The St. Louis Blues felt they had no one to blame but themselves after a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden on Monday.
After they took a 2-0 lead 1:00 into the second period, repeated trips to the penalty box and repeated turnovers against the Bruins fore check made for a frustrating final 39 minutes.
As a result, they fell behind in the best-of-7 series, which continues with Game 2 at Boston on Wednesday.
The Blues appeared in control when they converted a turnover by Bruins forward David Pastrnak into a goal from Vladimir Tarasenko that made it 2-0 at 1:00 of the second.
But Boston answered with a goal from defense man Connor Clifton on a 3-on-2 rush 1:16 later to pull within 2-1 and put St. Louis on its heels after that.
The Bruins out shot the Blues 18-3 in the second period and 30-12 in the second and third. The shot attempts were 29-7 for Boston in the second.
The Blues did not help their cause by giving the Bruins four straight powerplays bridging the first and second periods.
They talked before the series about the importance of staying out of the penalty box against the Bruins power play, which was an NHL-best 34 % (17-for-50) in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
NHL / Shoco Sports News 2019.
