BOSTON — Carl Gunnarsson scored on a delayed penalty 3:51 into overtime, Jordan Binnington made 21 saves, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, on Wednesday night to tie the Stanley Cup finals at a game apiece.
Robert Bortuzzo and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored to help St. Louis register its first finals victory in its 14th try. St. Louis had been swept in three previous finals appearances and lost Game 1 to Boston. It was the first overtime in a Cup finals game since Game 2 in 2016.
Charlie Coyle and Joakim Nordstrom scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 33 saves. The Bruins had their eight-game winning streak ended, which included Monday’s 4-2 win in Game 1.
Gunnarsson had already hit the post behind Rask with about 2 minutes left in regulation. Boston also had a chance at the end of regulation, but Binnington turned away David Pastrnak in the final minute.
“Would have loved to have it in the third, but who cares?” Gunnarson said on the ice moments after his blast past Rask. “It’s great, taking this home.”
Game 3 is Saturday night in St. Louis.
After a furious first period, the teams were tied 2-2. The game turned defensive in the second, as neither team was able to score despite four penalties, including a high-sticking, blood-drawing double-minor against Boston’s Connor Clifton.
It stayed tied through a hard-hitting third period, with both teams failing to convert good scoring chances and avoid overtime.
But after the break, it was all Blues.
Boston did not get off a shot in the overtime, and the Eastern Conference champs struggled to clear it out of their own zone. With a penalty coming up, the Blues pulled Binnington for an extra skater and maintained possession until they could work it around to Gunnarsson, who rifled a shot into the corner of the net.
Gunnarsson also assisted on Bortuzzo’s goal midway through the first period that deflected off Matt Grzelcyk’s stick past Rask to make it 1-1.
Nordstrom scored just 40 seconds later to give Boston a 2-1 lead, but that lasted less than five minutes before Tarasenko took advantage of a mistake by Brad Marchand and lifted the puck over Rask with a second effort to tie the score again at 2.
Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk left with about two minutes left in the first period after taking an elbow to the head from Oskar Sundqvist. The Bruins did not score on the ensuing power play.