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Blues stun Bruins by going up 2-0 in first period

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Jay Bouwmeester fires a shot from the blue line and Ryan O'Reilly redirects the shot that goes five-hole on Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask for the opening score.

The Bruins dominated most facets of the first period in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final (NBC; stream here), except in the way that matters the most.

The Blues were unable to register a shot on goal for more than a 10-minute stretch of the opening frame, yet Jordan Binnington was absolutely brilliant in making plenty of high-difficult saves. Eventually, Ryan O’Reilly deflected a shot by Tuukka Rask to break that shot drought with a stunning goal.

(You can see that goal above this post’s headline.)

The real dagger came with about eight seconds remaining in the first, though. Brad Marchand was caught on the ice at the end of a shift, and the Blues took advantage, with Alex Pietrangelo making a tremendous play to score a 2-0 goal.

Boston generated a 12-4 shots on goal advantage overall during the first period, and the lopsided play is that much more glaring when you consider that St. Louis was also forced to block more shots. As strong as Tuukka Rask has been during this run, Binnington was the better goalie through the opening frame, and is a big reason St. Louis has a nice lead.

The Bruins have the firepower to come back -- in fact, they’ve won after falling behind 2-0 to the Blues earlier in the Stanley Cup Final -- but the way Binnington is playing, it certainly won’t be easy.

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.