Boston Bruins: St. Louis Blues draw first blood in Stanley Cup Final

The St. Louis Blues have drawn the first blood in the Stanley Cup Final, with Brayden Schenn managing to get one by the Boston Bruins in the opening ten minutes.

In netting the first goal, he has surely given his St. Louis Blues a real confidence boost, especially in a loud and raucous TD Garden. The Boston Bruins introduced members of their 2011 Stanley Cup winning team as tonight’s banner captains and kept the party atmosphere pumping until puck-drop, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Looking at the Boston Bruins play in the early going, they look like they’ve got some jump but aren’t quite all there just yet – it’d definitely seem that the lengthy lay-off between games has played an effect.

In fact, looking at the goal that the St. Louis Blues netted, their first in a Stanley Cup Final in a very long time; it appeared that Charlie McAvoy and the usually unflappable captain Zdeno Chara were caught with a bit of indecision.

That in itself would point to a slight bit of rink rust, especially at game speed. If they were to clear the puck to the boards, whilst there was no guarantee of it leaving the zone, it’s a far less dangerous opportunity.

Likewise, the fact that even prior to the goal, the Boston Bruins had put themselves on the penalty kill, with Sean Kuraly sent for tripping and it’s safe to say that the NHL have done the team no favours with their scheduling of the Stanley Cup Final.

On the positive side, the Boston Bruins did close out the period on the power-play, twice. Unfortunately nothing came of either opportunity, but they certainly are looking plenty hungry out there.

It’s by no means all over yet. Heck, the 2011 Stanley Cup Final series opened with a loss to the Vancouver Canucks; we all know how that series ended up panning out. All hope is not lost – should this game have to be written off as the one where the team find their feet, so be it.

Two more periods remain to play and that’s plenty of time to fight back. If TD Garden maintains its’ volume level, surely that has to spur the team on. Game on, either way – let’s go Bruins!