The Bruins’ execution at both ends of the rink was not good and their luck was even worse on Monday night at the Garden. And the result was inevitable.
The St. Louis Blues jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two periods and, despite some late huffing and puffing by the B’s, they cruised to a 5-1 win.
It not only snapped the B’s very modest two-game win streak but it also ended four consecutive games in which they allowed just one regulation goal.
The game had a very Monday feel to it to start the game with less than sparking playmaking from both teams. And the Blues took the lead on a funky bounce at 10:13. From the left point, old friend Torey Krug sent the puck down along the boards but, instead of rimming around behind the net, it somehow bounced directly into the slot to Kaspari Kapanen. With Jeremy Swayman – and everyone else – expecting a different trajectory of the puck, the netminder couldn’t square up to the shooter and Kapanen made it 1–0.
The B’s pushed after that, forcing St. Louis netminder Joel Hofer to make a couple of quality saves before the B’s got themselves in penalty trouble.
They killed the first one off with ease and appeared to be well on their way to killing off the second one, a Charlie Coyle hook, when Trent Frederic high-sticked Brayden Schenn.
That gave the Blues a 58-second 5-on-3, but they would need only nine of them before Robert Thomas hummed a slapper past Swayman’s blocker for the 2–0 lead at 17:59.
The second period started much like the first. The B’s had a couple of one-and-done chances and, when the Blues countered with an opportunity of their own, they made it count. Mason Lohrei went down form his left point position but could not reach the puck and then David Pastrnak could not stop Matthew Kessel’s pass up along the boards in the neutral zone. That allowed Kapanen to slip in on a a 3-on-1. He took it deep and fed Kevin Hayes in the middle to make it 3-0 at 4:31.
But at 11:11, the B’s thought they had some hard-earned luck of their own when the fourth lline – the B’s best line – appeared to get the B’s on the board. Justin Brazeau came out from behind the net and his backhander ramped up off Hofer’s stick, went over the goalie’s head and dropped down behind him. But after a challenge from St. Louis coach Drew Bannister and a lengthy review, it was ruled that Brazeau was offside some 17 seconds – and a lot of work – prior to the goal. There was an argument that Krug had rought the puck back into the zone himself, but that is not how the officials saw it.
If you had the sense that it wasn’t going to the be the Bruins’ night with that turn of events, that notion was hammered home at 15:25 when Hayes cut through slot and was able to feed the puck back across his body for Brandon Saad, who was parked at the right post for the 4-0 goal.
The B’s were booed off the ice to at the end of the second, but they finally did get on the board at 1:48 when Pastrnak’s long-distance slapper beat Hofer.
Though the B’s were pressuring, they were not getting the quality shots on net that they would have liked and coach Jim Montgomery decided to pull Swayman with 8:45 left in the third but, just 12 seconds later Alexey Toropchenko deflected Colton Parayko’s clear and into the empty net.