Tuukka Rask stopped all 26 shots he faced, David Pastrnak extended his goal streak to five games and the Boston Bruins beat the visiting St. Louis Blues 3-0 Saturday night in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final.
Rask picked up his second shutout of the season as the Bruins got revenge in the same building where they lost a decisive Game 7 to the Blues in June. Pastrnak’s goal was his ninth during his streak, and Anders Bjork also scored in Boston’s second straight victory.
Brandon Carlo added an empty-netter for Boston with 49 seconds left.
Jordan Binnington had 21 saves for St. Louis, which had a two-game winning streak end.
The game was testy from the start, Boston captain Zdeno Chara laying out St. Louis’ Oskar Sundqvist with a hit 38 seconds in. Brayden Schenn stepped in, and he and Chara went off for offsetting roughing penalties.
Perhaps a motivator was that Sundqvist was suspended a game during the Stanley Cup Final for a dangerous hit from behind on Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
Boston’s Torey Krug and St. Louis’ David Perron would get tangled up at 6:13 of the period, resulting in another pair of offsetting penalties.
With Perron back in the box for holding later in the first, Pastrnak connected on a one-timer that trickled past Binnington after the goaltender got a piece for a 1-0 Bruins lead at 14:59. Brad Marchand assisted to extend his points streak to nine games, while Pastrnak has points in eight straight.
The Bruins have also scored power-play goals in six consecutive contests.
Boston doubled its lead at 9:31 of the second period when Bjork took advantage of a 3-on-2 to one-time a shot into the top of the net and end a 17-game goalless drought. Grzelcyk and Danton Heinen assisted.
Rask survived a hectic St. Louis power play midway through the second to preserve his clean sheet. The Blues went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
St. Louis played without forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who is out at least through Sunday’s game at Detroit with an upper-body injury sustained Thursday.
–Field Level Media
