ST. LOUIS—It was a game St. Louis had waited 49 years to see, and you have to think that for most off the fans at Enterprise Center on Saturday night, it was not worth the wait.
The first Stanley Cup final game in St. Louis since 1970 was a disaster, with the Blues losing 7-2, in Game 3 as the Bruins reclaimed the edge in the series at 2-1 and home-ice advantage. The Blues fell to 5-6 at home in the post-season. Game 4 in Monday night at Enterprise Center.
The Bruins scored five times on rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington and he was pulled in the second period, the first time in his NHL career that had happened. Jake Allen appeared in his first game since April 3.
The Blues showed a little life when Colton Parayko cut the lead to 5-2 with 14:36 to go in the third, and 40 seconds later, the Blues had another power play when Jake DeBrusk was called for delay of game. With a chance to cut the lead to two goals with more than 10 minutes to play, the Blues couldn’t convert and Boston was able to run out the game from there. Noel Acciari scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 to play. Alex Pietrangelo was called for a slash on that play and Marcus Johansson scored on the power play,
The Blues continue to be vexed by penalties and their aftermath. Boston went 4-for-4 on the power play in the kind of breakout performance that was inevitable for their special teams. As the game got more one-sided, it also got more and more chippy. Boston was called for eight penalties in the game and Blues for six.
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The Blues went into the second period trailing 3-0 and Boston started the period on a power play after a failed Blues offside challenge at the end of the first period. Forty-one seconds into the period, David Pastrnak took a pass from Torey Krug a few feet out and backhanded it past Binnington.
Ivan Barbashev scored with 8:55 to go in the period, taking a nice pass from Zach Sanford from behind the goal. Sanford was in the lineup because of Oskar Sundqvist’s suspension and even without him, the fourth line was probably the most effective unit of the night for the Blues.
But 36 seconds after Barbashev’s goal, Parayko was called for high sticking and 31 seconds into the power play, Krug scored to make it 5-1. Allen then came into the game.
The night started with a raucous atmosphere as the crowd got into the first final game in St. Louis in almost five decades, especially since this was a Stanley Cup the Blues had a chance to win, unlike the franchise’s first three seasons.
After a brisk start to the game, with the Blues taking it to Boston, the game quickly turned on its tail and the Bruins led 3-0 after the first period.
The Blues dominated the first six minutes, outshooting Boston 5-0. Sammy Blais got the crowd going with a crunching check on former Blues captain David Backes. Just over a minute into the game, the Blues had a power play after DeBrusk was called for kneeing. The Blues had four shots on goal in those two minutes, but couldn’t score.
The game quickly pivoted, and the Blues soon had trouble getting the puck out of their own end, leading to some extended zone time for the Bruins. David Perron was called for interference with 9:34 left in the period when he took down Brandon Carlo, and 21 seconds into the power play, Torey Krug took a shot from the blue line that Patrice Bergeron deflected past Binnington and in.
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Boston scored twice in the final 2:20 to extend the lead. First, on a 3-on-2, Johansson made a crisp, no-look pass to Charlie Coyle, who scored his eighth of the playoffs on a shot from the right circle.
With 9.2 seconds to go in the period, Joel Edmundson had the puck at his feet but was tied up with Joakim Nordstrom and couldn’t get to it. Sean Kuraly got the puck and shot past Binnington to make it 3-0.