The St. Louis Blues came into the fourth game of the Stanley Cup Final in desperate need of a win. Not only did they win, but regardless of score, they dominated.
You would think the national pundits would stop doubting the St. Louis Blues. They have only answered the bell every single time and they kept that going with a big win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
St. Louis came out about as well as could be expected. However, the big difference between this one and Game 3 was the Blues managed to get their reward for coming out strong.
This game, much like other games throughout the playoffs, featured a goal within the first 60 seconds. In fact, it only took 43 seconds for the Blues to slide in their first goal on a great wraparound attempt.
The Blues have made a habit of dominating for 10 minute stretches and did so again in this game. Unfortunately, it is after those 10 minutes that the Blues allow the Bruins to get going and it happened again here.
The Bruins tied the game at 13:14 of the first period. It came somewhat against the flow of play, but the Bruins had been building toward it for a couple minutes and then jammed home a rebound.
St. Louis would not be outdone. It only took a little over two minutes for the Blues to answer with a rebound goal of their own. St. Louis held that 2-1 lead for the longest time.
The Blues completely dominated the second period and probably deserved more than what happened. Instead, the Blues had to overcome again as the Bruins managed to pilfer a shorthanded goal.
In past seasons, you could easily have seen that goal crush this team. Even in this playoff run, there have been moments where that kind of goal against would have been the turning point.
Instead, St. Louis managed to brush that off like it was nothing. They came out in the third period and played like it had not happened.
The game-winning goal did not come until the midway point of the third period, but this one looked like the Blues were always going to take it. Boston had their rushes here and there and the puck can bounce in cruel ways, but the Blues got their just rewards for the effort they put into this contest.
Pros: Ryan O’Reilly
Might as well start with the main guy here. The Blues win this game primarily because of Ryan O’Reilly.
Being the kind of player he is, he will deflect all the praise elsewhere and say it is a team game. This was one of, if not the best game O’Reilly has had all playoffs long, not just in the final.
O’Reilly came in with only three postseason goals with the Blues, which is fine. You just expected more, but were willing to let it go because he was doing things elsewhere.
O’Reilly led the offensive charge and got things going right off the hop. Picking up a rebound from an Alex Pietrangelo shot, O’Reilly took it from left to right and stuffed it in off the goaltender’s skate on the wraparound.
O’Reilly also scored the game-winning goal too. Similar to the first goal, Pietrangelo fired a shot in that caught Tuukka Rask up high and O’Reilly was driving to the net and swatted the rebound out of the air to give them a 3-2 lead.
Beyond just the goals, O’Reilly just had a great night. He had a blocked shot, five shots on goal and won 48% of his faceoffs.
His skating was off the charts during this game too. Nobody usually faults O’Reilly’s effort on any night, but he has just faded into the pack too much during the playoffs. We saw how good he is and can be in this game.
O’Reilly, by effort alone, almost had a shorthanded goal of his own. He forced a good save initially with a slap shot and then with one hand, almost knocked in the rebound.
To top it all off, O’Reilly put his name with some rarefied air with his two goals. He is now the 2nd Blue to have multi-goal game in the Stanley Cup Final, joining Red Berenson.
Cons: Power Play/Shorthanded Goal
If the Blues manage to win this thing, and you all know what that means, they will likely go down in history as having one of the worst power plays of anyone to take all four series. Who knows if that part will happen yet, but we do know their power play is just killing them.
Unlike previous games, the Blues actually had good possession and zone time. They managed to cycle the puck well, hold the zone several times and look dangerous.
Looking dangerous and being dangerous are clearly two different things. The Bruins never panicked, kept their cool and just kept funneling pucks away from their net and out of the zone.
You would hope that going 0-3 on the power play would be the extent of the Blues woes. Unfortunately, it got worse.
The Blues seem to be one of the worst teams in the league in terms of giving up shorthanded breaks, if not goals. This time, it was a goal that went in.
Very few can argue this was a bad goal for Jordan Binnington. He made the initial save, but gave up a bad rebound that went right to Brandon Carlo, who left no doubt with the goal.
