Recap: Bruins stumble in the third as St. Louis ties the series with a 4-2 win

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Things didn’t get off to a great start, as Ryan O’Reilly tucked home a wraparound to give the Blues a 1-0 lead a minute into the game.

A good “take the hit to make the play” by Danton Heinen, a toss on net by Zdeno Chara, and a rebound goal for Charlie Coyle makes it a 1-1 tie.

Four Bruins decide not to bother trying to take the puck from Brayden Schenn, and the sequence ends with Vladimir Tarasenko burying a rebound to make it 2-1 Blues.

An unlucky moment for Zdeno Chara, as the puck rides up and hits him in the mouth. He’d leave the game. He returned to the bench in the third, but didn’t skate a shift.

The Bruins were getting absolutely dominated in the second, then took a penalty to make things worse...OR BETTER. A great play by Brad Marchand, a horrible rebound by Jordan Binnington, and a big goal for Brandon Carlo makes it a 2-2 tie.

Hey, Ryan O’Reilly again! The first goal-scorer becomes the winning goal-scorer when he pots a rebound late in the third to make it 3-2 Blues.

The Blues would add an empty-netter, and we had a 4-2 final.

The series is tied a 2 games apiece, with Game 5 at the Garden on Thursday night.

Game notes

• This is a tough one to digest. The Blues played well...or did the Bruins play poorly? The Bruins got absolutely run over for long stretches of this game, but were very much in it in the third. Carlo’s goal gave them a boost, but they didn’t carry it over into the third.
• The power play, which was immense in Game 3, sunk the Bruins tonight. They were listless, lifeless, fruitless...and any other -less. The B’s had a power play in the middle of the third with the game tied, and barely registered any pressure. Frustrating.
• Hard to put the blame on Rask for this one, though some will for his rebounds. My larger beef is with the Bruins in front of him on the 2nd and 3rd goals: how do you allow a Blues player to waltz right down Broadway and feast on a loose puck? Ugly. Plus, Rask kept the team in the game for large stretches.
• Binnington, who was allegedly Mr. Bounceback, wasn’t very good tonight. At least in Rask’s case, the rebounds he gave up were on hard (and hard to handle) shots. Still, Binnington did enough to win, so there’s some sour grapes in all of this.
• We’re officially at “TAEKS TIMEEEEE” for the Bruins’ top 6. I don’t even know if Patrice Bergeron played tonight. David Pastrnak didn’t do much. Marchand had a good play on the Carlo goal, but didn’t do much else. David Krejci was fighting the puck all night. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
• However, the third line was great. Charlie Coyle continues to impress, and Marcus Johansson had some decent shifts. Heinen will get flak for not scoring, but he’s making decent plays away from the puck to set up his linemates.
• Connor Clifton got to me on that empty-netter. Did it really matter? Eh. Hard to say, as the Bruins weren’t exactly looking super dangerous. But to watch Clifton try to deke his way through center ice with his net empty was infuriating to watch. No offense to Clifton, but he’s not known for his hands. I get trying to make a play like that in the second period or something, but not with the net empty. He’ll learn from it, which is important. Sometimes, with the net empty, you have to make the safe play.
• By the way, the deking mentioned above applies to plenty of guys other than Clifton too. Too many Bruins are trying to make fancy plays when the simple play will do. Part of it tonight was probably just frustration, as they spent long stretches hemmed in their own end. When the offense isn’t working, players try to get too fine.
• The absence of Zdeno Chara was mentioned every 10 seconds by NBC, so it’s important to note that he didn’t play in the third. Did not. Didn’t play. Did not play a shift. Did you hear that?
• The two full days off in between games should be a boost for the Bruins. It’s unlikely that Matt Grzelcyk is ready, but it should give Zdeno Chara some time to rest.
• It was predictable, but after Craig Berube whined about the officiating to the press, the refs let a ton of stuff go tonight. This definitely played in the Blues’ favor, as they were taking runs at anything they could. Still, the Bruins did get chances on the PP eventually, and couldn’t do anything with them.

Back at it on Thursday!