Bruins rout Blues, take 2-1 lead in Stanley Cup Finals

ST. LOUIS — David Pastrnak flashed a wry smile, brimming with confidence.

No even-strength points through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals for the first line put plenty of pressure on Boston’s best players to produce. Pastrnak shrugged it off, saying on scale of 1 to 10 they felt the pressure level was something around a 2.

Then they got on the ice and delivered Saturday.

The stars led Boston to a 7-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues as the Bruins took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Defenseman Torey Krug scored a goal and had three assists, top-line center Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, Pastrnak and Brad Marchand got on the scoresheet and the top power-play unit was 4-for-4.

“It’s about time we get going,” said Pastrnak, who scored his first goal in the Finals. “I still think we haven’t played our best. But we are up 2-1 and we need to meet tomorrow, look at the video and get even better. That’s our focus in this group, and we’ve got a lot of good players, so we know we can even elevate more.”

Boston chased Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, silenced actor and Blues super fan Jon Hamm and a electric crowd that was fired up for the first Cup Finals game in St. Louis in 49 years. The Bruins survived an initial onslaught and then simply took it to the home team.

“We’ve been through so much together this year that we just rely on one another in uncomfortable situations,” said Marchand, who assisted on Krug’s goal. “When we get through it, we get through it together.”

Nothing was more important to get the Bruins through this than Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak getting on track. The line combined for five points in a decidedly better effort at 5-on-5 and on the power play.

“We spent less time in our...