BOSTON — The Boston Bruins brought it to the St. Louis Blues for large parts of the first period of Game 7.
Yet, after 20 minutes, the Blues held a 2-0 lead despite just four shots on net.
Tuukka Rask — who should not be the main place of blame for the B’s 4-1 loss — didn’t have much of a play on either Blues goals.
The first was a tipped puck off a point shot that went directly though Rask’s legs. On the second, Rask essentially was put on an island after a horrendous change from the B’s forward group with 10 seconds left in the period. That allowed Alex Pietrangelo to skate into the slot and lift a backhander over Rask’s shoulder.
Rask didn’t have a lot to do for much of the first period, and admittedly was not as sharp as he would have liked to have been in a game-altering first period.
“Well yeah it was tough,” Rask said. “We created a lot of chances and shots and I barely made a save and it was 2-0, so, I really wanted to make one of those saves, didn’t, but we tried to battle back and they’re a tough team to beat when they have the lead.”
It largely resembled Game 5, when the Bruins were held scoreless after bringing it to the Blues in the first, and fell behind early in the second period.
“Yeah, yeah it was kind of the same. Same feel to it,” Rask said. “It was a nightmare for me, obviously. You know, barely didn’t make a save in the first.”
The Blues were 12-4 in the postseason when leading after the first period, on top of the being one of the better road teams in the postseason. And they certainly handed it to the B’s in the closing 40 minutes on Wednesday.
