Boston Bruins shake off early rust, swarm Blues for Game 1 win

Boston stormed back from down 2-0 to the St. Louis Blues with four consecutive goals to win Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

The opening game of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues did not disappoint, treating fans to a back-and-forth game to set the tone for what should be an outstanding series.

The Bruins defeated the Blues 4-2, overcoming a 2-0 deficit and some rust from their 11-day layoff with four straight goals. The victory not only gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the series, but also gave them their eighth-consecutive playoff win.

St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn got the party started with the first goal of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, recording his third goal of the postseason.

Vladamir Tarasenko extended the Blues lead to 2-0 early in the second period with his ninth goal of the postseason, extending his point streak to seven games.

That would be the end of positives for the Blues for the rest of the night however, as the Bruins would take them to task for the remainder of the game, starting with Connor Clifton’s second goal of the playoffs off an incredibly fortunate bounce that turned the game in the Bruins favor, just a minute and 16 seconds after Tarasenko’s goal.

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Charlie McAvoy would later march right up the middle of the ice to pot a powerplay goal, tying the game at 2-2.

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After even more domination from the Bruins, Sean Kuraly recorded what hold up as the game winning goal, giving the Bruins their third consecutive goal and their first lead of the game.

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Brad Marchand would eventually record the empty net dagger with 1:49 to go in the game, putting the game out of reach, and giving the Bruins a 1-0 series lead.

Since 1939, the team that has won Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final has gone on to win the Stanley Cup 77.2% of the time, so plenty was on the line tonight as the series got started.

The Bruins entered well-rested after a sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. In their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 2013, the Bruins would look to get Boston one step closer to its third championship since November, following the example of the Red Sox and Patriots.

The Blues, on the other hand, are searching for their first-ever win in the Stanley Cup Final. Their last appearance was in 1970, when they were swept by the Bruins. After taking down the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final, they had momentum on their side heading into Game 1 against Boston.

The Bruins outshot the Blues 38-20 over the course of the game. After looking rusty out of the gate and letting Blues control play early on, the Bruins stormed back. They outshot St. Louis 18-3 in the second period and 30-12 in the final two periods.

The Bruins overcoming a 2-0 deficit marked the first time since 2014 that a team had a overcome a multi-goal deficit to win a Stanley Cup Final game, the last coming in Game 2 of the 2014 Final when the Kings overcame 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to win 5-4 in double overtime.

With the win in Game 1, the Bruins extended their winning streak to eight games, their last loss coming in Game 3 of the second round to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Apr. 30. If the Bruins win Game 2 of the series on May 29, the Bruins will successfully go an entire month without a single loss in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Blues have been a resilient group all postseason long, and will need to find a response to the Bruins utter domination in the final half of Game 1. They took control of the game early on, but couldn’t find a response to the Bruins finding their game. Game 2 will have to feature a 60 minutes of the Blues playing their own game, and not trying to respond to the Bruins.

Game 2 of the series will take place on Wednesday, May 29 at TD Garden in Boston. The Bruins will look to take a 2-0 series lead, while the Blues will try to tie the series at 1-1 before taking the series back home to St. Louis for games three and four.