Well, that happened. The city of St. Louis and its fans were ready for their first Stanley Cup Final home game since 1970 but unfortunately for them, their team wasn’t ready nor composed enough to perform on the big stage, making themselves look like the fall of 2018 team with mother nature's wash out foreshadowing the night to come for them.
The fans and the city were ready for the party with tailgaters starting Saturday morning, a good turnout for the event venue near Enterprise Center, celebrities current and old making their way to the city, and players’ families all around. The team looked ready and came out well for half of a period. Unfortunately, you have to play 60 minutes or at least a lot closer to 60 minutes to give yourself even a chance to win in the Stanley Cup finals and most of the team didn’t come anywhere near that from a composed, concentrated effort standpoint.
It didn’t come through on television, likely because they bring in-stadium Tom Calhoun’s microphone feed right into the broadcast, but by the third Bruins’ player introduction, you couldn’t hear or at least understand a word Calhoun was saying in the stands. The Let’s Go Blues chants completely drowned out Calhoun’s voice as it tried to fill the in-arena speakers.
As odd as it sounds, things seemed off from the time the Blues took the ice before the anthem through most of the game. During the introductions and warmups, was I the only one who wanted to swat the annoying NBC cameraman who keep skating and circling Jordan Binnington? Did they do this to Tuuka Rask in Boston? I’ll never understand this kind of thing and it just gets worse in each playoff round. Let’s shine a bright camera light on players in a dark arena right before they start the game. Let’s completely change their routine and invade their space while they are trying to mentally prepare to start the game, one of the most important games of their career and their team's history.
I realize all of the players have to deal with this kind of stuff but if I was a team owner, I’d do my best to prohibit these kinds of things. Of course, I’m assuming if I was a billionaire, I would care more about winning than a few extra TV contract dollars which might be a poor assumption but I doubt it. I’ve been holding my tongue on this for years but the spastic, skating NBC camera guy on Saturday was the last straw.
The Blues opened the game strong with Sammy Blais and David Backes picking up right where they left off with Blais delivering a big hit to Backes who appeared to grab his face after the hit. Blais came straight at the front of Backes to deliver the hit. I was sitting at the end where the hit was so Backes back obstructed my view of the hit but by the sounds of social media, Bruins fans and perhaps others believed the hit to be high or perhaps Blais had high hands on the hit.
Shortly after the hit, Jake DeBrusk took a needless and dangerous kneeing penalty on Alex Pietrangelo. The Blues did well in controlling play and getting a number of good looks and chances on the power play but Rask was more than equal to the task, stopping every chance. It was one of the Blues best power plays of the series but they didn’t get any results for it.
The Blues would continue to play pretty well through the 1st half of the period. An uncalled cross-check by DeBrusk on Carl Gunnarsson in the offensive zone would start the deterioration. With Gunnarsson down on the ice, the Bruins broke back out on a two on one break. David Perron and Brandon Carlo were both chasing the play. Perron ran interference on Carlo and took him down in the neutral zone, taking a bad penalty while doing nothing to prevent the two on one chance. After a Bruins face-off win, Patrice Bergeron redirected a Toery Krug shot/pass for the easy power play goal.
The power play goal seemed to deflate the Blues though they were able to keep the score 1-0 for almost the next seven minutes until Blais decided inexplicably to pass up throwing a check on a puck carrier. Watch the baffling play here:
Not only does Blais do a drive by on the puck carrier, his drive by creates the odd man rush that leads to the Charlie Coyle goal. Of course things are compounded as Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson are the two defending the three on two, two left-handed defensemen who don’t play together. Bouwmeester then makes it worse by not keeping his stick on the ice. If he has his stick on the ice, he has a very strong chance of being able to get a piece of the pass made to Coyle. So many poor plays lead to the easy goal.
Things would get a lot messier before the period ended as the Bruins would add a third goal with about ten seconds left thanks to a blow off-sides call, a very poor play by Alex Pietrangelo and sloppy goaltending by Jordan Binnington.
Before we review the play, take a minute to read Rule 83.2
Note that the puck was played across the neutral zone by the Bruins. Further note that Joel Edmundson never gets control of the puck as he is stick checked while attempting to get control of the puck.
Given that the Bruins player’s action of stick checking Edmundson causes him to never obtain possession and for the puck to carom into the Blues zone, the NHL’s ruling that the play was not offside because Edmundson played the puck into his own end is in error. Based on Rule 83.2, the challenge should have been upheld and the Blues likely would have entered the 2nd period down 2-0. Instead the NHL allows the goal and the Blues receive a penalty that they fail to kill, making the incorrect call a two goal swing.
