Bruins pull a fast one
Grab big early lead, then finish off Blues
ST. LOUIS — Just when you want to give up on the Bruins, they go out and do something like they did last night.
After losing in overtime Sunday at Carolina, the B’s dominated the St. Louis Blues last night at the Scottrade Center, thumping them 5-3 for the muchneeded two points in the tight Atlantic Division and wild card races. It wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. The B’s raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first 21:31 and outshot the Blues 39-17 overall. They actually blocked more shots (19) than the Blues got on net.
By scoring 12 goals in three games, they have taken five out of a possible six points on the road trip that finishes up tomorrow night in Nashville.
“We know we have a good team, and we believe in here,” said Brad Marchand, who scored two goals and has five in his past three games. “We seem to rise to the challenge when we’re playing the really tough teams in the league. We know we can play with the best. The main thing for us is we have to bring it every night and bring that consistency. And if we bring that, we’ll be a good team.”
It wasn’t all positive for the B’s. They lost Adam McQuaid to an upper-body injury late in the first period on a violent collision with Patrick Berglund, and then Colin Miller had to go to the dressing room in the third period when Ryan Reaves fell on his left knee. It was an ugly looking play, but Miller was able to skate off on his own power. He returned, but McQuaid did not, and both were being examined by doctors after the game.
If neither can go tomorrow, the B’s have Joe Morrow and John-Michael Liles on hand.
While the injuries on the back end are potentially troubling, last night was one of the best efforts of the season for the B’s, who appear to be inching forward. They were led by Marchand’s three-point night but received positive contributions from Frank Vatrano, Torey Krug (a goal and an assist apiece) and David Pastrnak (three assists). Zdeno Chara was excellent, playing a seasonhigh 28:31 with a plus-3.
“That’s what it is — progression,” coach Claude Julien said. “When you have the number of players we have that are in their first full year with our hockey club, there’s a big learning curve there, whether it’s understanding what we demand on a nightly basis to getting comfortable with the players and the system and everything else, there’s some progress there. But we’re very cautious with getting too comfortable and understanding this is the kind of push we’re going to need from here on in if we expect to play past the 82game mark.”
In a fight for their playoff lives, the B’s have plenty of motivation every night. But last night there was a little extra, with David Backes, the former Blues captain, playing his first game in St. Louis since signing with the Bruins last summer. As it turned out, Backes would only play 10:41 after he avenged a Joel Edmundson hit on David Krejci late in the second period, getting the full 17 minutes for instigating, fighting and 10-minute misconduct. Those type of actions are endearing him to his new teammates.
“You always want to step up for your teammate,” said Marchand. “And Backs, with the way he plays for our team and the things he does, the way he steps up every night, it’s great to go to battle for him and come up with this win.”
The B’s nearly put it away in the first period when they scored three goals. Vatrano got them on the board with a power-play snipe and then they got lucky. Brandon Carlo fired a shot off the end boards that bounced straight back and off goalie Jake Allen’s left pad and in.
Marchand made it 3-0 with a short-side shot late in the first, causing Blues coach Ken Hitchcock to pull Allen for Carter Hutton to start the second. But 1:31 into the middle period, Krug blasted his second of the season for a 4-0 lead.
The Blues tried to crawl back into it, getting a Colton Parayko power-play goal shortly after Krug’s and a man-advantage strike from Berglund midway through the third period to make it a 4-2 game. But Marchand added an empty-netter to seal it before Kyle Brodziak picked up a garbage time tally with 25 seconds left.
“Believe it or not, a lot of guys were mad about the goal we gave up there, the guys that were on the ice,” Julien said. “There was some pride there. That’s what you want to see. You want to see guys that care right ’til the end.”
Last night, the B’s seemed to care at the beginning, the middle and the end.