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SPORTS Wednesday 12 June 2019

Road warrior Blues unfazed by Cup Final Game 7 in Boston

By STEPHEN WHYNO 5-1 loss in Game 6 exem- ing and moving the puck,
AP Hockey Writer plified that. Players aban- I think we’ve taken over a
BOSTON (AP) — If the St. doned their straightforward little bit and created more
Louis Blues beat the Boston approach and got fancy chances, playing better
Bruins in Game 7, perhaps by trying to razzle-dazzle defensively,” Bruins forward
Steve Hatze Petros should the puck past the Bruins, Joakim Nordstrom said.
get his name on the Stan- and when a goal didn’t “When we’re skating, we’re
ley Cup. materialize in the first 10 getting back on pucks bet-
He is the NHL schedule- minutes, momentum went ter. It obviously helps our
maker , making him the the other way. D to break the puck out.
most responsible for a Jan- That’s exactly how the Bru- Same thing goes up ice.
uary-March stretch when ins like it. We get on the forecheck a
the Blues didn’t play more “We came out pretty well,” little bit quicker.”
than one consecutive Boston defenseman Bran- The Blues’ whole game is
home game at a time. It don Carlo said. “We’ve based on their forecheck
was a virtual 70-day road had good starts on the — how they put pressure on
trip that forced a team forecheck early, playing opposing defensemen and
with a half-dozen new fac- assertive, being aggressive wear them down over the
es to come together under and staying right on top of St. Louis Blues teammates congratulate goaltender Jordan course of a game and a se-
coach Craig Berube. It also them, not backing down Binnington, right, after defeating the Boston Bruins in Game 5 ries. “We’re definitely built
helped them put up a 9-3 from anything, keeping our of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final, Thursday, June 6, 2019, in to sustain pressure,” Blues
road record in the playoffs gaps tight, forwards are do- Boston. winger David Perron said.
and it is a big reason the ing a great job on the fore- Associated Press “When we do that, we can
Blues say they feel totally check and kind of asserting win Game 7. If it is fast and “I think we’re a better skat- really back off teams and
at home playing for the the pace out there.” up and down the ice, ad- ing team, and if we’re play- hopefully slow down the
Cup in Boston on Wednes- Who sets the pace could vantage Bruins. ing to our pace both skat- crowd a little bit.”q
day night.
“It was a time for us to get
to know each other bet-
ter,” center Ryan O’Reilly
said. “We got out and got
away, got the chance
to go to the rink together
every day, eat together
every day. It just kind of
brought us together. I think
that’s where we found our
identity and came togeth-
er. As you can see through-
out the course of the play-
offs, we’re confident in the
room. We find it easier to
get to our game and have
success.”
Whichever team gets to
its style of game faster
and more effectively wins.
That has been the story of
this hard-fought series be-
tween evenly matched
teams that like to play dif-
ferent ways.
Boston wants to skate and
use its talent to score goals
and grab momentum. St.
Louis prefers to get pucks
deep in the attacking
zone, make defenders turn
around and then deliver
body blows whenever pos-
sible.
The Blues front office has
tried to replicate life on
the road by having players
stay in a hotel at home, but
they are just 6-7 in St. Louis
in the playoffs.
“I think when you’re at
home, you’re maybe trying
to play a little differently at
times,” Berube said.
The opening minutes of a