The St. Louis Blues and their home fans at the Enterprise Center were ready to celebrate the first Stanley Cup championship in team history on Sunday night. But then Tuuka Rask and the Boston Bruins showed up for game six. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak both scored a goal and had an assist, and Rask made 28 saves as Boston scored four third period goals to pull away for a 5-1 win. The series is now tied 3-3, with a decisive game seven to be played for the title Wednesday night in Boston.
A fast and furious start to the first period saw both teams having some great chances. St. Louis had the best chance in the early going as Brayden Schenn had a rebound right in front of Rask. In the slot he pulled the puck from his backhand to his forehand and shot one on Rask, who was down and out but managed to stop the chance with his right pad. The Bruins later had a 5 on 3 powerplay for the first time in these playoffs. Marchand took a feed from Pastrnak in the faceoff circles to the right of Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, and one timed the slapper into the net at 8:40 to make it 1-0. The goal was the ninth of the playoffs for Marchand. Boston outshot St. Louis 12-9 in the opening 20 minutes.
The action again was up and down in the middle period. 4:15 into the second Bostons Danton Heinen had a breakaway in on Binnington, but was turned away. St. Louis then had another good chance at 7:42, when Jaden Schwartz centered from behind the Bruins goal to Schenn in the faceoff circles to the right of Rask. Schenns quick one timed shot was gloved by Rask. The Blues had more glorious chances to tie it after Marchand was called for tripping at 9:11. Pat Maroon centered one in the slot for Colton Parayko, who re-directed it just wide of Rask on a shot that would of beaten the goalie. On the same powerplay Alex Pietrangelo backhanded a rebound that looked for sure that it was destined as the equalizing goal, but hit Rask up high and rolled up his back and was cleared out of the crease with the help of defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Ryan O’Reilly also had two good chances with the extra man in close but was also turned away. The second period ended with Boston still holding that slight one goal lead and also a slight lead in shots 20-19.
Boston turned up the intensity in the third, extending the lead early in the period. Jake Debrusk made a nice hustle play by tying up a Blues player along the right wing boards to keep the puck in the zone, and getting it back to Brandon Carlo at the right point. Carlos shot through traffic would take a big Bruins bounce in the slot in front of Binnington eluding the goaltender and finding the net at 2:31 to make it 2-0. Karson Kuhlman who was newly inserted into the lineup for game six, would add some breathing room for Boston at 10:15. On a 3 on 2 rush, David Krejci found Kuhlman who wristed one in from the high slot past the blocker of Binnington. It was Kuhlmans first of the playoffs. The hosts finally got on the board at 12:01. Pietrangelo took a shot from the left wing boards that deflected off a Bruins defender, and found O’Reillys stick to the right who was able to just get the rebound past Rask. The call was originally no goal, but after video review O’Reilly was credited with his seventh of the playoffs to cut it to 3-1. Boston would sew up the game at 14:06 when Sean Kuraly passed from behind the St. Louis goal and found Marchand beside the net to the right of Binnington. Marchand quickly swung a pass to Pastrnak in the slot, and Pastrnak deked the goalie left to right going forehand then to a backhand into an empty net past the out of position Binnington. Zdeno Chara added an empty netter at 17:41 to finish off the scoring on the night. Chara became the oldest player to ever score a goal in the Stanley Cup Finals at age 42. The defenseman will also break a record in game seven, when he will break Hall of Famers Patrick Roy and Scott Stevens records for most game sevens ever played.
Rask in elimination/closeout games this playoff season improves to 5-0, saving 145 of 149 shots for a .973 save percentage. Binnington finished with 27 saves in the Blues loss. St. Louis went 0-4 on the powerplay, while Boston was 1-2. Krejci, Kuraly, Debrusk, and Torey Krug had assists for the Bruins. Pietrangelo and David Perron had the assists on the Blues lone goal. In the last 13 games Boston has now killed 40 of 42 powerplays against them. The Bruins also improve to 25-1 all-time in the playoffs when Marchand scores a goal, 8-0 this season.
Boston goes for their second title in eight seasons, while St. Louis still seeks their first title when game seven faces off at TD Garden Wednesday night at 8 p.m. This will also be the first game seven in the Stanley Cup Finals since 2011, when the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in Vancouver to win the Cup.
