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Column: Bruins shake off the rust to beat Blues in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final

Boston Bruins forward Charlie McAvoy, second left, celebrates with teammates after scoring against the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on May 27.
(Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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The Boston Bruins’ timing was off Monday and their brains were cobwebbed. They were victims of their own success, pushed into a tedious 10-day layoff between their sweep in clinching the Eastern Conference title and the start of the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues. Practice had made them perfectly antsy, and their rust showed as they slogged through a sluggish first period and fell behind by two goals a minute into the second period.

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy shook off the mental rust before his players did, making a decision that gave his lethargic team new life in the second period and launched the Bruins toward a 4-2 comeback victory at a rollicking TD Garden.

Unhappy with the performance of his top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak against the Blues’ top unit centered by Brayden Schenn, Cassidy moved his chess pieces around. He assigned his fourth line of Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari to match up against the Schenn line in hopes Schenn, a former Kings first-round draft pick who had scored the Blues’ first goal and set up Vladimir Tarasenko for the other, would be neutralized by the Kuraly line’s unwavering work ethic and basic north-south style.

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Not only were Schenn and Tarasenko stifled the rest of the way, Kuraly set up the Bruins’ first goal and scored the game-winner when he took a pass from Noel Acciari and whipped a shot past St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington at 5:21 of the third period. “I thought Bergie’s line had a tough time finding their game tonight. The other guys were a little bit ahead of them in terms of their puck possession,” Cassidy said. “We’ve used Kuraly’s line all year against good lines and we decided to go that route. It worked out for us tonight.”

No kidding. “We know what our job is when we’re out against a line like that,” Kuraly said. “It’s to make it difficult for them to create any offense and they’re a great line, so it’s tough. But the expectation from us was just play them hard and play them honest and make them earn every inch, and if they beat us with their skill — which will definitely happen at times, then so be it, but we’re not going to let them beat us with something silly that is a mistake by us.”

Marchand clinched the victory with an empty-net goal, leaving the Blues winless in four Stanley Cup Final appearances. They were swept by Montreal in 1968 and 1969, and by Boston in 1970.

“I thought the first period was good. I thought we did a lot of good things,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “Second period, we stopped skating, stopped moving the puck, turned it over and gave them momentum. And then, plus, the penalties didn’t help.”

The Bruins, who had a playoff-best 34% power-play success rate, had five advantages and converted one when Charlie McAvoy’s shot glanced off the stick of Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and got past Binnington to bring the Bruins even at 2-2 at 12:41 of the second period. “They were aggressive more in the second period and I don’t think we were aggressive enough skating with the puck,” Pietrangelo said of the Bruins’ revival. “So it wasn’t a great combo for us.”

The Blues had started the game with energy and sureness. Schenn silenced the crowd by snapping a shot past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask from the hashmarks at 7:23 of the first period, lifting the puck into the upper-left corner of the net for his third goal of this spring’s playoffs. He helped the Blues extend their lead to 2-0 one minute into the second period when he intercepted a bad pass by Pastrnak and fed the dangerous Tarasenko, who easily beat Tuukka Rask from short range for his ninth playoff goal.

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But the Bruins cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1 at 2:16 of the second period when Kuraly skated up the middle of the ice before cutting to the wing and sending a pass to the slot, where the puck deflected off the foot of teammate Connor Clifton and into the net.

Clifton said Kuraly’s contributions went well beyond a goal and an assist. “He was playing his game. He was all over the ice. He was finishing his checks,” Clifton said. “He was winning pucks back and getting pucks to the net all night. He had a great game.”

After the Bruins pulled even and surged ahead they recorded the biggest hit of the night, delivered by a helmetless Torey Krug on Robert Thomas during the third period. Krug had lost his lid during a tussle with Blues forward David Perron in the Bruins’ end, but Krug stayed on the ice and caught Thomas with a thunderous check up ice. “You don’t want to mess with that guy. Don’t make that guy mad,” Clifton said of Krug.

Krug, who stands a modest 5 feet 9, considered his hit a necessary but small part of a team win. “I don’t know what they were feeling on their bench, but if it pushes them back and catches them off guard, then great for our team,” he said. “I think it gave our team energy and that’s all you’re trying to do out there.”

Consider the Bruins fully energized and awake now, and the Blues will have to respond Wednesday in Game 2 at TD Garden.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen

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