After sitting in last place in the NHL with 36 points on January 3rd, the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins by a score of 4-1 in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night for their first title in franchise history. Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, who set an NHL rookie record with his 16th victory of the postseason, made 32 saves in the win. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask recorded 16 stops in the loss. The Blues tied an NHL record with their 10th road win of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
First Period
Center Ryan O’Reilly deflected defenseman Jay Bouwmeester’s shot through Rask’s five-hole to give the Blues the first goal of the game on only their third shot 16:47 in.
The @StLouisBlues strike FIRST in Game 7! #StanleyCup
📺: @nbc
💻: https://t.co/svSJ7srvwn pic.twitter.com/3genf4cP7t— #StanleyCup Game 7 on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 13, 2019
Captain Alex Pietrangelo backhanded a shot top shelf on Rask to the blocker-side after pulling off a toe-drag once he got a pass from forward Jaden Schwartz to make it 2-0 with 7.9 seconds left.
The Captain. 🚨
📺: @nbc
💻: https://t.co/svSJ7srvwn pic.twitter.com/ZDZpS3oAon— #StanleyCup Game 7 on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 13, 2019
Prior to Ryan O’Reilly, the last player to score a goal in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games was Wayne Gretzky in 1985 (Games 2-5, Oilers vs. Flyers). O’Reilly is the first player in NHL history to score in Games 4, 5, 6, and 7 of a Stanley Cup Final series. #StanleyCup
— Elias Sports Bureau (@EliasSports) June 13, 2019
The Blues led 14-11 in hits, 9-2 in blocked shots, and had no giveaways while Boston had five after 20 minutes.
The Bruins led 12-4 in shots and 5-2 in takeaways after one. They won 61% of the draws and went 0-for-1 on the man advantage in the first.
veteran move by Brad Marchand hustling to the bench to avoid eating the -1 pic.twitter.com/jdoRUEWf4M
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) June 13, 2019
Second Period
The Blues led 25-21 in hits, 14-7 in blocked shots, and had only four giveaways while the Bruins had 12 after a scoreless second period.
The Bruins led 23-10 in shots, including 11-6 in the middle frame, and 6-5 in takeaways after two. They won 51% of the draws and went 0-for-1 on the power-play in the opening 40 minutes.
Third Period
Binnington extended the pad to stop forward Joakim Nordstrom midway through the third on a rebound opportunity.
The save heard around St. Louis. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/Od9Y3TxihI
— #StanleyCup Game 7 on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 13, 2019
Center Brayden Schenn one-timed forward Vladimir Tarasenko’s pass from the slot past the glove of Rask to extend the Blues’ lead to 3-0 with 8:35 left.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.
Well these eyes see the window for a goal. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/xXBJEYEWr9
— #StanleyCup Game 7 on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) June 13, 2019
New England native and forward Zach Sanford one-timed forward David Perron’s pass in front of Rask to make it 4-0 with 4:38 to go.
Defenseman Matt Gryzleck made it 4-1 with a shot that went off of the bar and in after getting a pass in the slot with 2:10 left.
The Blues led 36-27 in hits, 21-7 in blocked shots, 8-6 in takeaways, and had only seven giveaways while the Bruins had 13.
The Bruins led 33-20 in shots and won 51% of the draws. They went 0-for-1 on the power-play.
Each team posted 10 shots in the third period.
By Harrison Brown