Bruins play near flawless game in shutting down Blues, and it begs the question: ‘Where was this in Game 7?'

Share

BOSTON – Nobody would blame Bruins fans if they watched Saturday night’s shutout win over the St. Louis Blues, and wondered where this B’s team was when it really mattered most four months ago during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on the very same TD Garden home ice.

The B’s showed physicality and toughness, they played flawless defense and paid keen attention to detail and had their top scorers and weapons do damage as well in the 3-0 win over the Blues at TD Garden. It raised the Bruins to 7-1-2 on the season and allowed the Bruins to get some small measure of payback for the bitter Game 7 loss last June, but it also shows exactly how uncharacteristic that big game defeat was for the Black and Gold at the end of the last postseason.

“Unless they brought the Cup here for this game I don’t think it has anything to do with [the Stanley Cup Final],” said Tuukka Rask, after making 26 saves in his second shutout of the season while leading the NHL in both goals against average (1.48) and save percentage (.952). “It’s a different year and different teams. But it was two good teams and a great Saturday night game.”

There’s no doubt the Bruins were very close to their best in this particular late October game against a Western Conference opponent. David Pastrnak rifled home a one-timer from his customary spot at the face-off circle that went through Jordan Binnington’s pads, and now leads the NHL with 11 goals on the season, and scores in five straight games.

It all makes one wonder how much of a difference maker the electric 23-year-old could have been had his injured thumb not been bothering him last spring during the playoffs. It was clear watching Pastrnak hesitate and whiff on one-timers in the Stanley Cup Final that he wasn’t feeling himself, and was never at his best against a Blues team that also pounded him physically.

His final stat line for the seven game series: Two goals, four points and a gruesome minus-7 in the Stanley Cup Final vs. St. Louis. It almost defies belief that it’s the same Pastrnak we see right now on a clear revenge tour across the NHL.

Anders Bjork added some insurance offense a little later in the second period after he wasn’t an option during last spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs once he had succumbed to a second season-ending shoulder surgery.

Then there was the power play itself, which got four chances and scored on their first possession to set the tone in the game. That was a clear difference than many of the games in the Stanley Cup Final where penalties weren’t called after Blues head coach Craig Berube whined and complained about unfair treatment from the on-ice officials.

There was also Rask, who wasn’t his dominant self in that Game 7 against the Blues when he was outplayed by Binnington and gave up a couple of goals in the first period to effectively help sink the B’s on home ice. On this night he stopped all 26 shots in front of him and played behind a Bruins team playing crisp, mistake-free defense where there weren’t any major gaffes like the one that led to St. Louis goal at the end of the first period in Game 7.

It was a game where the Bruins clearly wanted the result and they got it.

“[Early in the game] it felt like we were back in the playoffs. Good, solid, clean hits and I think as the game went on, it became your typical hockey game. We got the lead, started well, had some good looks early, kept them out of our end, didn’t give up much, and that’s important with St. Louis,” said Cassidy, after watching the exact opposite of what played out in the middle of June’s Game 7 with everything on the line. “I think if you can force them to chase the game a little bit, you’re much better off.

“That’s a general statement, but most teams will play better with the lead, but some teams are really good with the lead, and I think we’re one of them. I think St. Louis is that type of teams that’s just built to play better with the lead than to have to come from behind.”

There was also the physicality. After the Blues pushed and cheap-shotted the Bruins all over the ice in the brutal Stanley Cup Final, the B’s clearly wanted to answer and they did to a degree with Zdeno Chara green-lighting Oskar Sundqvist with a massive hit at the blue line on the very first shift of the game. It was a clean hit to the player that threw one of the dirtiest hits in Stanley Cup Final history when he ran Matt Grzelcyk from behind during last June’s playoff series.

It also clearly didn’t stop Sundqvist from running around as he boarded Connor Clifton later in the game and threw four heavy hits following the punishment from the Bruins captain. That’s a story for another day as there is still some levels of toughness that this current Bruins team doesn’t quite hit while letting players get away with cheap shots against them.

But good for 42-year-old Chara for trying to set the tone early in the game while knowing full well that the Blues got the better of them physically last season.

“We want to play a strong game. Obviously, the hit was there and I took it,” said Chara. “I think it’s important that you play physical throughout the year in certain situations. When those opportunities are there you’ve got to take them.

“We know who we were playing. We wanted to come out strong and have a good performance. I thought we did. We played well and we deserved those two points.”

The Bruins absolutely did deserve those two points on Saturday night as they played an excellent game against the Blues in pretty much every facet. It was a feel-good story on that particular day. But it all also underscored just how epically things went wrong for the Black and Gold in a playoff game little more than four months ago against the same Blues team with everything hanging in the balance for the Bruins.

That’s a bitterness for Bruins fans, players, coaches, management and ownership that wasn’t going to be assuaged by Saturday night’s Stanley Cup Final “rematch” no matter what happened on the ice.

Talking Points: David Pastrnak stays hot vs. Blues>>>

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.

Contact Us