St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons Final Game 3 Vs. Boston Bruins

The St. Louis Blues had all the momentum and good vibes in the world on their side coming out of Game 2. Unfortunately, that has meant very little in this series.

They say there is no momentum in sports and we have seen plenty of examples when that is true and other examples when that is false. For the St. Louis and Boston Bruins, momentum has been about as fleeting as it gets in this still young series.

You would have thought the Blues would have everything going for them to start Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. They had just won an emotional game, winning their first ever finals contest in overtime.

Despite a rousing, physical start to the first period by the Blues, the Bruins chucked momentum aside and reestablish themselves as the dominant team. St. Louis had opportunities, but once they let those slip by, the game seemed to slip with it.

The Blues got an early power play when the house was still jumping and they got some good looks on it too. However, once Boston killed that off, the Blues seemed to lose their way.

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Boston would strike first, scoring on a nice tip on the power play. Unfortunately for St. Louis, the Bruins would score often after that.

The Bruins would end up with the next three goals. It was bad enough the Bruins looked like they would go into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, but then a poor puck clearance and a bad goal given up by Jordan Binnington made it 3-0.

The Blues challenged for offside, which the Bruins player was, but the Blues played the puck into their own zone, negating that and setting up a power play. Boston would quadruple their lead just 41 seconds into the second period.

The Blues showed a little life midway through the second, but struggled to get shots on net. The first Blues goal should have given St. Louis some spark, but that was snuffed out quickly by a Boston power play goal.

From there on out, the Blues seemed more willing to send messaged rather than try to get back into the game. Boston deserves credit for playing a good game, but St. Louis did little to challenge them.

Pros: Hot Start

Similarly to Game 1 of this series, the Blues came out of the gates pretty hot. The only main difference was the Blues were unable to score two goals this time around.

The Blues were jumping, fed mostly by the crowd that had so much pent up emotion you thought the roof might come off the Enterprise Center. They came out and started hitting right away.

The check that got the crowd going the most was Sammy Blais obliterating David Backes. Of course, we will likely have to hear about that hit from Bruins fans, but the fact that Backes had his head low to a smaller player won’t enter into their arguments.

Regardless of that, the Blues had good tempo and were getting pucks deep. They seemed to be cycling things around pretty well, but for some reason they could not get pucks on net with the frequency you would like.

Eventually, the Blues need to turn these emotional starts into actual hot starts. For now, you like the fact they are engaged in those opening minutes.

Cons: Failing To Convert First Power Play

The turning point of this game seemed like something that should have favored the Blues. St. Louis got the first power play of the game, coming off an extended shift in the offensive zone.

The Blues even got multiple shots on goal during their first power play too, which is a rarity. St. Louis had good zone time, overall, but the Bruins also got timely clearances.

Once that kill happened for Boston, the Blues seemed to lose their balance in this game. They were not overly frustrated, but they seemed to get a little antsy.

That allowed the Boston top line to get a couple good shifts under their belt and that’s exactly what the Blues needed to avoid. Boston would take a little bit of time after that kill to get their own power play goal, but the failure to score there seemed to really turn this game.

The Blues finally had some good possession, as mentioned, and got shots. Credit also has to go to the Bruins who have only allowed one power play goal against all postseason long.

That said, if you are the Blues, you have to find a way to convert one of these eventually. St. Louis might be the better team five-on-five, but the game does not stay even for entire games. Eventually, you have to make them pay for going in the box and the Blues just can’t seem to do it.

Cons: Jordan Binnington

Surprisingly, for a Jake Allen fan, this one is hard to write. Jordan Binnington was solid to start the game and made one of the best saves we have seen all playoffs long with a sliding pad/blocker save in the early stages of the game.

Cons: Too Many Dumb Penalties

Much like Game 1, the Blues found themselves in the penalty box way too much. As was the case in that first game too, it did not matter whether you killed off every single penalty or not. The Bruins power play is so quick and efficient, you wear your legs out and disrupt any kind of offense you are trying to establish.

Of course, the Blues did not manage to kill off every single one and that had a big impact on this game. Boston came away with three power play goals in the first two periods alone.

You would like to see Binnington stop the last one, but really there was not much to be done about any of them. The Blues put themselves in those positions and, unlike the Blues, Boston made them pay.

In fact, the Blues failed to kill off any penalty taken that put Boston up by a man. The closest thing to a penalty kill the Blues came up with was playing keep away on a four-on-four play.

Making matters worse was most of these penalties were unnecessary. David Perron once again took an offensive zone penalty. It’s not a realistic solution, but maybe if you fined him every time he took one of those, he might stop. It was a soft penalty and likely a dive, but Perron had no business getting in the guy’s way anyway.

The second power play was one of almost necessity. The Blues needed that third goal to come off the board and Boston had a player offside. Sadly, the challenge was negated by Joel Edmundson playing the puck into his own zone.

The third penalty was a high-sticking call against Colton Parayko. Again, it was sold pretty well by Boston, but it was a penalty. Parayko usually has a cool head and there was no need for him to have his stick up that high.

Pros: St. Louis Blues Fans

You know the game did not go very well when we have to mention the fans as being one of the main positives. Nevertheless, they deserve their due, especially as bad as this game went.

In a 6-2 loss, there was every opportunity for the fans to turn sour and they never truly did. There was heartache, disappointment and frustration to be sure, but the boo birds never managed to come out even as the goals piled up.

The Blues fans did themselves proud when St. Louis made the goaltender change. Blues fans have had a tenuous relationship with Jake Allen, at best, but they gave him a standing ovation when he came on the ice. That had to make him feel good as he had not played a home game since January.

Nobody would have expected Allen to get booed in that scenario. You would not have automatically expected such an ovation, but the fans knew they needed the Snake to try and hold the fort while the Blues tried to come back. It did not happen, but that was a good moment for the fan base.

Also impressive was how loud the building was to start the game. NBC pipes the crowd way down, but you could tell the place was jumping. The pregame festivities were on point and it got this writer choked up with how the crowd sang the national anthem.

Hopefully the fans get rewarded for their efforts in Game 4. There was nothing wrong with the crowd in this one.

Overview

Call me insane, but I am not that down about this game. Just about everything went wrong that could go wrong, but I do not feel incredibly downtrodden because of it.

Boston came and they were ready. They weathered the storm the Blues brought in the first few minutes and then the Bruins made the most of their chances.

Boston did not have that many chances, but they did everything they needed to with it and were frighteningly efficient. They literally went 4-4 on the power play and scored on four shots. That will never happen again. Boston is a great team, but that is an anomaly.

Binngington was not great in this game. Whenever he has not been up to standard, he has found a way to bounce back and play better the next one.

The Blues did not generate enough offense. The stats say they had five more shots than Boston, but there was not enough quality second chances. Boston just had too many bodies in front, so most of the shots were stopped and then there might have been a scramble, but nothing came of it.

St. Louis also had some bad luck. They hit two posts on shots that would have really changed momentum had they gone in, but the bounces did not go their way.

The Bruins earned this win, flat out. The Blues were bad and the Bruins were good. I do not expect that to be the same case in the next game however.

As a team, I fully expect this team to bounce back. The problem was individual performances.

Pietrangelo was terrible clearing the puck again. Edmundson seems clueless in possession and has a hole in his stick whenever he tries to pass more than five feet.

The Blues lost track of players defensively and made far too many mistakes.

All that said, it is one bad game. The Blues have not had two bad games, or at least two bad results, yet in this playoff run. Expect Game 4 to be a lot different. It has to be.