BOSTON – “Our team was gutsy tonight,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “Our goalie was good and our team was gutsy.”
Gutsy and a little lucky on a non-call.
The St Louis Blues took a 3-2 series lead Thursday night with a 2-1 win in Boston in Game 5.
It was not without controversy with a non-call on a trip ahead of the Blues taking a 2-0 lead in the third period.
Ryan O’Reilly opened the scoring in the game in the middle frame to stake the Blues to a 1-0 lead.
“He looks energized to me, more jump in his stride out there, and he’s finishing,” Berube said. “He gets chances all the time, but he’s finishing right now.”
With the slim lead, the Blues played a solid game and relied on Jordan Binnington to make the necessary saves.
“I can only imagine how exciting it’s going to be there,” St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko said.
David Perron struck for the game-winner in the third.
“Bottom line you have to be ready for Game 6,” Boston center Patrice Bergeron said. “That’s all we can really worry about and that’s all we can focus on.”
Binnington made 38 saves to pick up his ninth road win of the post season, record for rookies.
“He was unbelievable in the first when we didn’t really have our legs and got caught on our heels a bit,” O’Reilly said. “We were able to get through when they had some really Grade A chances. He made some huge saves. We just hung on. It was huge going into the second to respond.”
Jake DeBrusk made the last few minutes more interesting with a goal for Boston on a delayed penalty call.
“Tough pill to swallow, but the game goes on and you’ve just got to say, ‘Next; next shift,'” Noel Acciari said. “We battled hard. We battled back. Jake with the big goal. We came up a little short. Again, Game 6, win or go home.”
Game 6 is Saturday night in St Louis.
[WATCH: Blues vs. Bruins Game 5 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Tuukka Rask made 19 saves in the loss and kept the Bruins alive for much of the fist period when the Blues were pushing.
“We understand what we need to do, it’s just a matter of putting in a full 60. It’s not that easy. It’s obviously going to be tougher and tougher as the games go along. They’re one win away, that’s what they’re thinking over there. We’ve just got to go into St. Louis and win a game,” DeBrusk said.
Zdeno Chara played despite a facial injury suffered in Game 4.
“He was medically cleared with some warnings. He made the decision to play,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Inspirational for us, good player for us. We knew he wouldn’t be 100 percent. We’re happy to have him out there but it just speaks a lot to his character and his role.”
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