(Reuters) – The Boston Bruins routed the St. Louis Blues 7-2 on Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Jun 1, 2019; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) chases the puck between Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (47) and center Patrice Bergeron (37) in the third period in game three of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins scored three first-period goals to seize control of Game Three in St Louis, Patrice Bergeron netting on a power-play at 10:47 before Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly followed up to give the visitors a comfortable lead.
St Louis was hosting a Stanley Cup Finals game for the first time in 49 years but they had little time to savor the moment before the Bruins raced to a 2-1 best-of-series win.
David Pastrnak converted another power play just 41 seconds into the second period to give Boston a 4-0 advantage.
“We’ve played in some loud buildings this playoffs, and to be honest for me it’s kind of motivation,” Pastrnak told reporters. “We were really excited. The first period was a big start for us, and we had big goals.”
The Blues came out of their daze in the second and got on the board when Ivan Barbashev netted a goal but the visitors would not back off.
Boston’s Torey Krug pushed the advantage to 5-1 at 12:12 in the second and became the first Boston player to record four points in a Stanley Cup game.
Bergeron added two assists for the Bruins.
“We simplified our game and took what was there,” Bergeron said. “We’ll definitely take it, but we have to move on to Game Four.”
Colton Parayko scored for St. Louis in the third where Noel Acciari and Marcus Johansson padded goals in the final two minutes.
Boston shook off the disappointing overtime defeat in Game Two on Wednesday and feasted on the power play where they were 4-for-4.
St. Louis, on the other hand, is just 1-for-10 on power play opportunities for the series.
“We do have to limit the penalties for sure. We know they have a dangerous power play,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “We’ve been flirting with it all series, and they burned us tonight.”
Boston’s veteran goaltender goaltender Tuukka Rask made 27 saves to get the best of St. Louis rookie Jordan Binnington who allowed five of the scores.
Game Four is also in St Louis on Monday.
Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Sudipto Ganguly