Bruins @ Blues, 04/19/22

    The Boston Bruins snapped St. Louis’ winning streak at nine games, defeating the Blues 3-2 in overtime.  After seeing Boston struggle to get their feet under them for a few games, it was promising to see all four lines play well in front of Jeremy Swayman, who has also begun to find his game again.

Swayman started for Boston following his excellent outing against Pittsburgh where he made 23 stops on 24 shots, his best outing since his shutout against Los Angeles on February 28th.   Linus Ullmark, David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm, and Jesper Froden did not travel with the team, and are therefore unlikely to appear in the next three games for Boston.  The Bruins will return home on April 26th to play the absurdly red hot Florida Panthers. 

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St. Louis struck first while on the man advantage, as several quick passes culminated in a goal from Pavel Buchnevich, his 11th straight game with at least one point.  St. Louis has been an offensive powerhouse lately, scoring four or more goals in twelve straight games.  Boston was unable to beat St. Louis goaltender Ville Husso on eleven shots through the first twenty minutes, none of which came on Boston’s power play opportunity.  The power play scoreless streak would reach twenty-seven by the end of the game.  

1:33 into the second period Jake DeBrusk tied the game, his doorstop second-effort shot going top shelf against Blues goaltender Husso; DeBrusk’s goal was his eighth since the trade deadline.  Halfway through the second period Taylor Hall deflected a Derek Forbort snapshot past Husso for Boston’s first lead of the game, and Hall’s first goal in nine games.  As the period expired, St. Louis tied the game 2-2 as Tarasenko’s seventy foot backhand shot was deflected by Robert Thomas.  The Bruins had attempted to bleed the clock out by pinning the puck to the boards, but St. Louis was able to pry it away and get one more meaningful, and successful, shot on goal with only 2.4 seconds remaining.  Make another notch for Boston’s tally of Goals Allowed In The Last Minute of the Period.  

After a scoreless third period the game was forced into overtime, where Charlie McAvoy ended the game with a wicked wrister from the high slot off a behind-the-net pass from Jake DeBrusk.   

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This was a big win for Boston, coming against a rolling St. Louis Blues team while the Bruins themselves have struggled in recent games.  This makes two wins in a row for Boston, and while they still have some issues to iron out, their play is beginning to regain its edge.  And additionally, this was not a game that St. Louis had any reason to roll over on.  St. Louis is currently fighting for home-ice advantage against their matchups, the Minnesota Wild.  Unlike Boston, who currently has about a 1% chance of securing home-ice advantage per playoffstatus.com, the Blues had a much more concrete need for the two points at hand.  

The power play is still uneventful and unproductive, reaching an abysmal streak of twenty-seven straight scoreless opportunities.  Not much more can be said at this point that hasn’t already been talked to death.  But just to summarize: the Bruins are desperately missing David Pastrnak right now.   

Boston will play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night looking to maintain their newly generated momentum, and repeat their recent and victorious performance against the Penguins.  Four of the Bruins’ remaining six games are against playoff teams, so they can’t exactly beat up lesser opponents to build some confidence going into the playoffs.  Though with the unspoken possibility of seeing their injured players return in the final few games, don’t be surprised to see this still lethal Bruins team end the season with a string of W’s.