Stanley Cup Final Betting – St. Louis Blues at Boston Bruins Game 5
Just like they did during the regular season and through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the St. Louis Blues bounced back in a big way. It wasn’t a must-win scenario, but it certainly felt like it after the Blues dropped Game 3, 7-2.
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St. Louis picked up its first ever Cup Final home win and squared the series at 2-2 with a typical grind-it-out effort leading to a 4-2 advantage, reducing the series to the best-of-three. The pivotal Game 5 takes place inside the Garden on Thursday.
St. Louis Blues at Boston Bruins Game 5
Date and Time: Thursday, June 6, 2019, 8 p.m. ET
Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Opening Odds: Boston -155, St. Louis +135, O/U 5.5
Blues at Bruins TV Coverage: NBC
Odds Analysis
It was the kind of effort that got the Blues into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and to the final. In a word, Craig Berube called it “relentless.” And it was big for a number of reasons. The obvious, of course, is that the 4-2 win evened the series. But it also gave St. Louis some momentum after struggling at home during the postseason. The Blues were just 5-6 at the Enterprise Center entering Saturday’s game and had been outscored 34-29. They’ve been far superior on the road where they’ve gone 8-3 while outscoring opponents 35-27.
The Bruins were the favorite in the series and that was the obvious pick by oddsmakers. But after losing Game 4 and watching hulking defenseman Zdeno Chara go down with what some reports are calling a broken jaw, the entire dynamic of the series has changed. Boston likes to open things up and Chara’s presence at nearly 22 minutes per game helps create space for the more gifted offensive players. After Chara went down in Game 3, the Bruins were outshot 13-4 and ceded the eventual game-winning goal around the halfway point of the third.
Blues
Again, credit the Blues with a resilient performance. For what he’s done with this group since taking over in November, Berube should win the Jack Adams Award. The Blues were dead last in the league in points in early January before going on their monumental run. And they play the game just like Berube did, though they don’t take as many penalties. The heavy forecheck and constant pounding wore down San Jose in the Western Conference Final and the Blues had a chance to play their game on Saturday.
St. Louis got some much needed offense from Ryan O’Reilly, who ended an eight-game goal scoring drought by with a pair in Game 4. And the fourth line of Oskar Sundqvist, Alexander Steen and Ivan Barbashev did a masterful job marking Boston’s snipers. The Blues also got a strong performance from Jordan Binnington in net stopping 21 of 23 shots after getting yanked in the second period of the previous game.
Bruins
Now it’s time for the Bruins to respond and they may have to attempt it without the services of their captain, who took a puck to the face in the second period of Game 4 and never returned to the ice. Boston is a deep enough team to overcome the loss of Chara and they could get a lift from the return of Matt Grzelcyk, who missed the last two full games with a concussion.
Tuuka Rask will be back in net after giving up three goals for just the seventh time this postseason. After surrendering a total of five in the sweep of Carolina in the East Final, Rask has been touched for three goals in two of the last three games and has a goals against average of nearly 2.50. That’s a marked increase from his overall playoff GAA of 1.96. A return to home ice gives Boston the last change and Bruce Cassidy will try to get his top line on against a trio other than the Blues checking unit, and that could create scoring opportunities.
Bet Blues at Bruins at BookMaker.eu
The Blues are a confident group and the possibility of not having to create offense against Chara is a huge advantage. “So far, each and every series, we’ve gotten better as the series was going on,” David Perron said of his Blues. St. Louis did what it needed to do to get even, staying out of the box and holding Boston’s top line in check. The Bruins have lost consecutive games once this postseason and getting back to their rink where they are 7-4 should provide a boost. But the loss of Chara is enormous and I like St. Louis to take advantage of that by getting the road victory.
Stanley Cup Final Prediction: St. Louis 4, Boston 3
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