Bruins' Chara takes puck to mouth as Blues level Stanley Cup with Game 4 win
Just when the St Louis Blues had the Boston Bruins on their heels and chasing the game, they gave up a goal and the roar went right out of the building. The Blues could have let the talented Bruins seize the moment, and let things get away from them on home ice. Again.
They didn’t though. The team that was mired in last place in the NHL in January, that suffered from missed calls in the playoffs and slogged through some tough losses instead showed the resolve of a championship contender and are now two victories away from lifting the Stanley Cup.
Ryan O’Reilly scored the opening goal 43 seconds in and the winner with 9:22 left, and he and the Blues thrived in a chaotic Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night to beat the Bruins 4-2 and tie this bruising series at two games apiece.
“We knew what we had to do tonight to be a better team,” coach Craig Berube said. “We were relentless tonight. We didn’t stop for 60 minutes.”
This one was a back-and-forth thriller, with Boston’s Tuukka Rask and St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington each giving up rebounds for frantic scoring chances and scrums. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 11th goal of the playoffs, and Binnington made 21 saves to improve to 7-2 in the postseason after a loss. Even more impressive was the rookie’s bounce-back from being pulled in Game 3 for the first time in his NHL career. Rask allowed three goals on 37 shots and was on the receiving end of several Blues onslaughts.
“He spit some rebounds out,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of Rask. “But I don’t have an issue with his rebound control.”
Charlie Coyle scored for the third consecutive game, and Brandon Carlo had a short-handed goal for Boston, but their stars were quiet again and a big problem may be brewing: Boston captain Zdeno Chara was knocked out of the game by a puck to the mouth. Chara was allowed to sit on the bench, but it’s uncertain if he’ll be able to play in Game 5 when the Bruins could be without two of their top six defensemen.
O’Reilly ended an eight-game goal drought by cashing in two rebounds off Rask for his first multi-goal game since November. After losing 15 of his 23 faceoffs in a tough Game 3, O’Reilly was dominant all over the ice. “He’s been our best player all year and he got rewarded,” winger Patrick Maroon said of O’Reilly. When the final horn sounded, they played Laura Branigan’s Gloria to celebrate the Blues’ first-ever home victory in the Stanley Cup Final. “Every year you keep hearing, let’s go to finals, let’s go win the Cup,” Tarasenko said. “Even after last year, you hear it all summer. People start believing in us and we feel it.”