Bruins Beat Blues, but Don’t Call It a Rematch

(Photo: Alan Sullivan)

Yes, it was the first time that the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues took to the ice in competition since the Blues won the Stanley Cup four months ago on the TD Garden ice. The media wanted a playoff rematch. The fans wanted it. Blues fans throughout the game were tweeting about remembrances of raising the Cup or dismissing the Bruins lead in the game as not that important. The Bruins fans were taking delight in Tuukka Rask’s ability to shutout the Stanley Cup Champions.

That’s one of the greatest things about hockey. With the new season, the climb to the top begins anew. Every team that can beat the Blues this season will enjoy it a little more. But the most important takeaway for either of the teams Saturday night was to get a win and the all important two points. With the parity of the NHL, every point won means a better chance of going to the playoffs. And every point lost could mean a mad scramble attempt to push for a wild card spot as the season is winding down in April.

There were differences for both teams’ rosters. For the Bruins, the ongoing absence of David Krejci has opened up a spot for Anders Bjork, as Charlie Coyle has been moved into Krejci’s center spot and Brett Ritchie moved up to the right wing on that second line. Meanwhile Bjork has been slotted at left wing on the third line with Par Lindholm at center and Danton Heinen moved from the left to the right wing. For the Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko didn’t play Saturday night and the Blues had added Justin Faulk via trade in the offseason. The Blues also no longer have Pat Maroon.

Yes, there was a lot of physicality in the opening few minutes. Zdeno Chara’s massive hit on Oskar Sundqvist 32 seconds into the game sent a message from the Bruins captain to his team that they would play hard and force the Blues to earn their space on the ice. There were hits from both sides in the first period and twice the teams played four-on-four in the first seven minutes.

Boston was able to capitalize on their first power play, as David Pastrnak continued his scoring streak, earning his 11th goal of the season and extending his point streak to 11 goals and 7 assists for 18 points in eight games. Meanwhile, the Blues were unable to find the back of the net during their four power play opportunities, despite having spent almost 1:50 of their third man advantage in the Bruins end.

While Pastrnak scored on the one-timer from the right circle on the power play in the first period, Bjork’s one-timer from the left circle, off the pass from Matt Grzelcyk, in the middle of the second period definitely was an important moment in the game. Adding that even-strength goal was not only an important moment for Bjork, who ended his NHL 19-game scoring drought, but the reaction on the bench spoke not only to their happiness for Bjork, but a sense of conviction that they were going to continue to instill their will in the game.

“We talked [this morning] about our D getting involved. That’s a good example of when your D can join the rush as a second layer when you have a good breakout and it’s clean and that allows them to make some plays. And Anders, that was a bomb. It was a good shot. It’s something I don’t know if he had a couple of years ago, that one-timer. I thought he was good hunting pucks; I thought he was good on the walls. He got stripped a couple times in the D zone by heavy teams, so that’s the education part for him now. He’s against men every night, especially a team like that, but I thought he held his own,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.

For Bjork, who had some tough times the past two seasons with injuries, it was clear that his time down in Providence to start this season was a good move. His ability to score while with the Providence Bruins undoubtedly gave him some confidence that helped him in Saturday night’s game.

And when the Bruins weren’t putting pucks on net—which happened for stretches in the second and third periods—Rask was tracking the puck and denying chances that the Blues did get.

Sure, there are some games that are circled on the calendar, and this was likely one of them, but in the end neither team talked about it being a rematch, Instead the Blues talked about needing to fix their mistakes and not giving up a valuable two points. The Bruins were pleased with some of their efforts, but also recognized some areas in which they too could improve.

Likewise, both teams need to put this game behind them as the Blues will be in Detroit on Sunday to play the struggling Red Wings at 5:00pm ET and the Bruins head to the Big Apple to take on the New York Rangers on Sunday evening at 7:00pm ET. Both teams are focused on the next game and won’t even think about each other again until the Bruins travel to St. Louis in April.