Bruins Not Expecting Any Retaliation From Blues For Krug's Game 1 Hit
BOSTON (CBS) -- Torey Krug's mammoth hit on Blues center Robert Thomas in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is still the talk of Boston. Many are wondering if St. Louis will respond when the puck drops for Game 2 Wednesday night.
The imagine of a helmet-less Krug gliding down the ice and leveling Thomas will go down in Bruins playoff mythology, and the Blues are probably sick of seeing it and hearing about it. Thomas won't be on the ice Wednesday night, ruled out by head coach Craig Berube with an "unrelated" injury.
The play was a continuation of a monster momentum swing for Boston, and some are pondering whether or not the Blues will try to put their own bone-crushing hit on Krug in Game 2. The Stanley Cup Final isn't the best time to lose your cool, especially over a clean and legal hit, but St. Louis may want to send a message as they try to get back into the series.
But during his Wednesday morning press conference, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said he isn't expecting any payback from the Blues.
"No, they're a pretty honest team, St. Louis. I think they'll finish all their checks whether it's [Krug] or [Matt] Grzelcyk or [Connor] Clifton," said Cassidy. "They're going to play hard. We expect that, so I don't expect retaliation."
That doesn't mean the Blues won't be trying to lay some licks on the 5-foot-9 defenseman. Cassidy just doesn't expect any tomfoolery when Game 2 gets underway.
"If Torey's in a bad spot -- puts himself in a bad spot -- they're going to hit him," he said. "I think that's what's gonna happen."
And it wouldn't be in St. Louis' best interest to give the best power play team in the playoffs any extra time on the man-advantage. Boston has scored on 32.7 percent of their power plays, which is actually slightly down after a 1-for-5 performance in Game 1. As well as they Blues penalty kill played in Game 1, their 78.3 kill percentage is 10th among the 16 NHL playoff teams this year.
Whatever the Blues throw at them, Krug said he and his teammates are ready to adapt.
"We have a really unique locker room. Everyone serves an important role on this team. It doesn't matter who is in or out of the lineup, we're going to show up and play the same every night with that level of determination, focused and relentless and together," said Krug. "If you want to play us run and gun style, if you want to punch us in the mouth and look us in the eye, we're willing to do that as well.
"We're a team that adapts and can play and win any style of hockey," added Krug. "We take a lot of pride in that."
