Bruins ruin Blues homecoming with 7-2 thrashing in Game 3
ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis was ready to celebrate. The Blues didn’t cooperate.
The Blues were the worst team in the NHL for the first part of the season and they were badly overmatched Saturday night in a 7-2 loss that left them trailing the Boston Bruins 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final.
Hosting its first Cup Final game in 49 years, a boisterous crowd that included actors and St. Louis natives Jon Hamm and Jenna Fischer greeted the Blues. But after the Blues outshot the Bruins 6-0 in the six minutes, Boston sucked the energy out of the building with four straight goals, including three in the opening period.
It is a another disappointing performance on home ice for St. Louis, which fell to 5-6 this postseason as the host while boasting an 8-3 road record.
Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a power play goal midway through the first period. Boston scored on all three power plays in the game and improved to 5 for 13 with the man advantage in the series.
Charlie Coyle made it 2-0 late in the first, but the back-breaker was a Sean Kuraly goal at 19:50. The Blues challenged the call and though replay appeared to show Joakim Nordstrom’s skate entering the zone ahead of the puck, the goal stood and the Bruins got a power play, which they converted 41 seconds into the second period to make it 4-0.
Jordan Binnington was pulled for the first time in his career after Torey Krug scored on the power play at 12:12 of the second period. Binnington allowed five goals on 19 shots and was replaced by Jake Allen, who made his first appearance since April 3.
Colton Parayko scored a power play goal at 5:24 of the third, snapping an 0 for 8 with the man advantage for the Blues in the series. But it was far too little, too late as Boston scored twice in the final two minutes to complete the blowout.
