The Boston Bruins were able to thwart off a persistent St. Louis Blues roster in Sunday night’s Game 6 thanks to an absolutely incredible performance by Tuukka Rask. The Bruins set the tempo early, with a power-play goal coming from Brad Marchand. From there, Rask managed the rest. He kept the Blues at bay for the rest of the game with many, many amazing saves. With the 5-1 win, Boston ties the series at three wins each, forcing the two sides to return to Boston. There, on Wednesday night, the teams will finally decide who the Stanley Cup winner is.
Tuukka Rask’s Tremendous Performance Forces a Game 7
The Boston Wall: Tuukka Rask
Surprising no one, Game 6 was another extremely close game. No team was able to gain much momentum. For every dominant offensive chance the Blues had, Boston was there to match every play. Luckily for Boston, their star goaltender, Tuukka Rask, was again able to thwart off every chance the Blues had.
While Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was certainly solid, Rask was the true difference-maker on Sunday night. The Blues stayed hungry, showing no issue setting up in the Boston zone and hammering Rask with shots. He was up for the task, though, stopping 28 St. Louis shots. While the Bruins defence looked much more admirable than they had in previous games, Rask’s performance was the only thing stopping the Blues offence from putting up very high numbers.
Blues Power Play
Rask’s dominance was able to completely shut down the notoriously poor Blues power play. While on the man-advantage, St. Louis looked better than they had all season. They managed a hefty amount of shots and were able to mount an amazing amount of pressure offensively. The Bruins weren’t able to do much on the penalty kill, simply falling victim to the Blues pressure. They chose to concede their zone to the Blues, confident that Rask would stay strong. Saying he did would be an understatement. The Blues missed many, many opportunities on the power play but the ones they did take advantage of, Rask shut down emphatically. Overall, St. Louis was 0-for-4 on the power play.
Another Tight Contest
For hockey fans who enjoy watching breakaways get thwarted by a back-checking defenseman, this was the perfect game. Many, many fast-breaks were stopped by an errant poke-check coming from seemingly nowhere. Every aspect of the game was virtually the same between the two teams. This includes shot totals. Despite the Blues seemingly dominating puck possession, the Bruins were able to match their shots. In the end, the shot totals were 32 for Boston and 29 for the Blues.
Unlike earlier games, fans can’t blame penalties for the closeness of the game. There were a total of 10 penalties. Of those, four resulted in the Bruins penalty kill coming out. As aforementioned, Rask’s great play meant the Bruins lost little momentum when down a man.
Looking Towards Game 7
Game 7 will undeniably be one of the best Stanley Cup Final games in recent history. Both teams have battled for six games thus far, with neither showing any signs of bending. With Tuukka Rask boasting an amazing Game 6 and the Blues offence staying dominant, there’s no predicting how things will shape up on Wednesday night. One thing is guaranteed, though. Someone will leave TD Garden as the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions.
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