BOSTON — The Bruins were shut out for the first time this season Tuesday as they fell to the St. Louis Blues in their final game before the NHL’s annual Christmas break.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Robby Fabbri were the goal-scorers for the Blues, who won 2-0 to snap a six-game Bruins point streak.
St. Louis goalie Jake Allen stopped all 32 shots he faced to record his fifth shutout of the season. Tuukka Rask, who had won each of his previous five starts, finished with 27 saves in a losing effort.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
Fabbri fired a shot past Rask to put St. Louis ahead by two goals with 7:02 to play.
After totaling 26 shots on goal in the first and second periods, the Bruins managed just six in the third.
FRENETIC FIRST
The game began with an energetic first period that featured no goals but 24 shots on goal and a bevy of big hits, highlighted by Ryan Reaves’ thunderous knockdown of 6-foot-9 Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara. As the scoreboard suggested, both goalies were dialed in during the first, with Rask stopping all 10 shots sent his way and Allen turning aside 14.
Torey Krug tallied a team-high three shots in the opening frame and also hooked up with Loui Eriksson on Boston’s best scoring chance of the period.
MORE OF THE SAME
That trend continued in the second, with the teams trading quality chances but both goaltenders standing tall. Alexander Steen did beat Rask with a wrist shot from the left circle, but it rang iron.
The level of chippiness also steadily rose, leading to multiple post-whistle shoving matches, and Zac Rinaldo stole the “Hit of the Night” title from Reaves with a booming shoulder-to-shoulder check on Scottie Upshall.
Boston killed off the game’s lone minor penalty — a tripping call on Brett Connolly — with less than five minutes remaining in the period, and the teams remained deadlocked at zero heading into the third.
REAVES VS. RANDELL
In a bout that had been brewing all night, Tyler Randell, Boston’s resident fighter, dropped the gloves with Reaves early in the third period.
Rinaldo was the one who initially accosted Reaves after the latter appeared to hold Krug down on the ice in the area between the benches. But as the two parties squared off, Randell intervened.
Reaves outweighs Randell by close to 25 pounds, but the Bruins rookie held his own, getting in a few shots and ultimately taking Reaves down after being knocked to the ice himself.
TARASENKO TIEBREAKER
Tarasenko finally broke the scoreless tie at the 7:35 mark of the third after taking a feed from Magnus Paajarvi at the blue line. The 24-year-old winger split defensemen Colin Miller and Dennis Seidenberg and beat Rask with a wrist shot.
The goal was the sixth in seven games and the 22nd of the season for Tarasenko, who was held to just one shot on goal in the first two periods. He entered Tuesday one goal behind the Dallas Stars’ Jamie Benn for the NHL lead.
LINEUP NOTES
Rinaldo returned to the lineup after missing three games with an upper body injury. The winger skated on the fourth line in place of Max Talbot, who is serving a two-game suspension for his hit Sunday on New Jersey Devils forward Jiri Tlusty.
UP NEXT
Like the rest of the NHL, the Bruins will have the next three days off. They’ll get back to work Saturday, when Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres visit Causeway Street.
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
