NHL: St. Louis Blues at Boston BruinsPhoto Courtesy Of CBS Sports

By: Garrett Haydon | Follow Me On Twitter @thesportsguy97

Pre-Game Notes

Arena: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Home: Boston Bruins (12-5)
Away: St. Louis Blues (12-7)

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Krejci-Backes
Johansson-Coyle-Heinen
Nordstrom-Kuraly-Acciari

Defense

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Clifton

Goalies

Rask
Halak

St. Louis’s Lineup

Forwards

Schwartz-Schenn-Tarasenko
Blais-O’Reilly-Perron
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Barbashev-Sundqvist-Steen

Defense

Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Gunnarsson-Bortuzzo

Goalies

Binnington
Allen

First Period

The Bruins got out to a flying start with a few good chances in the St. Louis zone. Neither team looked to show much rust in the opening moments as they both looked ready to go from the start. Sean Kuraly went to the penalty box for tripping under four minutes into the period as the Blues got their first power play opportunity. The Bruins killed off the man advantage as the Blues failed to get any significant scoring chances. Brayden Schenn gave the Blues the first period lead with a nice shot on a loose puck with about 12:30 left in the period.

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The Blues seemed to grab the momentum with a couple of good shifts following the goal. The Bruins would pick up their first power play as David Perron was called for tripping with 6:45 left in the period. Marcus Johansson had a great look late in the man advantage but hit the post. The Blues killed the penalty despite the Bruins getting some solid scoring chances.
Robert Thomas was called for hooking late in the period as the Bruins got another power play opportunity. The Blues killed off the penalty yet again as the Bruins continued to move the puck effectively on the man advantage.
Score: 1-0 Blues

Second Period

Vladimir Tarasenko made it 2-0 just a minute into the period after a terrible turnover in the Boston zone by David Pastrnak.

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Connor Clifton deflected a puck past Jordan Binnington shortly after the goal on a spectacular play by Kuraly that cut the lead in half.

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The Bruins started to find their legs after the goal by Clifton as they looked to even the score. The Bruins would go back to the man advantage as David Backes took a high stick from Joel Edmundson as they looked to tie the game. The Blues killed off yet another man advantage but the Bruins continued to move the puck effectively and get good chances.
The Bruins got another man advantage opportunity as Oscar Sundqvist was called for a cross check on Clifton. Charlie McAvoy fired a quick wrist shot past Binnington off a deflection to tie the game for the Bruins on the power play.

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The Bruins began to get much more physically involved in the second period as they started to push back on the Blues who had established the physical play initially. The Bruins continued to look a lot more comfortable in the second period as they got their legs out from under them which allowed them to take control of the tempo.
Score: Tied 2-2

Third Period

The B’s strung together some really solid shifts to open the period as they looked to truly impose their will and take the lead. Kuraly jumped on a loose puck in the offensive zone after it was kept alive and buried it as the Bruins took the lead for the first time about five minutes into the final period.

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David Krejci took a elbowing penalty with about 13 minutes to go as the Blues got a power play opportunity to try to tie the game. The Bruins killed it off as the Blues failed to gain any momentum from the man advantage. The B’s continued to move their legs in the final frame as they looked to close the game out and take an advantage in the series. The Bruins would go to the power play again with 6:32 to play as Sammy Blais went to the box for interference. The Blues killed off the penalty as they remained within striking distance.
The Blues pulled the goaltender with about two minutes to go and Brad Marchand buried the empty net goal shortly after to ice the game for the B’s.

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Final Score: 4-2 Bruins

Three Stars Of The Game

First Star: Clifton. The young defenseman had perhaps his best game in black and gold as he was the best player on the ice for some big stretches in the game.
Second Star: Kuraly. The fourth liner was everywhere on the ice in Game 1 as was rewarded with the winning goal.
Third Star: McAvoy. Another young defenseman with a solid game, McAvoy was very solid once again and factored into the scoring with the tying goal in the second period.