"We expect a desperate team that's gonna push," said Danton Heinen. "It's something that we've got to be ready for…they're a heavy team, they're kind of built like us, they kind of play like us, too. They want to take the puck and grind you out down low. I thought we did a good job of closing quick and trying to limit that. That's something we've got to keep on doing."
On the other side, St. Louis coach Craig Berube said that his team must "manage the puck a lot better" to have more success in Game 2.
"We had a good first period," said Berube. "We were tight, connected. I thought the second period, we got loose, not supporting the puck enough and just turning it over in the wrong areas really fueled their momentum. And the penalties, for sure, too. We've got to clear up the penalties. We can't take five penalties in a game."
Those penalties, however, did not hurt St. Louis, as the Bruins converted on just one of those opportunities during Game 1.
"Credit to St. Louis for doing a good job defending the blue line on our entries; we weren't able to get in as efficiently as we'd like," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I thought we made some plays in zone that we missed on some opportunities to finish plays, so part of that is on our execution.
"Not up to our standard or what we've typically been able to do in terms of execution, so that was what I saw, lack of execution. Part of that might have been, even though you're practicing, it's not live for 10 days. And then St. Louis does a good job. They're long; they protect the slot, did a good job with their sticks."
