FINAL SCORE: Blues 2, Bruins 1
IN BRIEF: A missed tripping call that resulted in a third-period goal for the Blues ended up being the difference in the Bruins' 2-1 loss in Game 5. They will now travel to St. Louis to keep their Stanley Cup hopes alive in Game 6.
HIGHLIGHTS:
CHARA GETS HUGE OVATION BEFORE THE GAME
DID BARBASHEV GET AWAY WITH DANGEROUS HIT ON JOHANSSON?
RASK MAKES A BIG SAVE IN SCORELESS FIRST PERIOD
BLUES STRIKE FIRST OFF AN IMPRESSIVE PASS
HUGE SAVE BY.... KREJCI?!
B'S NEARLY SCORE BUT SAVE IS UPHELD
MISSED CALL LEADS TO BLUES GOAL AND NEELY ISN'T HAPPY ABOUT IT
ANGRY FANS THROWING TOWELS AND BOTTLES ON THE ICE
BRUINS GET ONE BACK
FROM JOE HAGGERTY
Zdeno Chara wasn’t shying away from contact, was killing penalties with his usual ferocity and looked perfectly fine jumping back into the fray with the broken jaw. The Bruins fans gave him a massive ovation in the starting lineups and there were “Chara” chants breaking out during the first period. He finished with two shots on net four hits, a takeaway and three blocked shot in 12:10 of ice time. He looked like he maybe wasn’t seeing the puck cleanly while handling it and he certainly seemed to be protecting himself at times during contact, but he also was a pretty good version of himself despite playing with a broken jaw.
Boston Bruins
Marcus Johansson drilled with a headshot elbow from Ivan Barbashev with no penalty call on the ice despite a ref standing right in front of the play. Torey Krug taken out by Zach Sanford with another high hit in the second period and once again there wasn’t a call from the referees. At one point Oskar Sundqvist was holding on to Torey Krug’s arm for dear life and held tight for at least four seconds before it led to a Blues scoring chance at the end of the period. Once again no call. It would appear the referees are once again letting the boys play again tonight.
Huge play by David Krejci at the end of the second period to jump into a vacant net and stop a sure goal from Alex Pietrangelo after Tuukka Rask was way out of the crease. Krejci absorbed the shot from Pietrangelo after the Blues had the Bruins hemmed into their own zone, and made a play that was very reminiscent of Michael Ryder in 2011. Now it’s up to the Bruins to make it count just like they did way back in 2011. The only goal of the game through the first 50 minutes was a great no-look Zach Sanford pass to Ryan O’Reilly all alone in front for the backhanded goal.
Bruins get one back when Jake DeBrusk snaps his Stanley Cup Final cold streak with a wrist shot past Jordan Binnington after Torey Krug broke up a play and then withstood a high stick to the face to make a play. But it wasn’t enough as the Blues defense stood tall and Binnington made 38 saves in his best performance of the entire series when St. Louis really needed it. David Perron added a controversial goal scored after a non-call on a trip of Noel Acciari, and that seemed to really be par for the course for how the series has gone. The Bruins did break through with a 5-on-5 goal from DeBrusk, but it still wasn’t enough finished offense to expect to Stanley Cup Final games.
UP NEXT:
Game 6 @St. Louis: Sunday, June 9 at 8 p.m., NBC
Game 7 @Boston*: Wednesday, June 12 at 8 p.m., NBC
*if necessary
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