Back around the Winter Classic, it might have been a little hard to believe the Boston Bruins would be playing in the Stanley Cup Final mere months later.
However, it certainly was much, much harder to envision the St. Louis Blues making it to the final round.
Yet here we are, anxiously awaiting puck drop in Game 1 of the 2019 Cup Final, which will be Monday.
Just past the start of the new year, the Blues quite literally were the worst team in the NHL, but they roared back down the stretch to finish third in the Central Division. Now, they’re in their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970 — when they were swept by the Bruins, a series that culminated with the iconic Bobby Orr goal.
So far this postseason, the Bruins have defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games, the Columbus Blue Jackets in six and the Carolina Hurricanes in four. The Blues, meanwhile, had to knock off the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.
With the start of the series (finally) around the corner, here’s what you should know about the Blues.
2018-19 record: 45-28-9 (99 points), third in the Central Division, fifth in the Western Conference
Under the direction of Mike Yeo to begin the season, St. Louis got off to a 7-9-3 start. That got Yeo, a perennial underachiever, canned. Craig Berube took over on an interim basis, and after a few more weeks of clunking, the Blues started stringing together wins, proceeding to go 38-19-6 the rest of the way.
Early in the season, teams wondered which players they might be able to poach from the Blues, but St. Louis played so well ahead of the trade deadline that they elected not to sell — a decision that seems to be paying off.
Boston vs. St. Louis season series: Tied 1-1
January 17 at Boston: Bruins 5-2
Tied 2-2 heading into the third period, the Bruins scored three goals (an empty-netter included) to earn the 5-2 victory. Equally as exciting as the third-period scoring was the scrap between Zdeno Chara and Pat Maroon.
February 23 at St. Louis: Blues 2-1 (shootout)
Alex Steen’s first-period goal and Chris Wagner’s second-period tally led to the game getting sent to a shootout. It took six rounds to determine a winner, and Sammy Blais’ score in the sixth round proved to be the winner.
First round: Beat the Winnipeg Jets in six games
The Blues had to face the trendy Stanley Cup pick, the Winnipeg Jets, in the opening round. The road team won the first four games of the series, but St. Louis bucked that trend by winning in Game 5 before closing the series in six. Jaden Schwartz had a hat trick in the clincher, helping the Blues erase a two-goal deficit before scoring the game-winner with 15 seconds left.
Second round: Beat the Dallas Stars in seven games
One of the more exciting series this postseason, the Blues fell behind 3-2 best-of-seven set but claimed Games 6 and 7 to keep their season alive. St. Louis peppered Ben Bishop with 52 shots in a double-overtime Game 7, but Maroon broke through with the game-winner 5:50 in the second OT.
Third round: Beat the San Jose Sharks in six games
A true testament to the Blues’ resolve, it would have been real easy for them to lay down and die in this series. St. Louis fell behind 2-1 due to Erik Karlsson’s controversial game-winning goal in Game 3, which was the direct result of an obvious hand-pass from Timo Meier. But in direct response, the Blues won the next three games of the series to soar into the final round.
Team rankings (regular season)
Goals per game: 2.98 (15th)
Goals against per game: 2.68 (5th)
Power play: 21.1 percent (10th)
Penalty kill: 81.5 percent (9th)
Blues lines and defense pairings
Jaden Schwartz–Brayden Schenn–Vladimir Tarasenko
Sammy Blais–Ryan O’Reilly–David Perron
Patrick Maroon–Tyler Bozak–Robert Thomas
Ivan Barbashev–Oskar Sundqvist–Alex Steen
Joel Edmundson–Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester–Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn–Carl Gunnarsson
Jordan Binnington
