This is not the kind of period that the Blues and their defense would like to save for posterity. Bad giveaways, bad position, and a fairly bad goaltending performance by Brian Elliott so far could be costing the Blues’ home game point streak.
The first goal was scored just a little over two minutes in, as Brad Marchand flipped in a puck past Brian Elliott with the effort he would use to pick up a post-Cup celebratory beer: none at all. What added insult to injury is that he stripped the puck from Kevin Shattenkirk and walked basically unopposed to the net. This was a bad, rare defensive zone giveaway by the Blues that cost them.
Milan Lucic added insult to injury a little under four minutes later, with a slapper that deflected in possibly off of Patrik Berglund’s stick. Elliott couldn’t track the directional change, and poof. Goal number two for Boston:
Chris Stewart gets to his own rebound from a shot on Tim Thomas and whaps it home. The impressive thing is, his initial shot was from Thomas’ left and bounced out to his right; Stewart had to fly around the back of the net to shoot it in. That’s his first goal in seven games. He hasn’t scored since February 9th against the New Jersey Devils.
B.J. Crombeen, who decided to try to spark the team with a fight between himself and Boston’s Adam McQuaid, figured he should try to spark the team again; this time, he chose scoring a goal:
(EDIT: the goal was later changed to Ryan Reaves)
Unfortunately, the Bruins apparently felt that going into the intermission tied might do too much for the Blues’ morale. Chris Kelly fixed that problem with just 40 seconds to go in the first period. Brian Elliott has allowed three goals in six shots, while Tim Thomas’s allowed two on nine. Neither All-Star is having what you could consider an all-star caliber game.