St. Louis Blues Defeat Bruins 5-1, David Pastrnak Scores Lone Goal 3/11/2024

   At 9:47 of the first period, Kasperi Kapanen put St. Louis ahead 1-0 for his fifth goal of the season. Kapanen beat Jeremy Swayman blocker side after an attempted pass by Torey Krug had caromed off a stanchion into the low slot. Robert Thomas went for the 2-0 lead with 2:01 remaining in the first for his 21st goal of the season, being an NHL career high. Thomas scored a one-timer at the top of the right circle after he grabbed a return pass from Pavel Buchnevich.

   Stuffing in a pass from Kasperi Kapanen five-hole during a 3-on-1 rush to extend the Blues’ lead 3-0 – Kevin Hayes scored his 12th of the season, as well as his second in the past five games early into the middle at 15:29. It had appeared Justin Brazeau scored for the Bruins, however, the St. Louis Blues successfully challenged the play for offside. Brandon Saad made it a four-nothing game when he jammed the puck in off a backdoor pass by Hayes that had hit off his skate and the right post.

   David Pastrnak put Boston up on the board 4-1 when he went for his 41st goal of the season to keep the Bruins from getting shut out. He sent a one-timer through traffic from the point. At 8:33 of the final frame, Alexey Toropchenko struck the empty net from center ice after Jeremy Swayman had been pulled early for the 5-1 final.

Brad Marchand on the team’s slow start and engagement: “We had a slow start tonight and our last game, definitely an area we need to be better in. This time of the year teams come out hard. They’re playing for a lot and we need to do the same… I don’t think we’re engaged enough. Braz’s line was great all night long, and we didn’t have enough guys kind of following their suit.”

Justin Brazeau on his goal being challenged and any positives he takes out from a game like this: “I obviously didn’t see the replay before, but as soon as it gets reviewed it’s probably not going to go in your favor so I wasn’t expecting it to count… I think we played a pretty good game, I thought we had a lot of chances, and obviously, they didn’t go in for us and they went in for them. We played a lot of games here recently, so I think it’s just one of those things you get two more days of practice and just kind of reset.”

Notes:

– Jeremy Swayman made a total of 17 saves for Boston… Pavel Zacha had the secondary assist on David Pastrnak’s goal, extending his point streak to five games with five goals and three assists.

– Kasperi Kapanen had a goal and recorded two assists, both Kevin Hayes and Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist. Pavel Buchnevich played his 500th NHL career game.

  Kapanen’s three-point night is tied with his NHL career high. The St. Louis Blues have scored five goals, as a visitor, against the Bruins for the first time since a 5-5 tie in 1991 on March 7th.