BSJ Game Report: Blues 2, Bruins 1 - Coyle line impresses, but B’s fall in shootout taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

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BSJ Game Report: Blues 2, Bruins 1 - Coyle line impresses, but B’s fall in shootout

By Conor Ryan

Feb 23, 2019 • 8:32 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-1 shootout loss against the St. Louis Blues in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis…

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

B’s close out road trip with nine of 10 points: Given the miles logged on this five-game road trip — with three of those matchups against playoff clubs — the first period of Saturday’s matchup against the Blues seemed inevitable for the Bruins. In what was a lethargic opening frame for Boston, a strong outing from Tuukka Rask was the only thing stopping the red-hot Blues for entering the first intermission with a two or three-goal cushion, with St. Louis generating four high-danger scoring chances in the period.

As the game progressed, however, the Bruins managed to get their legs back under them, as the ice started to tilt more and more in favor of Boston in the second and third periods. Over the final two stanzas, Boston held a 30-14 edge in attempts and a 22-10 advantage in shots on goal — with Chris Wagner’s ninth goal of the season forcing overtime.

It wasn’t the finish that Boston was looking for in the shootout, but the B’s have to be happy with taking nine out of a possible 10 points on this road — including the first three-game sweep in California in franchise history. Now, it's back to TD Garden — with two huge matchups against the Sharks and Lightning. 

Coyle provides lift to third line: He didn’t land a shot on goal in his Bruins debut, but it was easy to spot the lift that Charlie Coyle provided on that third line Saturday. After that often maligned line only managed to generate one high-danger look so far on the road trip, the new trio of Coyle, David Backes and Peter Cehlarik generated three high-danger scoring chances and out-attempted the Blues, 14-7, over 9:39 of 5v5 TOI. Add in a strong performance from Backes (five shots on goal over 13:20 TOI), and for the first time in a while, that third line looked like an actual plus for the B’s on the box score.

THREE UP

Chris Wagner: Wagner is proving more and more to be a great signing by Don Sweeney this offseason, as the winger buried his third goal of the road trip at 5:12 in the second. During 9:42 of 5v5 TOI in which Wagner was out on the ice, Boston held a 6-3 edge in scoring chances against St. Louis.




Tuukka Rask:
This game could have gotten out of hand in a hurry if not for Rask, who stopped 28 of the 29 shots that came his way in the shootout loss, including a number of highlight-reel stops in overtime — including a point-break denial against
Vladimir Tarasenko.
Despite coming up short, Rask improved to 12-0-3 with a .930 save percentage over his last 15 games.


Penalty kill:
Despite having some dangerous weapons up front in Tarasenko and
Ryan O'Reilly,
the Blues power play labored all night against Boston’s penalty kill — going 0 for 4 with just four shots on goal over a span of 7:13 TOI. Special nod to Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari, who were only out on the ice for one shot on goal over 2:46 and 2:33 4v5 TOI, respectively. 


TWO DOWN


Peter Cehlarik:
While the Coyle line as a whole impressed on Saturday, they still finished with a minus-1 on the night, as a costly turnover by Cehlarik was intercepted at center ice during a sluggish line change — giving the Blues a chance to rush down the ice and finish the sequence with a wrister goal by
Alexander Steen
.




Torey Krug:
Not the best night from Krug, who had a couple of costly turnovers in the defensive zone and wiped out a Bruins power play with a tripping call against
Ivan Barbashev
in the final minute of the first period. To make matters worse, Krug exited the game in the final minutes of the third period due to a lower-body injury. However,
Bruce Cassidy
noted that taking Krug out of the game was more of a precaution than anything else — and does not believe that it’s serious.


PLAY OF THE GAME


Some nifty mitts from Coyle during the third round of the shootout, beating Jordan Binnington to force extra rounds of the final stanza.




PARTING THOUGHT


Tough break for St. Louis native
Trent Frederic,
who was sent down to Providence just before his homecoming game. However, way to make the most of the situation with this classy gesture.




LOOKING AHEAD


After 11 games on the road, the Bruins will finally return to TD Garden for a matchup against the Sharks on Tuesday — in what will be the first outing for Boston since the NHL Trade Deadline. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m against the Sharks — who had a

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