Bruins batter Blues in Game 3

Associated Press

St. Louis

Patrice Bergeron and the Boston Bruins’ best players took the criticism to heart.

They weren’t good enough through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final and needed to be better. And they were.

The stars came out on Saturday night and led Boston to a 7-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues to take a 2-1 series lead. Bergeron and defenseman Torey Krug each scored a goal and had two assists, David Pastrnak scored his first goal of the series.

Boston chased Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, silenced actor and Blues super fan Jon Hamm and a raucous crowd that was fired up for the first Cup Final game in St. Louis in 49 years. The Bruins survived an initial onslaught and then took it to the home team.

Nothing was more important for the Bruins than the first line of Brad Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak getting going after no even-strength points through the first two games. They combined for five points a decidedly better effort at 5-on-5 and on the power play.

Game 4 is Monday night in St. Louis.

Playoff MVP front-runner Tuukka Rask was solid as usual in goal with 27 saves, and the Bruins continued to get contributions all over their lineup. Trade deadline pickup Charlie Coyle scored his eighth goal of the playoffs, fourth-liner Sean Kuraly scored his second in three games and Marcus Johansson added goal No. 7 in the final minutes.

Just about everything went wrong for the Blues, who were forced to put backup Jake Allen into the game. He gave up one goal on four shots.

Binnington allowed five goals on 19 shots before getting the hook for the first time in his NHL career but will almost certainly be back in net for Game 4.