On Tuesday night, the St. Louis Blues hosted the Boston Bruins in the two teams’ final regular-season meeting. The Bruins won 5-2, sweeping the season series. Let’s jump into the recap to see how we got to this point.
First Period
The Blues went to the power play early and made the most of the opportunity. Robert Thomas took a pass from Pavel Buchnevich and one-timed the puck past Bruins’ goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Matt Luff had a chance in front of the net following a turnover, but the forward was unable to capitalize. This left Thomas as the only goal scorer in the first period, but the Blues still held the lead after the opening 20 minutes.
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Both teams had plenty of shots on goal in the opening period, with the Bruins outshooting the Blues by a slight margin, 11-10.
Second Period
The Bruins took control of the game in the second period. Fraser Minten tied it at 12:48 as the Bruins continued to pepper the net, resulting in a second-chance goal for the Vancouver native.
Less than two minutes later, the Bruins struck again. Mark Kastelic deflected a shot by Sean Kuraly to put his team on top. The Bruins would take that 2-1 lead to the locker room.
The Bruins outshot the Blues, 13-3, in the second period. The Blues, meanwhile, would have to play the rest of the game short a forward, as Nick Bjugstad sustained an upper-body injury during the period.
Third Period
The third period started with a missed scoring chance at one end, leading to a goal at the other. Joel Hofer got his stick on a Minten point-blank shot to keep the deficit at one. The Blues took the puck down the ice, where Thomas scored his second of the game to even the score.
The Bruins regained the lead at 8:01. After a failed clearing attempt by the Blues, Kastelic knocked in a loose puck in the crease for his second of the game. At 11:33, Minten scored his second of the game, firing in a shot that went awkwardly off his stick, fooling Hofer in goal.
The Blues pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. Swayman made a couple of saves on Pius Suter, keeping the Bruins ahead by two. After a David Pastrnak shot at the empty net hit the goal post, the Bruins regained possession, and Pavel Zacha iced the game with his eighth of the season. That was the final goal of the game, with the Bruins winning, 5-2.
The Blues outshot the Bruins, 13-7, in the third period, but the Bruins outshot them for the game, 31-26.
What’s Next?
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday night, both on the road. The Bruins will play the Winnipeg Jets, while the Blues will play the Nashville Predators.
