Boston Bruins: 5 keys to victory in Game 5 against St. Louis Blues
With the Stanley Cup Final tied at two games against the St. Louis Blues, the Boston Bruins take the series back to Boston for Game 5. No team has won or lost consecutive games in the final so far and the Bruins wants to give their home crowd a victory to cheer for.
The Stanley Cup Final may be tied, but after a Game 4 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Boston Bruins seem pretty close to having their backs against the wall. While the series shifting back home to TD Garden is a welcome change for the Bruins, it really is a must-win game for them.
The Blues want nothing more than to steal Game 5 on the road and raise the Stanley Cup at home after game six as “Gloria” blasts full volume in the background. St. Louis has been strong on the road this postseason, so the Bruins need to watch out for that.
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Boston’s first loss in this cup final was an overtime loss in Game 2. Although the Blues dominated in overtime before Carl Gunnarsson scored, that game was more of an even matchup than GAme 4.
The Bruins were stunned to see roles reversed as St. Louis overpowered them with a physical game which Boston wasn’t entirely ready for. In order to make their home crowd happy with a game five victory, there are some steps the Bruins are going to have to take.
Get Over The Loss Of Zdeno Chara
Longtime Bruins captain Zdeno Chara left Game 4 with an injury after taking a puck to the mouth off a Brayden Schenn shot. Chara’s availability for Game 5 was immediately in question, but amidst reports that he suffered a broken jaw, the possibility of his return at all during this Stanley Cup final seems especially bleak.
It was also announced Wednesday morning that 20-year-old rookie defenseman Urho Vaakanainen would be Chara’s replacement. Never heard of him? You’re not the only one.
Vaakanainen has huge shoes to fill, and that’s not just because Chara’s a large human being. The Bruins captain might not be the dominant defenseman he was during the Bruins’ 2011 and 2013 cup runs, but the 42-year-old has posted over 24 minutes of ice time in the two games this series where he was healthy.
While the Bruins may be able to survive on the ice without him, losing their captain is going to be a huge blow to their moral. Chara is extremely dedicated to his team, even so much as returning to the bench in game four injured just to cheer them on. Expect spirits to be low when the lineup card doesn’t have Zdeno Chara’s name on it.
Generate Offense
The oldest excuse in the book after a team loses is “we have to score more goals”. While Boston’s offense wasn’t exactly nonexistent during game four, they were a far cry from the Bruins team that sent seven pucks into St. Louis’s goal crease a game earlier.
While the Blues margin of victory being two goals, including an empty netter, might not be too much cause of concern the final shot totals paint a different picture. Boston was outshot 38 to 23 throughout sixty minutes. Even if you’re not good at math, that’s an almost 2 to 1 ratio.
Part of Boston’s dominance throughout the playoffs has come from their balanced scoring attack, with goals coming from the unlikely suspects of players such as Brandon Carlo and Sean Kuraly. While Carlo was able to add a huge shorthanded goal in game four, the rest of the Bruins’ offense, minus a first-period goal from Charlie Coyle, seemed to take the night off.
The lack of offensive production from this Boston team seems like a rare occurrence that’s very unlikely to happen again. If it doesn’t, expect the Blues to take full advantage and replicate their performance from game four. That’s everything St. Louis fans would hope for.
Help Out Rask
By a wide margin, goaltender Tuukka Rask was Boston’s best player from the game four loss. That’s was nothing new for the netminder, who has single-handedly carried this Bruins team at points during these Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Rask finished the game with a .919 save percentage, including stopping all shots on the power play, so St. Louis never capitalized on the man advantage.
No matter how many goals Rask stops, it means nothing if his team can’t help him out with some offensive support. One stat from the Blues overpowering victory that did happen to go Boston’s way was the blocked shot total, which Boston held a 15-7 advantage.
Rask is getting help on the defense, and he needs it because of the workload these entire playoffs have given him. His efforts will be for nothing if his offense can’t find a way to get the go-ahead goal versus Jordan Binnington.
Solve Jordan Binnington
In Game 3, the rookie sensation that propelled St. Louis this far saw a short little detour in his Cinderella story when Binnington was pulled after allowing five goals on 19 shots. It was the first time Binnington has been pulled from a start in his short NHL career.
If anything, it seemed more like a mercy pull rather than an actual reason for St. Louis’s defeat. Unfortunately for Boston, they hadn’t heard the last of Binnington, who has been outstanding this postseason after a loss.
Just like how Martin Jones of the Sharks reinvigorated his game after being pulled in the first round against the Vegas Golden Knights, Binnington enters Game 5 as the starter and found new life.
Game 3 was nothing but a distant memory as he stopped all but two Boston shots and reclaimed his form that helped propel St. Louis to the playoffs. Being pulled may have been just the thing Binnington needed to concentrate and find his game. If his confidence and play continue over into Game 5, the Blues have another fighting chance.
Binnington has been the model of consistency with his half season with the Blues. All reasoning seems that his poor Game 3 performance was a one-off incident unlikely to be repeated. Boston may have been able to run Binnington out of the crease once, and they deserve credit for doing what no other NHL team could do, but they shouldn’t count on it happening again.
Home Crowd
So far, with the series tied, each team has won one home game and lost one home game. While it may not seem much when only looking at the Stanley Cup final, the Bruins have won seven out of 11 home games so far in this Stanley Cup Playoffs. The sample size of home games versus St. Louis might be small, but the odds are clearly in Boston’s favor.
If there’s any silver lining to losing Chara, it’s that their first game without him is going to be in front of a home crowd. If anyone can help the Bruins get over the loss of their captain, it’s a sellout crowd of 17,000 at the TD Garden.
Even though Game 5 isn’t a “must win” for the Bruins that can result in a cup clinching scenario, if they lose they run the risk of not playing a game in front of a Boston crowd again until next season. If they win Game 5 and clinch the series in St. Louis, well their fans would probably forgive them.
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The Bruins, though, have their work cut out for them. Having the home-ice advantage means a lot in the postseason. However, someone forgot to tell that to the Blues, who have been very impressive on the road during the playoffs.