St. Louis Blues Take Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Beat Bruins 3-2 OT

St. Louis Blues have tied the result in the Stanley Cup Finals series, after defeating Boston Bruins in Game 2. It was a hard-fought OT victory, the first ever for the Blues in the NHL finals.

“That’s just the team we are. We come back like that. We never give up. For me to put it in there and get the winner, it’s a great feeling,” said the hero if this match, Carl Gunnarsson.

The 32-year old defenseman scored the game-winner 3:51 after the start of the overtime, sealing a huge triumph for Craig Berube’s boys. It is more than just a win, because it showed Blues’ players that they could hurt the Bruins, and they can be physical enough to restrain the Eastern conference champs.

Gunnarsson had a chance to clinch this contest during the regular part of the same, but unfortunately for the Blues’ fans his shot struck the post of Tuukka Rask’s goal. Still, he had a feeling that last night was entirely his, and Oskar Sundqvist spoke about that during the press.

“All Gunnarsson said to him (Berube) was, ‘I just need one more chance.’ It’s true, apparently. It worked out.”

The game started furiously and the first period saw both teams scoring two goals.

Boston got the lead with Charlie Coyle netting at 4:44 into the match. A little bit less than five minutes later, Robert Bortuzzo tied the result, with a magnificent goal from the left circle. We are almost positive that he wanted to feed Pat Maroon in front of the slot, but instead, the puck squeezed between Rask and the post hitting the back of the net.

Also, one of the Bruins’ players slightly deflected the puck with his stick, changing its path.

Just 40 seconds after that, Boston was once again ahead. This time Joakim Nordstrom scored, setting the TD Garden on fire. But that too, wasn’t long.

Vladimir Tarasenko leveled the result with 5:05 until the end of the period, using Brand Marchand’s mistake and beating Rask on his own.

After fireworks of goal, things started to be more defensive-minded and pretty rough. Severe hits, and physical style of play were dominant until the end of the game.

But as the match went by, it was apparent that the Blues are starting to feel more and more comfortable. The overtime was an example of a one-sided dominance, as the guests fired four shots towards Rask, who managed to save three, but failed to deny Gunnarsson’s strike.

“It probably wasn’t our best game today,” the fantastic Bruins’ goalie stated at the press.

And really, for the first time after a long time his team was in retreat, and a bit helpless on the ice. It wasn’t anything big time, but they were vulnerable and without a solution on how to handle that.

After eight straight victories, this was Boston’s first loss. And it came at home, which makes it even more painful.

On the other side, the Blues recorded their first win in the finals, after 13 straight failures. It was a reason for their fans to stay late and celebrate.

It’s exciting for everybody, the whole city of St. Louis, anybody who has been a Blues fan for a long time,” said Colton Parayko.

St. Louis is already in euphoria before Game 3. The series is now moving to the Enterprise Center. Bruins will have a tough job of regaining the home-ice advantage, especially because of the momentum and the motivation Berube’s team has right now.

Still, they won’t go to Missouri waving a white flag, and that will make this event super-exciting to watch.

Game 3 is on this Saturday, 8 pm Eastern time.