It is bad enough to not get any man-advantage goals, but giving up a goal, especially when you are up 2-1, is unforgivable. Thankfully the Blues overcame this, because this could have been an absolute killer.
Pros: Vladimir Tarasenko
In the biggest moments, as a fan, you want your best players to step up on that stage. Despite a certain segment always wanting more, Vladimir Tarasenko has done that in these playoffs.
Despite having a goal, Tarasenko did end up a minus-1, but that does not show how hard he worked. Tarasenko, like Brett Hull before him, has become a more complete player in this playoff run.
He fired pucks on the net with frequency, getting six shots on goal. Tarasenko, not normally known for his hitting ability, was also credited with three checks too. The only thing Tarasenko failed to do was get the puck past the goaltender on the power play. He was not to be faulted with the shorty given up though.
What is more, his goal was not a sniper goal. Tarasenko, like O’Reilly, drove to the net because the Blues were getting shots through and the forwards were all looking for those rebounds. Tarasenko found one off another Petro shot and he whacked it home so quick that there was no time to react.
That goal put him up to 11, which continues to build on his career high in the playoffs. The most Tarasenko had before was nine goals, back in the last season the Blues went to the conference finals.
Tarasenko is now in third place in all-time goals for one playoff run. He trails Jaden Schwartz, who currently has 12, and Hull who had 13 back in 1991.
Pros: Second Period Domination And Mental Strength To End The Game
I would be remiss if failing to mention how impressive the Blues were in the second period. St. Louis managed to really put the pedal down for almost the entire period, but it was just minutes before the shorthanded goal that the team impressed the most.
The Blues kept the puck in the Boston zone for so long that some of their players were out on the ice for over three minutes during one shift. St. Louis just kept holding the zone and working it around and they were generating shots too.
The Blues got three line changes on that one foray and wore down the Bruins, who decided never to ice the puck to relieve the pressure. It was such a gut punch to play that well, come up empty and then just minutes later give up the shorty against.
Whether it was the coach or a player or players saying something or just an unsaid understanding, the way the Blues came out in the third was as big a gutsy performance as you will see.
So many teams, including Blues teams of the past, would have buckled under that shorthanded goal. This Blues team managed to not only overcome, but act like it never happened.
St. Louis never really let Boston back into this one. The Bruins had the slightest amount of momentum going their way after that shorthanded goal, but nowhere near what one would expect.
You would have thought Boston would come out of the gate flying in the third period, but it did not happen. That was not because the Bruins failed to hold momentum, but because the Blues stole it back as fast as could be.
St. Louis squashed Boston’s hope in this game with a stifling defensive performance in the third period. The Blues outshot Boston 13-4 in the final frame of this contest.
Again, give credit to whomever you want, but that is top notch mental strength. It is a fine thing to see, especially given how mentally weak this team was early in the year.
Overview
There is no reason to get too high about this game. The series is only tied 2-2.
That said, it was personally satisfying for the Blues to win this game just to quiet those outside the area. Whether it was fans or media, it was somewhat insulting how the discussion was the series being over.
After every Boston win, the talk was about how short this series would be. Instead of just giving the Bruins credit for picking up impressive wins and leaving it at that, all credit was taken away. It honestly felt like Carolina, who actually did get swept, was given more credit and chance to win a game or two than the Blues were.
Thus winning and in convincing fashion was a big blue note stamp on this series. Fans out east can tell themselves the Blues stole an overtime game and maybe squeaked by in this one. The truth is the winning team has dominated each game so far. The final scores have just favored Boston a little because of one bad performance by the Blues.
So, now it is series on. People outside of our own little group can keep counting the Blues out. They seem to thrive on that.
Now, it becomes a best of three. Boston still has home-ice advantage, but the Blues have been here before. The way this is playing out is eerily reminiscent of the conference finals and Blues fans are just hoping it ends the same.
What we do know is there is guaranteed to be one more home game in St. Louis. The question now is whether that will be a potential clinching game for the Blues or for Boston. Game 5 on Thursday will let us know.
St. Louis just has to keep things clean and they’ll have their chance at glory.