Sixty minutes wasn’t enough to define Game 2 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
After outshooting the Bruins, 33-23 in regulation, the Blues made sure their extra chances went for naught in overtime, skating away from Boston with a 3-2 win and evening up the Final at a game apiece.
Carl Gunnarsson scored 3:51 into overtime just as the Blues were about to go on the power play.
Charlie Coyle and Joakim Nordstrom scored the lone goals for Boston, both in the first period.
Coyle scored on the power play 4:44 into the first, left all alone in the slot on a feed from Jake DeBrusk.
Caught in their defensive zone for nearly 45 seconds, the Bruins rued their missed chances to clear after Robert Bortuzzo found a lane off the right-wing half wall to tie the game at 9:37 of the first. Rask was well-screened on the play and had virtually no chance to slide back to defend the near post.
These are the Bruins, of course, and a response came quick -- just 40 seconds later. Sean Kuraly ignited Boston’s forecheck as St. Louis failed to clear its own zone as well, dialing up Joakim Noah uncovered, who beat Jordan Binnington five-hole for his third goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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The Blues tied the game at 2-apiece after Zdeno Chara got caught one-on-one with Jayden Schwartz, who beat Chara to give himself a solid shooting lane, where he was robbed by Rask, but Vladimir Tarasenko came crashing down from behind to bury the loose puck and pull St. Louis even at 14:55 of the first.
St. Louis outshot Boston, 10-8, in the first period.
Neither team scored in the second, during which time the Blues outshout the Bruins, 14-4, although Boston came out of it with just a touch of momentum. Connor Clifton received a double-minor penalty for high sticking at 15:39, giving St. Louis what should have been 4 minutes of power play time.
While the Blues had plenty of zone time, they watched Nordstrom do his best Gregory Campbell impression circa 2013, continuing to skate around the defensive zone while clearly injured. To add to his growing legend, Nordstrom proceeded to block a shot off the stick of the sniper Tarasenko.
Ultimately, the power play was nullified when Schwartz went crashing into Rask for the second goalie interference call of the game against the Blues.
Clifton nearly sprung a chance for the Bruins once out of the box, but nothing came of it for Boston on the man advantage, leaving the game tied at 2-2 just as it was in Game 1 through 40 minutes.
The Bruins squandered a power play chance which began with 6:18 left in the third period, only able to get one low-leverage shot on Binnington. Carl Gunnarsson hit a post with just over 2 minutes left in regulation, while both David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand were denied by Binnington in the final minute of regulation.
Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was injured on a hit from Oskar Sundqvist in the first period and did not return. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game that Grzelcyk went to the hospital but offered no further update.
Game 3 of the series is on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in St. Louis.
