BSJ Playoff Report: Blues 3, Bruins 2 (OT) - Grzelcyk injured, top-6 struggles as Blues even series taken at TD Garden (2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

BSJ Playoff Report: Blues 3, Bruins 2 (OT) - Grzelcyk injured, top-6 struggles as Blues even series

By Conor Ryan

May 30, 2019 • 12:56 am

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime loss against the Blues in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

TWO TAKEAWAYS

Bruins deserved to lose that one: At the surface level, Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime victory for the Blues in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final seemed to be playoff hockey at its best: two heavy, hard-nosed clubs slugging it out for over 60 minutes of play before Carl Gunnarsson tallied the game-winner at 3:51 into the extra period.

But Boston shouldn’t — and certainly won’t — find many silver linings in a game that needed an extra four minutes to decide it. For most of the night, Boston was thoroughly dominated — limited to just eight high-danger scoring chances during 5v5 play while failing to cash in on four of its five opportunities on the power play.

While the primary concern postgame falls on the health of Matt Grzelcyk, Boston’s top-six forwards certainly haven’t inspired much confidence either — as both the Bergeron and Krejci lines were outscored, 1-0, and failed to generated a single high-danger scoring chance in a whopping 17:31 of 5v5 TOI together. Not what you want to see in a Cup Final — with Boston squandering a quality chance at building themselves a convincing 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.

The loss of Matt Grzelcyk is going to hurt: The Blues have the personnel to turn a series into a war of attrition, and the Bruins found that out firsthand in the closing minutes of the first period. While looking to retrieve a puck by the end boards, Matt Grzelcyk was caught in a weird angle and was subsequently drilled by Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist — with the blueliner’s head making the first contact with the glass.

Dropping to the ice and clearly shaken up, Grzelcyk eventually needed help getting to the bench and did not return for the rest of the night. Postgame, Bruce Cassidy had no official update on the defenseman’s status, adding that he was sent to the hospital and is still undergoing tests.

While the Bruins have been able to somewhat lessen the loss of Chris Wagner and Kevan Miller thanks to the contributions of Noel Acciari and Connor Clifton, losing Grzelcyk for any extended amount of time is going to be a killer.




Averaging 17:02 of ice time per game this postseason while adding three goals and four assists, Grzelcyk has continued to serve as an impactful and steadying presence on Boston’s bottom D pairing, averaging over a minute per game on both the power play and penalty kill. One of the best skaters in the league when it comes to generating clean breakouts, Grzelcyk was especially missed in the closing minutes of the night — as Boston labored throughout OT when it came to getting the puck out if its zone before
Gunnarsson made the B’s pay.


Boston has insurance on the blue line in both
John Moore
and
Steven Kampfer,
but it will be hard to replicate the unique skillset that Grzelcyk provides if he’s sidelined going forward.


THREE UP


Joakim Nordstrom:
Nordstrom received a well-deserved ovation from the TD Garden crowd on Wednesday night for his gutsy, all-around efforts. Burying his third goal of the postseason (after scoring two regular-season goals in 75 games last year in Carolina), Nordstrom drew most of the applause from the home crowd for his efforts during a four-minute penalty kill.


With Boston hemmed in its zone, Nordstrom skated in front of three shots during a painful shift. After taking one puck off the ankle, he managed to get back on his feet and prevent another puck for getting through to Tuukka Rask. Those are championship-winning shifts.




Charlie Coyle:
That’s some
brutal
PK work from St. Louis, but good on Coyle for making the Blues pay on Boston’s first power play of the evening. Along with his seventh goal of the postseason, Coyle was also the pivot on a third line that led all B’s forward trios in terms of 5v5 scoring chances generated with five over 10:58 of ice time in regulation.




Tuukka Rask:
Rask was far from the problem for the Bruins on Wednesday, stopping 34 of the 37 shots that came his way, while making a pair of fantastic stops before
Vladimir Tarasenko
buried an absurd, second-chance attempt.


THREE DOWN


Brad Marchand:
The top line as a whole once again labored against the Blues’ trio of
Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz
and Tarasenko, but Marchand, in particular, was brutal — starting with the winger taking a bizarre angle on a counter-rush by St. Louis that resulted in a 2-1 (and eventual goal for Tarasenko).




Jordan Binnington


Connor Clifton:
The rookie defenseman deserves plenty of stick taps for coming to the defense of his D partner in Grzelcyk and for trying to match St. Louis’ physicality with a couple heavy checks of his own, but the blueliner was knocked for a couple of poor turnovers in his own zone, while also putting Boston in a tough spot with a double minor in the closing minutes of the second.


Krejci Line:
They might not have been knocked for a goal against, but Boston’s second line didn’t get much going throughout the night, with the combination of David Krejci, David Backes and Jake DeBrusk failing to land a single 5v5 shot on goal in 6:42 of TOI together.


PLAY OF THE GAME




PARTING THOUGHTS


Bruins brought out the big guns for fan banner duties tonight. Along with pregame festivities,
Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels, Ernie Adams
and other Patriots coaches were spotted up in one of the boxes at TD Garden.




Also good to see Belichick give TD Garden anthem singer
Todd Angilly 




LOOKING AHEAD


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