Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand is taking responsibility for his line's slow start to the Stanley Cup Final after the team's 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 on Wednesday.

“We need to be better,” Marchand said of his line, according to The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa. “Personally, I wasn’t good the last two games. We can’t be playing like that.”

The Bruins' top line of Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron has been productive this postseason, but through two games against the Blues, the trio has combined for just one empty-net goal, one assist, and a minus-7 rating.

Boston's top line has fallen off against the Blues at five-on-five compared to its production against previous opponents.

TOI= Time on ice
CF%= Corsi For (Shot attempt share)
SCF%= Scoring chance share

Marchand and Bergeron have also uncharacteristically combined for eight turnovers through the first two contests, contributing to the Blues' 16 takeaways.

“They just competed hard,” Marchand said. “They won a lot of battles in our zone. They have really good sticks. So they turn a lot of pucks over and created some offense off that.”

The Blues erased a pair of deficits en route to the victory, stealing home-ice advantage with Game 3 set for Saturday in St. Louis.

All advanced stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick

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Boston Bruins winger David Backes wasn't a fan of the hit thrown on teammate Matt Grzelcyk in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night.

Grzelcyk was visibly shaken up after taking a hit from behind by St. Louis Blues winger Oskar Sundqvist in the first period. The Bruins defenseman ultimately didn't return to the game, and Backes wasn't pleased with the situation.

"I don't think that's a hit we want in our game," Backes told The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford. "It's from behind, elevated, into his head, into the glass. If that's a two-minute penalty, I think there's going to be a shortage of defenseman in this series by the end of it."

Sundqvist was given a minor penalty on the play, but the league is reportedly reviewing the incident for supplemental discipline, which Backes think he'd receive if he was the player to throw that kind of hit.

"That's something I think if I'm making that hit, I'm probably watching from the bleachers for a few, but we'll see what happens with their player," Backes said.

Backes does have a history with the league, as he's been hit with two suspensions since joining the Bruins.

Game 2 was a thoroughly physical affair, with the Blues out-hitting the Bruins 50-31.

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Boston Bruins winger David Backes wasn't a fan of the hit thrown on teammate Matt Grzelcyk in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night.

Grzelcyk was visibly shaken up after taking a hit from behind by St. Louis Blues winger Oskar Sundqvist in the first period. The Bruins defenseman ultimately didn't return to the game, and Backes wasn't pleased with the situation.

"I don't think that's a hit we want in our game," Backes told The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford. "It's from behind, elevated, into his head, into the glass. If that's a two-minute penalty, I think there's going to be a shortage of defenseman in this series by the end of it."

Sundqvist was given a minor penalty on the play, but the league is reportedly reviewing the incident for supplemental discipline, which Backes think he'd receive if he was the player to throw that kind of hit.

"That's something I think if I'm making that hit, I'm probably watching from the bleachers for a few, but we'll see what happens with their player," Backes said.

Backes does have a history with the league, as he's been hit with two suspensions since joining the Bruins.

Game 2 was a thoroughly physical affair, with the Blues out-hitting the Bruins 50-31.

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Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was shaken up and forced to leave the game after a hard hit from behind by St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist late in the first period of Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Grzelcyk was helped to the Bruins' dressing room by a trainer and his teammates and didn't return for the start of the second period.

Sundqvist was assessed a two-minute minor, which the Blues killed off.

Grzelcyk has been a steady piece on the Bruins' third defensive pairing this spring, averaging just over 17 minutes per night and chipping in seven points so far in the postseason.

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The Anaheim Ducks will interview Dallas Stars assistant Todd Nelson for their head coach vacancy this week, reports TSN's Bob McKenzie.

With the Oilers, Senators, Sabres, Kings, Flyers, and Panthers all hiring new head coaches since the conclusion of the regular season, the Ducks are the only remaining team with a spot to fill.

Nelson isn't the only coach on Anaheim's radar, however.

Anaheim fired Randy Carlyle in February, and general manager Bob Murray replaced him. The longtime executive and first-time head coach guided the Ducks down the stretch to a 35-37-10 record (24th).

Nelson, 49, has only coached 51 games at the NHL level. He served as Edmonton's head coach in 2014-15, going 17-25-9.

After his Oilers tenure, Nelson was in charge of the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins for three seasons, winning the Calder Cup in his second year at the helm. He joined the Stars last year and ran the club's 11th-ranked power play.

