“Tonight it was hard, so I’m happy about that,” Oskar Sundqvist said, and he was talking about a shot, thank goodness. Specifically, teammate Carl Gunnarsson’s OT goal to give the Blues a 3-2 win and knot up the Stanley Cup Final at a game apiece.
Gunnarsson, a stay-at-home third-pairing defenseman, doesn’t have much of a shot. Even, dare I say, a relatively piddly one. His shot is so notably non-fearsome that his teammates have affectionately nicknamed him “Boom Boom,” a moniker he’s fully embraced. But when Gunnarsson blasted a one-timer from the point past Tuukka Rask at 3:51 of overtime for his first career playoff goal in 57 games and his first multi-point game since 2015, it might’ve come as less than a surprise to his coach. In the intermission, Gunnarsson had been warning anyone who’d listen—or at least anyone who was pissin’.
With two minutes left in regulation, Gunnarsson had found iron.
After the third period, Blues coach Craig Berube was standing at a dressing-room urinal, doing what one does there. Up sidled Gunnarsson, in full gear. Gunnarsson’s a bathroom talker, apparently.
“He said he just needed one more shot,” Berube relayed afterward. “I liked hearing it. He hit the post in the third there and he felt good about himself, obviously, which he should have.”
The nature of urinal chat is that there aren’t many witnesses. Berube’s postgame presser was the first time anyone leaked word of Gunnarsson’s pee prediction, and at least one wondered aloud if it was too good to be true.
“You don’t hear that story very often,” Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. “That’s not a place to have a conversation, but I guess it works. It’s a good story. I didn’t know if he was making it up, because it’s a good story.”
Pietrangelo took Berube’s word for it.
“I mean, I wasn’t in there watching,” Pietrangelo quipped.
For the record, Gunnarsson confirmed it. “I can’t deny that. That’s where it happened. That makes it even more fun I guess. It’s a good story.”
It’s a great story, because just a few minutes later, Boom Boom let fly:
It can’t be overstated how desperately the Blues needed that goal. St. Louis had looked absolutely outmatched in Game 1 and the first period of this one, penalty-prone instead of the cleanly physical they were going for, and Jordan Binnington finally looked like a guy who had only been a regular NHL starter for five months. But Boston’s offense stalled and the Blues gradually ground down the Bruins—no doubt helped by Boston only having five defensemen after Matt Grzelcyk was taken to the hospital for tests after a hit along the boards by Oskar Sundqvist.
By the time Gunnarsson hit the post toward the end of regulation, a Blues breakthrough felt inevitable. But the nature of playoff OT is that momentum doesn’t mean much, not when all it takes is a single shot. A Bruins goal would have made the finals feel over. Gunnarsson’s goal made it a series.
And, for those who take the long view, it means the Blues franchise has finally, finally won a Cup finals game. They’re 1-13. Gotta start somewhere. “That’s pretty cool if you think about it that way,” Gunnarsson said. “Pretty sure we’re not going to stop here.”