Stanley Cup: Bruins Best Blues as Krug's Body Blast Shows the Tone

With two of the biggest and brawniest clubs making it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, absolutely no one was surprised that physicality would take center stage, too.

Odds are, though, no one expected the featured hit would be from one of the games smaller defensemen.

Torey Krug is a mere 5-9, but he uses his 186lb like a wrecking ball. Just ask Robert Thomas:

 

Now, that was a boom-lakka-lakka if ever there was one.

Krug had his helmet 'washed' off by David Parron while he was down on the ice in front of the Boston goal. Clearly, he took exception to the process.

The Bruins had just taken a 3-2 lead in what would be Game 1's pivotal score, and the hit happened shortly afterward. Safe to say it electrified both the Boston bench and the packed TD Garden crowd.

 

Yes, they went there, vanquished Blues and all.

The bottom line in Boston's 4-2 victory was how each team deployed its physicality. St Louis kept getting called for going over the top, and they paid for it in turnovers and power plays.

In the latter category, the Blues yielded a crucial goal in one and cost themselves eight minutes of scoring opportunities by being short-handed in the other four.

 

The Bruins are simply too talented to surrender any sorta edge, and they're too hard-nosed to be concerned about a melding of muscles.

If St Louis isn't exerting their by-now patented red-line energy, they're destined to have a tough night, which includes holding leads on the road:

 

The Bruins have thus revived their 49-year-old mastery of the Blues in Stanley Cup finals play, which means St Louis has yet to win a game in the penultimate series.

Unless they clean up how they deploy their game, they're gonna have a challenge getting it.