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2019 STANLEY CUP FINAL – GAME FOUR (BEST-OF-SEVEN)
ST. LOUIS 4, BOSTON 2 (SERIES TIED 2-2): Ryan O’Reilly scored two goals, including the game-winner with 9:22 left in regulation, and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo had two assists to help lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-2 win in game four of the 2019 National Hockey League Stanley Cup Final Monday night at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
The Blues’ win evened the best-of-seven series at 2-2, and was also St. Louis’ first-ever home win in a Finals’ game, and second overall.
The Blues have had a history of bouncing back strong after a loss in the previous game, such as Saturday night’s 7-2 loss in game three to the Bruins, and on Monday night, it took all of 43 seconds for St. Louis to strike, as O’Reilly put a wraparound past Boston goalie Tuukka Rask to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. The lead lasted until 13:14 when Charlie Coyle put a rebound on the doorstep past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at 1-1. It was Coyle’s third straight game with a goal in the Final, becoming the third Boston player in history to achieve the feat.
Vladimir Tarasenko came right back at 15:30 with a goal off a rebound of a Pietrangelo shot that Tarasenko first-timed it home to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period.
A potentially series-changing moment occurred early in the second period, when Boston captain Zdeno Chara took a Brayden Schenn shot directly in the mouth, forcing him to go straight to the locker room to be looked at by medical personnel. Chara was in the room for the remainder of the second period, and returned to the Bruins’ bench for the third, but did not take a shift. His status for game five is unknown.
Later in the period, with the Blues on a power play, Boston tied the game on a shorthanded goal by Brandon Carlo at 14:19 on a two-on-one break, Carlo putting home the rebound of a saved shot by Binnington. The period ended with the two teams level.
St. Louis took the lead for good at 10:38 of the third period, when a high shot by Pietrangelo handcuffed Rask, the puck dropping into the slot, where O’Reilly was there to knock home the rebound to put the Blues up 3-2. Schenn then scored an empty-net goal with 1:29 left in regulation to make the 4-2 final.
Binnington recovered nicely from Saturday night’s game, where he gave up five goals on 19 shots faced, making 21 saves while Rask stopped 34 St. Louis shots.
Game five of the series will be played at Boston’s TD Garden on Thursday night, with game six back at Enterprise Center next Sunday, June 9. If a seventh and deciding game is needed, it will be back in Boston Wednesday, June 12. All games start at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on the NBC Television Network, and locally on KSDK-TV.
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