The St. Louis Blues held on to beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals. St. Louis was outshot 39 to 21 on the night, but the Blues were able to grab a gritty win as Ryan O’Reilly had another great game. O’Reilly notched a goal and an assist to lead the Blues, and he will likely win the Conn Smythe Trophy if St. Louis wins the Stanley Cup. He has six points in the finals thus far.
Jordan Binnington's 38 saves are the most by a rookie goalie in a Stanley Cup Final win.
The previous high was 37 by Pittsburgh's Matt Murray in Game 2 of 2017 vs the Predators.
h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/FWtPNMyYir
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 7, 2019
Jordan Binnington has settled down these last two games, and now he has the Blues on the cusp of their first-ever Stanley Cup. Binnington was pulled for the first time all year in Game 3, but he has responded to be the confident backstop the Blues have leaned on through the second half of the season.
"I'm a fan of the game. This is the National Hockey League, it's getting a black eye with their officiating this playoffs…it was egregious."
🎥 Bruce Cassidy reacts following the #NHLBruins' Game 5 loss: pic.twitter.com/iyLxzCJTFo
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 7, 2019
Bruce Cassidy did not mince words after Game 5. He took a page from Craig Berube’s playbook by criticizing the officiating, and to be fair, there was a pretty bad non-call on St. Louis’ second goal. Tyler Bozak clearly tripped Noel Acciari from behind, but there was no penalty called and St. Louis scored a few seconds later. That being said, it is pretty funny to hear about officiating mistakes from a team that employs Brad Marchand, so we’ll see how the referees call Game 6.
St. Louis’ Ivan Barbashev will have a hearing today for an Illegal Check to the Head on Boston’s Marcus Johansson.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) June 7, 2019
It looks like Ivan Barbashev will be suspended for Game 6 due to an illegal hit to the head on Boston’s Marcus Johansson. A call from the NHL Player Safety Department is nearly always followed by a one-game suspension, and that’s warranted after the hit wasn’t penalized last night.
The @CheckersHockey pull off the comeback and are just one win away from the #CalderCup! #CHAvsCHI pic.twitter.com/9Vcj1arHin
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) June 7, 2019
The Stanley Cup Finals aren’t the only hockey championship that will be decided in the next few days. The AHL’s Calder Cup could be awarded as early as Saturday, with the Charlotte Checkers up 3-1 on the Chicago Wolves.
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