Ivan Barbashev would make it a 4-1 game midway through the 2nd period on a great pass from Zach Sanford who had a very effective game in only 9:15 of ice time. A little over a minute later Krug would score a power play goal to make it 5-1 after Colton Parayko tries to bear hug Brad Marchand’s face while he still has his stick in his hands. The power play goal would chase Jordan Binnington from the game. Binnington was far from good though the blame for losing was far from his.
The Blues would hit two solid posts by Pat Maroon and Ryan O’Reilly and Parayko would add a power play goal in the 3rd before Noel Acciari would add an empty net goal and Marcus Johansson would get a late power play goal thanks to Pientrangelo’s needless slash on Johansson after he shot the puck into the empty net.
When the Blues 4th line is their best line, their penalty killing is atrocious while playing undisciplined and their goaltending is average at best, you have a recipe for getting beat soundly.
Of the Bruins goals, four were on the power play, one was an empty net and one shouldn’t have counted because of off-sides. If the Blues really could keep the play at five on five, they would have a strong chance in this series. If they keep giving up five power plays per game, they are going to make it infinitely harder.
While many are singing the praises of the Bruins top line, I really didn’t see them generate much at even strength. All five of their points came on the power play. The Blues have to be more disciplined and Jordan Binnington has to be better. Binnington sealed the ice extremely slowly in the Bruins 3rd goal and was too deep on the Bruins 5th goal. Again, the loss wasn’t a result of him but the Blues will need him to be better.
Please don’t misconstrue anything above as saying that better officiating or the like would have somehow made a difference and the Blues should have won. The Blues played poorly, played undisciplined and lost focus. They received the result they deserved.
As expected, Zach Sanford will be in the lineup tonight with Robby Fabbri coming out. Someone in the media asked the question a number of us have been wanting to but have been afraid to ask, asking Coach Craig Berube yesterday if he has considered replacing David Perron. Berube said “he’ll be more disciplined tomorrow. I don’t need to discuss if I’m going to take him out of the lineup”. Vince Dunn also will be returning as many suspected, coming in for Robert Bortuzzo.
The lines are in the blender with Sanford getting rewarded for his strong game and getting paired with O’Reilly and Perron. Blais will move with Maroon and Tyler Bozak. Oskar Sundqvist will slide back onto the 4th line. Dunn will be paired with Carl Gunnarsson to start.
Of course my wish is for all Blues fans to really enjoy Saturday and immerse themselves in the experience really got drenched by mother nature and the poor showing on the ice.
It’s a great day for hockey.
NHL Champions for Charity Playoff Edition
In what I hope becomes a Hockeybuzz tradition, Bruins Hockeybuzz writer
Anthony Travalgia and I placed a wager on the series. If the Blues win, Anthony has agreed to make a donation to the
Gateway Area Multiple Sclerosis Society (@mssociety on twitter) whose mission is help each person affected by MS in St. Louis address the challenges of living with MS. They help by raising funds for cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education and providing programs and services that empower people with MS and their families to move their lives forward. I picked this charity to honor Blues anthem singer, Charles Glenn. Read more about Charles’ battle with MS
here. If the Bruins win, I will donate to the
JDRF (@JDRF on twitter) whose mission is improve lives today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications.
Sharks Hockeybuzz writer
Steve Palumbo and I placed a wager on the series. Since the Blues won, Steve should be making a donation to the
Gateway Area Multiple Sclerosis Society (@mssociety on twitter) whose mission is help each person affected by MS in St. Louis address the challenges of living with MS. They help by raising funds for cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education and providing programs and services that empower people with MS and their families to move their lives forward. I selected the MS Society to honor St. Louis Blues Anthem singer Charles Glenn. Read more about Charles
here.
I hope that our wagers will inspire players and fans to pledge donations for each win their team makes in the NHL playoffs.
NHL Champions for Charity Regular Season
Given that the Predators pulled out the division title, all be it not without some controversial officiating in the last couple of games, Best Buddies Tennessee
https://www.bestbuddies.org/tennessee/ is the beneficiary. Best Buddies Tennessee is dedicated to establishing a volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a side note, I recently got to experience a Best Buddies even in the St. Louis area that was led by the Eureka high school football team. It was a lot of fun and brought a lot of joy to those involved.
It’s a great day for hockey.
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