BLUES EVEN SERIES WITH OVERTIME WINNER IN GAME 2
We have ourselves a series. Finally.
You can thank Carl Gunnarsson for that. It was at 3:51 in overtime when the St. Louis Blues defenceman one-timed a slap shot that found the top corner in a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final.
With that, the best-of-seven series is tied 1-1.
Gunnarsson’s goal, which came during a delayed penalty for tripping, snapped Boston’s playoff winning streak at eight games and made this Stanley Cup final a little more interesting. Not that it needed much more action.
This game had it all. Both teams traded a pair of goals in the first period before the goaltenders shut the door through the rest of regulation time. It was not until overtime when the Blues got the goal they needed.
With an extra attacker on the ice, a pass went back to the point. Gunnarsson, who in the third period had a slap shot ring off the post, made no mistake as his slapper beat Boston’s Tuukka Rask.
Game 3 is in St. Louis on Saturday.
If it’s anything like Game 2, the players better tighten their chinstraps.
This was a slugfest. There was no time or room to make plays, as both teams took the body and kept the scoring chances mostly to the outside. Pretty hockey took a back seat to simple hockey.
The team that made the fewest mistakes was rewarded with the win.
And yet, this was not a conservative game. Not by a long shot.
The game went off the rails in a hurry, as the Bruins and Blues traded shots, goals and at least one pretty ugly hit in the first period.
Boston struck first on a power-play goal from Charlie Coyle, but St. Louis tied it up on a tipped shot from defenceman Robert Bortuzzo.
The Bruins again took the lead, this time on a nifty deke from fourth-line centre Joakim Nordstrom. But once again, the Blues answered back, with Vladimir Tarasenko following up his own rebound to extend an eight-game point streak.
Though the teams were tied after 20 minutes, the Bruins were technically down a man after St. Louis forward Oskar Sundqvist rammed Boston defenceman Matt Grzelcyk’s head against the end boards’ glass. Sundqvist received a two-minute boarding penalty, but don’t be surprised if the Department of Player Safety meets with him in the next 24 hours and he misses at least Game 3.
The second period didn’t feature any goals, but that was about the only thing it was missing as both teams ratcheted up the physicality.
The bodies were flying. Sammy Blais took back-to-back hard hits from David Backes and Nordstrom; Jake DeBrusk took a two-handed chop on the arm from Bortuzzo; Tarasenko briefly went off after landing awkwardly on his shoulder; Rask got run over twice. And that’s just the highlights.
Meanwhile, both goalies put on a show.
While Jordan Binnington looked shaky after allowing first period goals through his fivehole — goals he probably should have saved — he and Rask shut the door in the second period, stopping every shot they faced. Rask had the tougher assignment, as the Blues outshot the Bruins 24-14 through 40 minutes, including a 14-6 advantage in the second period.
The shots kept coming in the third period, but it really wasn’t until the final three minutes when things got interesting.
At one end, Rask robbed Patrick Maroon on a backdoor pass. At the other, Binnington got a blocker on Patrice Bergeron as he spun around in front of the net and tried to sweep a puck into the far side. Then Gunnarsson had a slap shot ring off the post.
The defenceman had far better luck in overtime, when his shot found the mark.
You could say the same thing about the Blues, who are back in this series with home ice advantage now in their favour. mtraikos@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Michael_Traikos