The St. Louis Blues vs Boston Bruins
The hottest match-up consists of the first regular season Stanley Cup Final rematch between Alex Pietrangelo and the St. Louis Blues, and Zdeno Chara and the Boston Bruins. The game resulted in the Bruins getting the revenge they so clearly desired through out the game. Boston came out onto the ice seemingly more physical and aware than in the previous time the two teams faced off. They were ready, prepared, and deadest on winning this rematch in order to set the tone for the rest of their season.
Boston scored first in the first period as a result of a power-play given to the Bruins by the Blues. Until this goal the Blues seemed like they were shaking off the nerves that decided to come with onto the ice. St. Louis finally seemed to be coming alive and this match-up was finally starting to shape up to be the game everyone so hoped it would be. St. Louis was able to pick things back up and kill off another penalty later in the first bringing the game to a score of one to zero at the end of the first.
The second period started off with the Blues consistently creating high scoring chances, but goaltender Tuukka Rask managed to bail out the Bruins defenders with some impeccable saves. Ten minutes into the second the Bruins managed to put another one past goaltender Jordan Binnington. The Blues showed a similar resilience as to the Stanley Cup Play-offs after this goal as they seemed to ignite a fire that allowed them to create plenty of scoring opportunities for the rest of the period. Rask was standing on his head throughout the entire game and managed to put a stop to each and everyone of the chances by the Blues.
The third period was a complete deadlock between the two teams as the third and final goal was only scored on an empty netter by the Bruins after the Blues' goaltender had been pulled off the ice for an extra attacker. Each team managed to shut down one another up until this point creating opportune scoring chances but managed to each make impressive defensive plays to put their team right back on the offensive.
The game may have ended with a result of three to zero in favor of the Bruins, but the game was still very close and was very fun to watch all the way until the end with the insane amount of creative and skillful plays being created by both teams on the ice. You could easily tell that both wanted this game just as badly as the other. The physicality was on another level even compared to the Stanley Cup Final. These two teams are starting to form an even deeper rivalry than what had already been witnessed from the Blues' first few seasons in the league.
Personally I cannot wait for future games between this match-up as I believe these two teams are only going to get better and better as the season progresses allowing for even greater and entertaining hockey games. I really hope this rivalry keeps up and is only a spark for hopefully a long lasting battle between the two intense teams.