ST. LOUIS — Even though his face could set off a metal detector, Vince Dunn will play Game 4 — and it’s kind of a big deal.
The 22-year-old, puck-moving defenceman has been languishing on the sidelines since a Brenden Dillon shot smashed his mouth in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, and his absence from a blue line thin on offensive drivers has been a sore point.
Especially when one considers the offensive contribution from the Bruins’ defenders, who have been breaking the puck out much quicker than their opponents.
“Yeah, he moves the puck as good as anybody on our team from our own end out transition-wise, and Dunn has the ability of doing high-end things in the offensive zone sometimes. Not all the time, but there’s just times where he can do things that wow you a little bit and make a great play or score a goal from nothing,” coach Craig Berube said.
“It’s going to be intense for him right away, but he’ll get into it and he’ll make good plays with the puck like he always does. I expect the same Vince Dunn you’ve seen.”
Well, not quite.
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Dunn said the wiring in his repaired face makes it feel like he’s constantly wearing a mouthguard. He figures he’d have no issue triggering a metal detector.
“Spending the night in the hospital, it’s very uncomfortable and very scary. It was nice to have the guys visit me in the room after the game, even though we had that tough loss in overtime [to San Jose],” Dunn said. “I started to see improvements after a week, finally the last few days I’ve been feeling like myself.
“There’s a lot of things going on in my mouth right now. It’s not the easiest to be eating things. But other than that, I can’t really complain. I’m here in the finals. It’s very special to me. It’s very special to all of us.
“You kind of take things for granted when you’re younger, but now you really take it in. You don’t really believe it until you’re here. It’s very special to be in this position that I’m in at such a young age. I just want to make the best of it. I want to be the player that I was all season.”
Dunn enters as a critical X-factor. The Blues’ chances might depend on his ability to wow.
Pastrnak aims some friendly fire at media
When I asked about teammate Torey Krug’s ability to perform on the big stage in light of the undersized defenceman’s four-point performance in Game 3, David Pastrnak turned to NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty, smiled, and said, “I don’t know. Haggs, you have answer maybe?”
The quip was a reference to a Haggerty tweet in late March, in which Haggerty posed the question: “Are the Bruins better without Torey Krug in their lineup?”
Brad Marchand fired back directly to the reporter on Twitter at the time.
“You think Torey’s trying to prove me wrong or something?” Haggerty asked in Monday’s scrum.
“I dunno,” Pastrnak smiled again. “You still think we are better without him?”
What a beauty.
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Cassidy won’t sweat refs… ‘until they stink’
Frustrated by the Bruins’ torching his club for four power-play goals in Saturday’s 7-2 rout, Berube made a little noise Sunday when he complained about the officiating in this series.
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was asked for his thoughts on the series’ officiating.
“If we have a beef, we’ll bring it up, generally with the supervisor,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t have too many beefs the other night. Apparently they did, so they voiced theirs.
“We’re not going to concern ourselves with the officials until they stink and they go against us, right? I thought, we killed, what, five penalties? They killed four, and one was their own call, they challenged the [third goal], so, really, they only had three infractions against them. I don’t think they favoured us in any way, to be honest.”
Berube juggles forwards, again
Impressed by energy guy Zach Sanford’s debut in Game 3, Berube promoted the fourth-liner all the way up to second-line centre Ryan O’Reilly’s wing, dropping Sammy Blais to Tyler Bozak’s third line.
Robby Fabbri comes out of the Blues’ lineup to make way for the sorely needed Oskar Sundqvist, the edgy fourth-line centre who was forced to sit out Game 3 and watch the penalty kill fall to pieces in his absence.
“It was a night that took forever,” Sundqvist said of the frustration watching from the press box.
Patrick Maroon says Sundqvist’s return is massive.
“He brings a different element. He plays a two-way game. He can check the best line, he can score, he can just be a good forward off the rush. Obviously, we missed him on the PK,” Maroon said.
Top prospects get a kick out of O’Reilly stick
As per Cup Final tradition, the league flew in a handful of the top prospects from the NHL Combine to take in the game here in St. Louis.
Jack Hughes, Bowen Byram, Alex Turcotte, Dylan Cozens and Kirby Dach are in the house. Thrilled to meet stars from both teams, the kids got a kick out of Selke finalist O’Reilly’s rather unique stick curve, which sharply hooks at the toe.
“That’s something I’ve never seen,” Dach marveled. “That’s something you do with a mini stick, where you heat it over the oven and give curve it right at the toe. Kinda neat to see that and pick his brain. He just said it works.”
Back in juniors, O’Reilly took note of the aggressive hook on Alex Ovechkin’s curve.
“I feel like, for myself, backhand is so important on face-offs. Look at that, and there’s barely any. It’s just a big hook. I remember being obviously impressed with how he plays it,” explained O’Reilly, who told Hughes it was the secret to stealing faceoffs. Not that the No. 1 prospect needs much help.
“I think what he’s using now, he’s in pretty good shape.”
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All eyes on Binnington
After being mercy pulled for the first time in his NHL career (55 games played) in Game 3’s rout, Calder finalist Jordan Binnington is attempting to rally with a win for the seventh time this post-season.
Binnington owns a sparkling record of 12-2-0 after a loss of any kind and is 6-2 in that scenario during the playoffs (1.84 GAA, .935 SV%).
The ice-veined kid that Blues superfan Jon Hamm referred to as “Robocop” didn’t watch a second of video from Saturday’s debacle.
“Same old story, right? Just prepare the same way. As a goalie, things are going to happen, it’s not always going to be perfect, and you’ve got to regroup, pick yourself back up and move on to the next game,” Binnington said.
“I don’t think it was overly emotional. Obviously, you don’t like losing, but no matter the score, I hate losing, so it’s the same feeling. I want to get back in that win column.”
