The St. Louis Blues are 2019 Stanley Cup Champions after a 4-1 win in Game 7 over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night at TD Garden in Boston.
The Blues ended their 52-year (51 seasons) drought without a title as they hadn’t even won a Stanley Cup Final game since joining the league as part of the 1967 expansion. This was their fourth Final appearance. The other three times came in their first three years of existence (1968-70) but they were swept each time.
The Bruins forced a Game 7 after dominating Game 6 in St. Louis on Sunday night. But the Blues bounced back as they dominated Game 7. After going over 16 minutes without a shot in the first period of Game 7, the Blues scored two goals in the final minutes and led 2-0 through the second period. Although the Bruins outshot the Blues, they couldn’t get by St. Louis’ star rookie goalie Jordan Binnington, who led the Blues through a remarkable second half of the season going from last place in the entire league on Jan. 3 to Cup champions five months later.
St. Louis went 16-10 overall in the playoffs, beating the Winnipeg Jets in six games in the first round, the Dallas Stars in another seven-game series in the second round, and got by the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final to reach their first Stanley Cup Final in 39 years. The Bruins ended up with a 15-9 record after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs, Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes in seven, six, and four games respectively.
Ryan O’Reilly was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player of the playoffs, scoring eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 26 games. Binnington was also mentioned as a candidate for the MVP, posting a 2.46 GAA and .914 save percentage.
The Blues are the fourth team of the past decade to end a long drought without a Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks ended a 49-year drought in 2010, and won twice more in 2013 and 2015, the Los Angeles Kings won their first two Stanley Cups in franchise history in 2012 and 2014, and the Washington Capitals won their first ever Cup last year. There are six teams with 30 or more seasons without a Stanley Cup. Maybe one of those droughts will end next season, which will get underway in the fall.