Folks! Once again we’ve got ourselves a series! As in their stirring overtime Game 2 win in Boston, the Blues responded to having their doors blown off in a dispiriting loss with a feisty 4–2 win Monday to even things up at two games apiece.
The Blues grabbed the initiative early with a sweet Ryan O’Reilly wraparound goal just 43 seconds into the first period. Boston responded in the period, but the Blues, who out-shot the Bruins 38–23 in the game, needed just over two minutes to strike back:
Boston tied things up in the second period on a shorthanded goal from Brandon Carlo, and seemed poised to take the lead in the third period after Tuukka Rask thwarted a Blues power play and, just as Boston seemed to be revving up into breathtaking max speed, Jay Bouwmeester was hit with a high-sticking penalty. But Boston managed just two shots on the ensuing power play, and the Blues seemed to take a Starman power-up from the stand, dominating the action from that point forward. St. Louis out-shot the Bruins 11–6 the rest of the way, and held Boston to just one shot on goal. St. Louis’s breakthrough came in the 10th minute of the third period, on another beauty from O’Reilly:
The Blues eventually added an empty netter to establish the final margin, on a slick Brayden Schenn takeaway in the neutral zone. The Bruins are terrifying, and even with the Blues forecheck pinning Boston in their own half for huge chunks of the game, this still felt like a game the Bruins would win with a smooth and lightning-quick counter. But hard as it was to accept in realtime, the Blues just objectively played better, and eventually the breaks started to turn their way as a result. The series will now head back to Boston for Game 5 Thursday night.