Bruins blitz Blues in Game 3, take lead in Stanley Cup Final

ST. LOUIS -- The Boston Bruins scored four power-play goals on four shots to ruin an event 49 years in the making, defeating the St. Louis Blues 7-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Boston took the lead in this best-of-7 series with Game 4 here Monday.

"We were ready to play," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I felt we would be because of the [veteran] guys who have been here and done it, because we tend to respond well after a loss (3-2 in overtime Wednesday). Did I think we'd score three goals in the first period? No, but I thought we'd be ready to play."

RELATED: Complete series coverage

It was the first Stanley Cup Final game played in St. Louis since May 5, 1970; the Blues also lost the previous six.

Jordan Binnington allowed five goals on 19 shots before being pulled for the first time in 52 starts this season. Jake Allen made three saves in his first home appearance since Jan. 8.

"Five goals he allowed, so he had seen enough," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We just wanted to pull him and get him ready for the next game."

Torey Krug became the first Bruins player to get four points in a Stanley Cup Final game (one goal, three assists), and Patrice Bergeron had three points (one goal, two assists). All of their points came on the power play. Tuukka Rask made 27 saves.

The Bruins are 6-for-14 on the power play in the series and 13-for-29 in the past seven games.

"I think it was just a night where everything went our way," Krug said. "We tried to be more decisive and assertive getting pucks to the net after one or two passes. The fact that we knew that someone was going to shoot the puck off of one or two passes allowed our guys to just get to the net in front of the goaltender's eyes and then recover the puck if there's a rebound to be had."

Bergeron made it 1-0 with a power-play goal off a deflection of Krug's wrist shot from the blue line at 10:47 of the first period. Charlie Coyle scored off the rush at 17:40 to make it 2-0, and Sean Kuraly scored on a wrist shot through a screen to make it 3-0 at 19:50.

The Blues challenged Kuraly's goal for offside, and the Situation Room confirmed that Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson passed the puck into the defending zone, meaning the Bruins were not offside.

Berube said he made the challenge because he thought it was a 50-50 call and he was hopeful to go into intermission trailing 2-0 instead of 3-0.

St. Louis instead was assessed a minor penalty for delay of game for the failed challenge, and David Pastrnak scored on the power play 41 seconds into the second period to make it 4-0. Boston scored the four goals in a span of five shots.

"I think they've got to make that challenge. It was close," Blues center Ryan O'Reilly said. "It's unfortunate it puts us on the PK and they get one again right off the bat, so it kind of took the wind right out [of us]."

Ivan Barbashev got St. Louis within 4-1 at 11:05 of the second, but Krug scored on a power play 1:07 later to give Boston a 5-1 lead. Binnington was pulled after that goal.

Colton Parayko scored a power-play goal at 5:24 of the third period to make it 5-2. Noel Acciari scored an empty-net goal to make it 6-2 at 18:12, and Marcus Johansson scored at 18:35 on a power play to make it 7-2.

Binnington is 5-2 with a .937 save percentage (10 goals on 153 shots) and 1.84 goals-against average in games after a loss in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including Game 2.

"It's the Stanley Cup Final, lots to play for," he said. "You prepare the same way. Believe in your teammates and believe in yourself. Got to do your job. You just have to handle adversity. It's not going to be perfect. These things will happen. You regroup and move on."

They said it

"That's the first thing we tell each other [on the power play]: Try to make them pay. Special teams are so, so important, especially this late in the season. It's good for us that the PP went well and PK did a great job (4-for-5), but we can't get comfortable." -- Bruins forward David Pastrnak

"I've got to be better. I've got to do a better job giving my team a chance to win. They scored three goals in the first. That's never good. They're a good hockey team. We have to get back to our game, stay focused." -- Blues goalie Jordan Binnington

Need to know

Since 1939, when the Cup Final went to a best-of-7, the team that wins Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series has won the Stanley Cup 78.6 percent of the time (22-6). ... Bergeron leads the playoffs with seven power-play goals, two from the NHL record shared by Mike Bossy (New York Islanders, 1981) and Cam Neely (Bruins, 1991).

What's next

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Enterprise Center on Monday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS)