St Louis Blues win first Stanley Cup in 52 years, longest wait in NHL franchise history
- The American franchise wins its first championship since joining the league in 1967
- Canadian centre Ryan O’Reilly wins the Conn Smythe after leading play-offs in points for his team
The St Louis Blues notched a historic first in franchise history, needing seven gruelling, punishing games to defeat the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals.
Rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington led the way in game seven in Boston with a 32-save performance as the Blues won 4-1, overpowering a Bruins team who looked sluggish on home ice.
The Blues completed a remarkable turnaround this season in the NHL, going from last place in the league as late as January 2, and also matched a single season record in the play-offs with the most road wins with 10. The championship is the team’s first in franchise history since joining the league in 1967, which is 52 years ago. The Blues lost in the Stanley Cup finals in its first three seasons of existence, getting swept each time, the third to the Boston Bruins in the 1969-70 season. That was the last time the team had made the finals.
Binnington, 25, is the first rookie to win all 16 of his team’s games in a single play-off. He’s the 14th freshmen to earn a Stanley Cup clinching win and also the fourth to do so in a game seven.
Ryan O’Reilly and Alex Pietrangelo scored late into first period for the Blues, while Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford scored in the third for a 4-0 lead which sealed the deal.
The Bruins were favourites heading into the series but could not deal with the Blues size and strength, as they got pounded in hits by a larger squad.
Tuukka Rask had 16 stops for the Bruins in the loss and competed with Binnington all series as the two put on a goaltending duel for fans.
O’Reilly, who won the Conn Smyth as the league’s most valuable player in the play-offs, came second in points overall and had seven goals and 14 assists in 25 games. He was in his first season with the Blues, coming over from the Buffalo Sabres.
One of the notable Blues to win the Cup was defenceman Jay Bouwmeester, who played in 1,184 games with three different teams before finally winning it all.
The 2019 NHL Play-offs will largely be remembered for the vast amount of upsets that took place. The Lightning, who finished with the best regular season record in the league, got swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games in shocking fashion. The first round alone featured five upsets according to seeding which also saw the defending Stanley Cup champions the Washington Capitals lose to the Carolina Hurricanes, who only squeaked into the play-offs in the final days of the season.
