominate Boston on special teams until now this series. Neither team converted their power play opportunities in the second period (the Bruins had one, the Blues had two) and the shorthanded goal was the only scorer of the period.
The Blues had a 12-10 advantage in the second but the Bruins had the advantage in scoring opportunities, 8-6.
Blues make an early statement
After the embarrassing defeat of the third game, the Blues needed a quick start in the fourth game and they certainly understood it. Ryan O'Reilly only scored 43 seconds after the start of the match, defeating Tuukka Rask to lead 1-0. This goal has injected a little more juice into the busy crowd of Enterprise Center.
Vince Dunn, who was reinstated in training on Monday, also contributed to this quick goal. Dunn put the puck to the goal from the point and Rask managed to make a good first stop before O & # 39; Reilly got the rebound back and registered.
The Blues continued to dominate for the better part of the next 10 minutes, but the Bruins managed to make their way to the table thanks to Charlie Coyle. Danton Heinen absorbed the contact with the body to keep the Bruins possession and Zdeno Chara had a nice pinch to get the puck back before installing Coyle on the doorstep. For Coyle, a kid from the area acquired by the Bruins on the trade deadline, this is his ninth playoff goal.
But St. Louis went back with 4:30 to do in the first when Alex Pietrangelo dragged into space and shot Rask, who spat a juicy bounce engulfed by Vladimir Tarasenko. The Blues winger had just left the bench and had managed to skate in the middle of the open ice before burying the rebound on Rask to regain the advantage.
After 20 minutes, the Blues have a 13-9 advantage for shots and 10-6 for scoring opportunities. St. Louis recorded 58.6% of all attempts during this opening period, giving it a considerable advantage over ball possession. It should also be noted that neither of the two teams took penalty in the first period, so things are a little cleaner than last time.
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