Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Boston fans are mad and loud online.
It seems now that the Blues have evened the Stanley Cup Final with the Bruins at two games a piece, Boston fans have decided to start grasping for excuses.
This headline from a Boston radio station I found on Wednesday just made me shake my head.
Listen, I'll be the first to say there have been some wrong calls in this series (on both sides), and I'm not the proudest of this sell job by Jordan Binnington...
But, come on Boston.
In the first two games in Boston, the Blues racked up twice as many penalty minutes as the Bruins, including an egregious slashing call on Brayden Schenn at the end of Game 2.
So, yeah, Craig Berube was a little miffed at the recent uptick in penalties his team had been assessed early in the series, when that hadn't been a problem the rest of the playoffs.
This series has been extremely physical, especially for the Blues. The Bruins have more speed than St. Louis, and the Blues have needed to get more physical to combat that.
You can save your 'cheap shots' argument, though.
Even the hit from Oskar Sundqvist that put Matt Grzelcyk out for a few games wasn't malicious. Just look, Grzelcyk put himself in a terrible position along the boards, full well knowing a check is coming.
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Should it have been a penalty? Yeah probably. Should it have been a suspension? Eh, maybe. Should Boston fans be rioting in the streets to hunt down Oskar Sundqvist? Absolutely not.
So save me the cheap shot nonsense. Boston actually has the biggest instigator in this entire series.
David Backes has been trying his best to get under the skin of his former team.
From picking fights with Joel Edmundson, to coming down hard on Jordan Binnington's legs to even mixing it up with good friend Alex Pietrangelo, Backes has been stirring up a lot of the after-the-whistle scrums.
Speaking of cheap shots, it seems Bruins fans have forgotten this gem from their captain in Game 2.
I hate giving that radio station more attention, but there's one more article, that is really just too amusing, in which they attempt to call out the Blues' high profile fans.
Let me first start with the Wayne Gretzky Blues slander.
Yes, the greatest hockey player of all-time only played 31 games for the Blues in 1996. But you're a fool if you try to call out his admiration for St. Louis.
Gretzky's wife is from St. Louis. His son brings a hockey camp to St. Louis. Wayne visits often and played with the Blues alumni in the Winter Classic Alumni game. You can go ahead and mock the brief life his playing career had in St. Louis, but you can't argue his connection to the town.
Also, I was in the press box for every moment of Games 1 and 2 in Boston and didn't see the Bruins recognize any "celebrity" fans in attendance.
Obviously with Boston there are quite a few of them out there, but it's hard to rationalize calling out another city when yours brought nothing to the table.
During games three and four in St. Louis I saw Jon Hamm, Chris Long, Wayne Gretzky, Jenna Fischer, Kathleen Madigan, Isaac Bruce, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Adam Wainwright, Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina, Richard Petty, Bubba Wallace, Scott Bakula, Pat Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Nelly in the stands cheering on the Blues.
If that roster, along with an expansive and supportive alumni base, is "embarrassing" you're already too far gone for me to try to change your mind.
One more thing, the guy who waved your team flag for Game 2 is a Cardinals fan by the way.