The St. Louis Blues still have never won a home Stanley Cup Finals game! They try again on Monday night in Game 4 against the Boston Bruins. The Blues are favored on the NHL lines to tie the series 2-2.
Bruins vs Blues 2019 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Odds & Preview
- When: Monday, 8 PM ET
- Where: Enterprise Center
- TV: NBC
- Stream: NBCSports.com
- Radio: Boston / St. Louis
- 2019 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Lines: Blues -135, Bruins +125 (total 5.5)
Why Bet on Boston?
The Bruins took Game 3 on Saturday, 7-2 – their most goals scored this postseason. The Bruins were 4-for-4 on the power play – on just four shots!
“We got lucky (Saturday night),” winger Brad Marchand said. “We’ll take that one. Hopefully, we’re good next game. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. We knew we could be better. That’s just one of those nights where things just start to bounce your way. You can’t expect that to happen every night. We still have areas we can clean up. It’s nice that the power play came together. We were good on special teams, but gotta follow it up next game.”
The Bruins have scored 23 power play goals on 64 chances in the playoffs, giving them a 35.9 perfect efficiency rating. Torey Krug had four power-play points. He’s the fourth player to ever accomplish that in the NHL history, joining Jean Beliveau (Game 5 in 1965), Denis Potvin (Game 3 in 1980) and Joe Sakic (Game 2 in 1996). The 28-year-old Krug now sits at two goals and 16 points in 20 postseason games.
With his win in Game 3, Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask established a franchise record for road wins in a single postseason – improving to 7-2 away from home in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Overall, it was Rask’s 22nd career road victory in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (22-17), tied with Gerry Cheevers (22-19) for the most in Bruins history.
Rask owns a .936 save percentage in his career on the road, the best among goaltenders since 1955-56 when shots on goal were first tracked (min. 30 GP on road). Rask’s 1.97 goals-against average as a visitor in the playoffs ranks second in NHL history among goaltenders with at least 30 road appearances – behind only Turk Broda (1.87 GAA in 48 GP).
Coach Bruce Cassidy said that Charlie McAvoy is fine after a shot block late in Game 3. McAvoy was visibly in some pain with 2:30 remaining in the third after taking a shot from Alex Pietrangelo off what appeared to be his knee. He was credited with five hits and three blocks in 24:16 of ice time on Saturday night.
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 3.23
- Shots: 32.71
- PP/PK Percentage: 27.94
- Goals: 2.50
- Shots: 29.92
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.69
Why Bet on St. Louis?
Zach Sanford earned his first career playoff point in his return to the lineup on Saturday in Game 3. Sanford got to play for the first time since Apr. 14 because of a suspension to Oskar Sundqvist. He picked up an assist on a goal by Ivan Barbashev and logged 9:15 of ice time.
After being pulled from a game for the first time in his NHL career (55 games played), Blues rookie Jordan Binnington will look to rally with a win for the seventh time this postseason. Binnington, who owns a career record of 12-2-0 after a loss of any kind in the NHL, is 6-2 in that scenario during the playoffs (1.84 GAA, .935 SV%).
Game 3 marked the fourth time that Binnington has allowed five or more goals in a game in the NHL – with each occurrence coming during the postseason. He has responded with a win following two of the previous three instances, losing to the Jets in Game 4 of the First Round (2-1 L, OT; 37 saves) and defeating the Sharks twice in the Conference Finals (Game 2: 4-2 W, 24 saves; and Game 4: 2-1 W, 29 saves).
St. Louis coach Craig Berube has not been happy with the officiating in this series. The Blues were penalized four times Saturday and Boston managed to score on each and every occasion.
“We were the least penalized team in the first three rounds, and now all of sudden we’ve taken [17] penalties in one series,” Berube said. “I don’t agree with all the calls.”
The Blues will get back Sundqvist for this one. Sundqvist was handed a one-game suspension for boarding Matt Grzelcyk in Game 2 and missed Game 3 Saturday.
“He’s been obviously one of our huge bright spots all year,” center Brayden Schenn said. “He’s been an unsung hero for us, whether it’s filling in on the power play, huge on the PK, scoring goals. He’s had a great season so far. We expect a boost from him. He’s playing really good hockey for us right now. He’s doing a good job on the penalty kill. He’s hard to play against. Obviously we missed him last game and we’re looking forward to having him back next game.”
Sundqvist has four goals and nine points in 21 Stanley Cup playoff games this season.
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 2.99
- Shots: 31.49
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.32
- Goals: 2.73
- Shots: 28.55
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.14
Bruins vs Blues Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Betting Trends
- Boston are 9-1 SU in the last 10 games
- The total went OVER in 7 of Boston’s last 10 games when playing on the road against St. Louis
- St. Louis are 4-2 SU in the last 6 games
- The total went OVER in 6 of St. Louis’ last 9 games
Expert NHL Prediction for Bruins vs Blues
Blues 3, Bruins 2
