David Perron is fashioning himself as a villain in the Bruins-Blues Stanley Cup Final
The veteran forward's confrontations with Tuukka Rask in Game 3 did not go unnoticed.
It was Blues forward David Perron who Torey Krug tangled with seconds before he skated the length of the ice and made a highlight-reel hit on Robert Thomas in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and it was Perron who had multiple run-ins with Tuukka Rask during the Bruins’ Game 3 win.
If there is room for a singular villain’s emergence among the Bruins’ opponent, Perron appears to have passed the audition. The 31-year-old leads the Blues with six penalty minutes in the series, and though he was the team’s fourth-highest scorer in the regular season, he has not made his way onto the score sheet.
With just 20 seconds left in the second period of Game 3, No. 57 in blue knocked Rask over after a whistle, instigating a face-to-face confrontation before Charlie McAvoy and on-ice officials separated the pair.
One minute into the third, Perron repeatedly pushed and shoved Rask out of the goalie crease during a post-whistle scrum and earned a two-minute roughing penalty.
Tuukka Rask is NOT a fan of David Perron. pic.twitter.com/nwXOfiLi55
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) June 2, 2019
“It wasn’t too bad,” Rask told reporters when asked about Blues forwards encroaching on his territory Saturday. “I think Perron, a couple times, he was in tight there during the scrums, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.”
“[Perron] was saying I was diving,” Rask said. “Yeah, [I said] ‘no I wasn’t.’ I was just trying to get out of there.”
Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins made Perron’s first penalty in Game 3 – interfering with Brandon Carlo away from the play – hurt as Bergeron opened the game’s scoring with a tip-in goal on the power play.
Four power plays. Four shots. Four goals.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/g3d1YBLWQ3
— x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 2, 2019
“I did not really agree with it,” Perron told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch postgame. “It’s a backcheck. It happens all the time where you kind of get your body positioned. It’s not really an influence on the play, either. There’s a 2-on-1 happening, there’s two more guys following up on the play and we’re just trying to get up the ice.”
The Blues have out-hit the Bruins and imposed a physical game in the Cup Final, especially as Game 3’s score grew more and more lopsided. Perron and St. Louis will take the ice again in Game 4 determined to even the series and avoid going back to Boston facing elimination, and surely the hits will come as hard as ever.
“They’re a physical team, and, like you said, they’re probably going to take some liberties,” Jake DeBrusk told reporters Sunday. “[We’re] just trying to stay even-keeled and composed and [we] understand that there’s going to be times where you’re frustrated as well…but at the end of the day, it’s just a matter about wins right now. And these hits or plays that guys have been taking, I think they understand that there’s a bigger picture and to move on to the next play.”
