St. Louis Blues tie up Stanley Cup Final with dominant Game 2 win

The St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The game went to overtime, but it wasn’t as close as it looked.

The St. Louis Blues dominated Game 2. After the Blues and Boston Bruins traded a pair of goals each in the first period, the Blues locked in and kept pressure on Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask for the better part of the next 42 minutes. The game ended with a 3-2 Blues overtime win, but from the third period on, it wasn’t close.

The Bruins third and fourth lines played well, but they couldn’t get any help from the top end of the lineup in the second or third period. They were down to five defensemen for most of the game  and the Blues took advantage of a tired defense. St. Louis was relentless throughout the entirety of the game and aside from a single decent power play, the Bruins never really had a chance to win.

Rask kept the Bruins alive and sent the game to overtime. Carl Gunnarsson rang a shot off the post with less than two minutes left in the third and would go on to redeem himself about three minutes later in the early stages of overtime when he beat Rask with a similar shot. Gunnarsson’s goal gives the Blues their first ever Stanley Cup Final win.

That stat may seem surprising, but it’s true. In three appearances from 1968-70, the Blues failed to win a single game. On Wednesday night, Carl Gunnarsson made St. Louis Blues history when he gave them their first-ever Stanley Cup Final game win as a franchise. The Blues will have to play at this near-perfect level if they want to build on this momentum and win Game 3 at home.

The Bruins will have two days off to rest and forget about this game. The top line for the Bruins will have to be better in Games 3 and 4 if Boston want to steal home ice advantage back from the Blues. Brad Marchand was very visibly upset through that game. Look for him to have a huge bounce back on Saturday evening.

The Bruins were dealt a crushing blow early on when Oskar Sundqvist ran into the back of Matt Grzelcyk’s head, ending his night and sending him to the hospital. Hopefully this is not a serious injury, but a hospital visit isn’t a great sign for the young Bruins defenseman. Sundqvist will likely be hearing from the Department of Player Safety in the two days’ rest before Game 3 in St. Louis.

Grzelcyk’s status remains unknown at this time.

Bruins fans will be frustrated with this loss. It wasn’t a particularly great game for them, especially after a dominant win in Game 1. No team is better equipped to bounce back with a big road win, though, and Boston will look to do exactly that on Saturday night. If they play their best hockey, they should be able to come back to Boston without having heard “Gloria” once.

This was a best-case scenario for the Blues: win a game in Boston and head home tied up. Fans in St. Louis get two days of celebrating before the Bruins try to avenge this loss. Look for Boston to come out strong in Game 3. If the Bruins can get pucks to Binnington, he’s shown he’s beatable through these first two games. Key word: If. The Blues will look to play a similar style and take the best Bruins players out of the game early. No matter what happens, Game 3 is now extremely important for both teams.

Game 3 takes place in St. Louis on Saturday, June 1 at 8:00 p.m. ET.