Bruins score three third-period goals for 3-2 comeback win over Blues

A win over a fragile St. Louis Blues team may not be a big deal for a team with high expectations.

But for where the Bruins are right now, the manner in which they won on Tuesday in St. Louis could be a good start for them to get to where they want to go.

After spotting the Blues and their 32nd-ranked power play a 2-0 lead, the B’s stormed back with three third-period goals to notch a 3-2 victory.

There was plenty of desperation evident in the comeback.

The Bruins went into the third period down 2-0, but they got one back at 4:53 from Morgan Geekie, back in the lineup after three straight healthy scratches. David Pastrnak stole the puck from Colton Parayko in the neutral and took off with Geekie on an odd-man rush. Geekie took Pastrnak’s pass and beat Jordan Binnington to the blocker side.

The B’s then tied it at 9:15. Brad Marchand settled a loose puck and fed Charlie McAvoy up top. McAvoy’s hesitancy to shoot got him bounced from the first power-play unit, but on this play he let a one-timer rip from the high slot to beat Binnington.

And finally, with 1:47 left in regulation after a mad scramble for the puck in the offensive zone, McAvoy made a great dish over to Pastrnak, whose blast broke through Binnington for the go-ahead goal.

One of the more intriguing pregame stories was the change of the first power-play unit with defenseman Hampus Lindholm replacing McAvoy up top.

And it didn’t take long before the PP got its chance. In fact, they got two advantages in the first 8:23. But as far as results went, it was the same ol’, same ol’. They got some shots on Binnington, but none that were really high percentage, and the movement on the PP never really had Binnington moving much in his crease.

Pastrnak said on Monday that he needed to shoot more and he took his own advice. He had six of the B’s nine shots in the first period.

The Blues’ struggling PP had one chance that the B’s killed, thanks in part to a big block by Lindholm that caused him to leave the game. It appeared he took the shot on the inside of the right knee.

The Blues’ best chance came earlier in the period. Jordan Kyrou had clean breakaway from the offensive blue line but Jeremy Swayman was able to steer his backhand attempt wide.

The B’s got a third power-play chance 1:02 into the second period, and with Lindholm unavailable, McAvoy went back with the top unit. The B’s did every thing but score. They got four shots on net, which did not include their best chance on a pretty tic-tac-toe play. Elias Lindholm fed Brad Marchand on the left side and Marchand, selling shot to freeze Binnington, fed Pavel Zacha for what looked like a tap-in. But Pastrnak also got his stick in there and the puck went wide.

And when Cole Koepke took an offensive zone high-sticking penalty, you know what was coming next. On the PP, Swayman stopped Kyrou’s shot from the bumper, but Brayden Schenn was there to clean up the rebound for the 1-0 lead at 9:24. It was the Blues’ first power-play goal on home ice all season.

They would soon get their second as the B’s weren’t done shooting themselves in the foot.

Pastrnak then took another offensive zone high-sticking and, at 12:12, the Blues had a 2-0 lead when Oskar Sundqvist scored an easy backdoor goal.

Any wind the B’s may have had in their sails was gone. When they got another power play after Radek Faksa high-sticked Tyler Johnson, there was little urgency and it went by the boards without much of a danger of scoring.

The B’s were down two goals going into the third period. In the last couple of years, that would have been challenge, but a surmountable one. With this team, it seemed like Mt. Everest. But they managed to scale it.