It took them 4 straight tries, but your Boston Bruins finally got the job done in overtime as they handed the St. Louis Blues just their 2nd OTL on the season. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the B’s current road trip has been an exercise in extra-hockey futility. First it was a shootout loss at COL, followed up by an OTL in ARZ where Linus Ullmark went down (reports this morning are that he avoided a major injury), then a visit to old friend Butch Cassidy and yep, you guessed it, another OTL in Vegas. Something had to give right? Something had to change, this can’t keep going the same way. Right … right? Luckily for the Bruins, they were rolling into the most vanilla building in the NHL’s Original 32 when they visited the St. Louis Blues last night.
I mean, don’t go throwing a parade just yet, as STL might be the most hockey equivalent of “mid” that I’ve ever seen. To be honest I don’t know how they are in still sight of the Central Division leaders (I mean 16 points out of the1st isn’t really in sight, but why split hairs). Their “superstars” are Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas, you remember these guys right? They signed cutesy matching contracts and have underperformed together. Nothing like overpaying 2 forwards at the same time to cripple your teams’ future. These 2 make Mika and Kreider look tough. I guess you could overpay for a “power play specialist” and give him top-4 minutes? That would cripple your cap position to I guess, but who’d be stupid enough to do that?
The Blues should have a goalie controversy, but neither of them are very good to be honest. Joel Hofer is 7-7 with a 2.87GAA and a .908% while Jordan Bennington is currently 14-11-2 with a 3.04GAA and a .906%. Like I said, mid. When you watch the team play, it’s no wonder that Binnington fancies himself a tough guy. This team is 10-ply from top to bottom. Binnington HAS to be the tough guy on this squad of puppy poo (at least when he has his stick in his hand or when an official is holding him back).
I mean STL only tops the charts in murder rate. They have a giant arch as their tourist attraction? Maybe they’ll work on other shapes in the future? Look up things to do in St. Louis and they talk about their toasted raviolis and to try and not get murdered. Sound advice I guess, either slowly clog your arteries or take your chances with gun violence.
I mean at last night’s game, they handed out yearbooks. Yearbooks? Make sure you sign mine Suzy and then I’ll sign yours. I’m not joking, (although I wish I was).
The Bruins played down to STL for much of this game but got it going when it mattered as Brad Marchand (finally) notched his 900th career point, becoming the 5th Bruin in history to reach that milestone. By the way, that would have made him 3rd all time in STL history, with 4th place being almost 300pts in the rear mirror.
STL tied it up and the teams headed into the first intermission knotted. That’s when Charlie McAvoy entered the chat. McAvoy was great tonight defensively and as you’ll see, not too shabby in the offensive zone. I love Binnington’s statue-style goaltending. He really lulls the other team to sleep with his non-reactions.
STL tied it back up and the teams entered the final frame knotted again. On a power play, The Captain put the B’s ahead again, and this time with authority as he tried to put the puck through the back of the net. Again, Binnington was woefully out of position, maybe he thought he saw Kadri in the stands and was looking to throw something at him? Whatever it was, he def wasn’t tracking the puck.
The Blues got one back on a late power play, lotta gift penalties for the home team in this one, and the two sides were headed for overtime. In the brightest lights, the biggest stars step up and shine the brightest – Chuckie Bright Lights is built for the big stage and he didn’t disappoint.
If you watch the beginning of the video you can see what $8.5M tripping over the red line looks like. The Bruins head home for a matinee against the NJD tomorrow before welcoming in COL for Thursday. It’s not a goalie hug, but a Lauko-hug is pretty sweet.
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The Morning Skate 