The St. Louis Blues are halfway to winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history but the Boston Bruins are also just two games away from winning their seventh. The teams are tied at two games apiece with the series heading back to Boston for game five on June 6th. It’s now a two-out-of-three series with Boston having home ice in games five and seven if necessary and the Blues hosting game six. This may not faze the Blues since they have fared much better away from home during the postseason at 8-3 while they are just 6-6 at the Enterprise Center.
The Bruins opened the series with a 4-2 home win but the Blues bounced back in game two with a 3-2 overtime victory. Boston then hammered the home side 7-2 in game three with St. Louis rebounding once again with a 4-2 triumph in game four. The Blues have won their first home and away Stanley Cup Final game in franchise history so far this year after losing their 12 previous Final contests. They were swept in four straight games in their three other Finals in 1967/68, 68/69 and 69/70. The Montreal Canadiens downed them the first two times with the Bruins sweeping them in 69/70.
Boston’s special teams have run rampant in the first four games with six power-play markers on 16 chances as well as a shorthanded goal. They went four-for-four with the man advantage in game three in St. Louis by scoring four times on four shots. It’s no surprise the Blues cut down on their penalty minutes in game four with just two minors. It was the only game Boston hasn’t scored on the power-play but St. Louis gave up the shorthanded goal in that outing. Blues’ rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington was pulled in game three after conceding five goals and then rebounded with the win in game four. He now owns a 7-2 record in this year’s playoffs after a loss along with a save percentage of 93.3 and a 1.86 goals-against average.
Forward Oskar Sundqvist of St. Louis was suspended for game three of the series after boarding Boston defenceman Matt Grzelcyk in the second game. Grzelcyk missed games three and four with a concussion and his roster spot was taken over by John Moore. Grzelcyk’s status for the rest of the series is unclear at the moment and the same goes for fellow rearguard Zdeno Chara. The Bruins’ 42-year-old veteran captain was struck in the face with the puck in game four and may be sidelined. If he’s unable to play and Grzelcyk doesn’t return the Bruins may dress Steven Kampfer, Jeremy Lauzon or Urho Vaakanainen in his place.
St. Louis is proving to be a physical match for Boston and have outhit the Big Bad Bruins in all four contests. With the series tied 2-2 it means the Stanley Cup Final will go to at least six games for the 10th time in the past dozen seasons. It’s also the 26th time to go at least six since 1939 when the best-of-seven format was introduced by the NHL. The team that won game four to tie the series has won on three of the last five occasions but just 10 out of 25 times overall. The game four win was huge for the Blues as teams that have trailed 3-1 in a Stanley Cup Final have lost 33 of 34 series. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the only team to fight back and they did if after falling behind 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in 1941/42.