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The St. Louis Blues will be without forward Robert Thomas and defenseman Vince Dunn for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, head coach Craig Berube confirmed.

Thomas was on the receiving end of a heavy hit from Bruins defenseman Torey Krug in the third period of Game 1, but Berube insists the injury isn't connected to that collision.

The skilled forward has scored just once this postseason, but his strong two-way play on a line with Patrick Maroon and Tyler Bozak has been instrumental to the Blues' success. In 177:12 of ice time at five-on-five, that line has owned 55.74 percent of the high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Dunn, meanwhile, took a puck to the face just two minutes into Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks, and he hasn't played since.

The 22-year-old blue-liner has been a key piece for the Blues throughout the playoffs, averaging 15:40 of ice time while contributing seven points in 16 games.

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Betting in the futures market can be a slow burn.

It's difficult enough to correctly pick a winner on any given night. Now, try picking three teams, across three different sports, to win their respective championships, and going on a seven-month roller-coaster ride to see if your passion for a single city can win you a boatload of money.

Chris Brockman, a lover of Boston sports, strapped himself in for that ride when he placed a wild prop bet in October.

"Basically, a buddy and I - both die-hard Boston sports fans - were talking about futures bets before the World Series last year," Brockman told theScore on Tuesday. "So we both went in together and bet Red Sox and Patriots (to win a championship), Red Sox and Celtics, and then a prop of three or more (Boston teams to win a title) for 40-1."

With two-thirds of that prop bet complete, Brockman's attention is now directly on the Boston Bruins, who are up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues.

The first leg of the three-team wager cashed with relative ease shortly after Brockman placed it. The Red Sox were -135 favorites to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series and won in five games.

"We assumed the Red Sox would beat the Dodgers," Brockman admitted. "But even when we made the bet, the Patriots weren't looking like a Super Bowl team."

Indeed, as we've so often seen in recent years, the Patriots - and a 41-year-old Tom Brady - faced increased skepticism. New England was 5-2 when the Red Sox celebrated their championship at Dodger Stadium, but the market soon cooled on the Patriots following three losses over a five-week span, and their Super Bowl odds fell to 10-1.

The Patriots righted the ship with two straightforward victories to close out the regular season and then proceeded to crush the Los Angeles Chargers in the divisional round.

It wasn't until the AFC Championship Game that Brockman really started to sweat, as New England was down 31-24 on the road to the Kansas City Chiefs.

"So the guy who I have the bet with, we go back and forth about nearly every Boston game," he said. "So, needless to say, there was lots of cursing and wishing we had hedged before the game since it was such a long shot. But once the game started, we knew how it was ending. We have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Being a spoiled Boston fan is fun."

The two friends were right, as Brady orchestrated a textbook two-minute drill to tie it up. The Patriots then won the coin toss in overtime and marched down the field to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl, which they emerged from victorious by a score of 13-3 against the Los Angeles Rams.

Now, this months-long wager comes down to the Bruins, an outcome Brockman certainly wasn't expecting in October.

"The thing is, I don't even really follow the Bruins," he said. "I'm definitely someone who only pays attention when they're in the playoffs. My buddy and I didn't think they'd be the ones to have a shot in this bet. We were banking on the Celtics getting their stuff together and make a Finals run where we could hedge big with the Warriors."

But as the Bruins mowed down their postseason opponents and other Eastern Conference contenders began to fall, Brockman realized the epic long shot may actually pay off.

"When all the top dogs in the Eastern Conference got upset early on, (Tampa Bay Lightning) especially, and (Washington Capitals), we knew the Bruins had a real shot at winning the Cup and making this insane 40-1 shot a possibility," he said.

"It's insane. Never thought it would be the Bruins who would be the ones to make this happen, but here we are."

Perhaps the most incredible part of it all is that Brockman - an on-air producer for "The Rich Eisen Show" - rarely mixes betting with fandom.

"I'm not one to normally bet on my teams," he said. "It was more of a, 'Hey, these are crazy odds, what if it happened and we didn't bet it?' So we did."

After breaking his habit for those crazy odds, Brockman is just three Bruins wins away from getting off the roller coaster and cashing in on his all-Boston bet.

Alex Kolodziej is theScore's betting writer. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 11 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AlexKoIodziej.

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