The show must go on. After a 4-2 victory at home for the Boston Bruins, game 2 would be all the more important for the St. Louis Blues to win. The Bruins with the victory here would be on a 10 game winning streak. The Blues looking to even the series, are also looking for the franchises first ever Stanley Cup Finals win. Going down by 2 games would be a daunting task to come back from so this would be a very important win for the Blues in more ways than 1, now on to the game.
Bit behind? See what happened in game 1 Here!
Fans certainly got their money’s worth in the 1st period. An early Bruins power-play would result in the games first goal around the 5 minute mark. Jake DeBrusk would feed Charlie Coyle a pass from behind the goal line and Coyle would one-time it through the wickets of Blues net-minder Jordan Binnington. With Boston up 1-0 the Blues looked to respond. Sure enough around 9 minutes into the period Robert Bortuzzo would answer the call. Bortuzzo would fire off a bad angle shot that took a rogue bounce off a Bruins defenceman and up over the left shoulder of Tuukka Rask for a 1-1 tie. This clearly didn’t sit well with the Bruins however as they’d retake the lead less than 1 minute after the Bortuzzo goal. This one would be off a hard working play by Joakim Nordstrom who received a pass from Sean Kuraly. Nordstrom then carried it around the front of the net and beat Binnigton restoring Bostons 1 goal lead at 2-1. That wouldn’t be the end of the scoring however as St.Louis would tie the game up again around the 15 minute mark. The Blues would get a 2 on 1 with Jayden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, 2 of their top scorers. Schwartz would shoot the puck, but Rask made a kick save with the right pad. Unfortunately for Rask the rebound went to Tarasenko who despite being turned around managed to back hand it up into the top right corner tying the game at 2-2 after 1. The shot totals were close with St. Louis holding a 10-8 edge, but we still had 2 periods to go.
Unfortunately for the fans/viewers that’s where the scoring just dried up. There were no goals scored in the 2nd period. The Blues did seem to be putting a lot more pucks on net than the Bruins with a shot total of 14-6 in period 2. There were a fair number of big hits as well, but none bigger than ex Blue David Backes levelling Sammy Blais around the benches. That about does it for the 2nd period, so would the scoring return in the 3rd?
The short answer is no, there weren’t any goals in the 3rd period either. The shots were a lot closer though as it was a 9-9 tie in period 3. The Blues nearly won the game in the final minute of the period. Carl Gunnarsson got the puck at the point with nobody around him and let off a howitzer. The shot zoomed over the left shoulder of Rask and clanged off the post and back out over the right shoulder. With that near miss the game would go to overtime, so the next goal would seal the deal.
Watch the game 2 highlights Here!
Overtime didn’t last very long, 3:51 in fact. The winning team also had all 4 shots in overtime, and the goal scorer a very nice moment of redemption. Who scored the winner, and for which team? It would be Blues defenceman Carl Gunnarsson who’d end the game in overtime. Yes the same one that almost ended the game in the 3rd with a shot off the post. This time he got the puck on the opposite side and blasted it through a screen and over the right arm of Rask for the 3-2 victory. This would signal St. Louis’ first Stanley Cup Finals win ever, and it would even the series at 1-1. The overall shots were almost dead opposite of game 1 as this time the Blues had a 37-23 edge. Game 3 will take place Saturday June 1st in St. Louis. Stay tuned for more championship updates and recaps on Fandomwire.
