Bruins Win Big In Game 3, Take 2-1 Series Lead Over Blues in Stanley Cup Final
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins survived the fury of the opening 10 minutes on the road in a Stanley Cup Final game. Then they started punching back.
Patrice Bergeron scored on a power play midway through the first period of Game 3 in St. Louis, the first of four goals in a 10-minute span that opened up a 4-0 lead for the Bruins.
The Bruins would go on to win, 7-2, to take a 2-1 series lead in the Cup Final.
Tuukka Rask stopped 27 St. Louis shots. Jordan Binnington, who allowed those first four goals in a span of just six shots, stopped just 14 of 19 shots before getting pulled on Boston's fifth goal, which came 12:12 into the second period. Jake Allen got his fist action of the postseason, replacing Binnington.
Bergeron's goal came just 21 after David Perron went to the penalty box for interference. Bereron won a faceoff in the St. Louis end, and winger Jake DeBrusk retrieved the puck and sent it to Torey Krug at the blue line. Krug fired a pass to Bergeron, who tipped the puck past Binnington for the first goal of the game at the 10:47 mark of the first.
Boston doubled the lead just under seven minutes later, off an end-to-end rush from the third line. Charlie Coyle dug for the puck behind the Boston goal line before escaping the zone with the puck and tapping it along to Danton Heinen. Marcus Johansson took a drop pass from Heinen before sending a cross-ice feed to Coyle, who finished off the play by beating Binnington from the right faceoff dot.
Sean Kuraly scored before the end of the period, a goal which the Blues unsuccessfully challenged for being offside on the zone entry. That unsuccessful challenge gave a power play to the Bruins, who scored with the man advantage just 41 seconds into the second period to make it a 4-0 lead.
The Blues did finally get on the board at the 11:05 mark of the second period, when Ivan Barbashev scored from the doorstep on a feed from Zach Sanford. But the Bruins extended the lead back to four goals when Torey Krug's shot on the power play deflected off the skate of Jay Bouwmeester.
That goal made it a perfect 3-for-3 for the Bruins' power play, and with the Bruins leading 5-1, it also ended Binnington's night.
The Blues made it 5-2 when a Colton Parayko blast from the blue line deflected off Carlo and over Rask's shoulder 5:24 into the third period.
Noel Acciari scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 to put the bow on the big win, and Marcus Johansson scored on a one-timer just 13 seconds later to make it 7-2.
Overall in playoff history, the winner of Game 3 in a 1-1 series goes on to win the series 67.1 percent of the time. Specifically in the Stanley Cup Final, the winner of Game 3 in a 1-1 series has won the Cup 78.6 percent of the time. Interestingly, the 2013 Bruins were one of the six teams to lose after winning Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the Cup Final.
Game 4 will be played Monday night in St. Louis.
