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CHAPTER 1

Stanley Cup Final vs. Boston, Game 1

Bruins 4, Blues 2

May 27, 2019 • Boston, Massachusetts

Beantown Meltdown

Despite Surging Ahead, Blues Still Can't Win in Stanley Cup Final

By Jim Thomas

It now is 51 years and counting, but the Blues still haven't won a game in the Stanley Cup Final.

They were swept in four games in their three previous Cup Final appearances — in 1968 and 1969 against the Montreal Canadiens and in 1970 against the Boston Bruins.

On Monday night it was same story, different century.

The Blues looked good early, jumping to a 2-0 lead early in the second period. But with towel-waving Robert Kraft, owner of football's New England Patriots in the house, Boston stormed back for a 4-2 victory at TD Garden in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.

It was the Bruins' eighth straight victory in these playoffs — they have outscored their opponents 32-11 in that stretch. And it ran their postseason record to 9-0 against the Blues, including a 4-0 sweep in the 1970 Stanley Cup Final, the last time the Blues were in the title round.

"We've been real disciplined most of the playoffs pretty much," coach Craig Berube said. "We weren't tonight obviously with five penalties. We gotta be better there."

Entering Monday's contest, the Blues were the least-penalized team in the playoffs this season, spending an average of 6.18 minutes in the penalty box per game. That wasn't the case Monday, when they were whistled for five penalties compared to two for Boston.

"I'm not gonna judge the calls, but they did happen," the Blues' David Perron said. "We were in the box too much and that gave them the chance to get their touches and kinda get going in their game and shoot pucks on net.

"The number (of shots) looked bad and a lot of it happened on the power play. And we just didn't play good enough in the second."

No they didn't. After taking a 2-0 lead one minute into the second period on Vladimir Tarasenko's ninth goal of the playoffs, it was all Boston.

Connor Clifton got behind the Blues' defense for a tap-in goal on a pinpoint pass from Sean Kuraly 76 seconds after Tarasenko's goal. Clifton beat his former teammate from the Providence Bruins, goalie Jordan Binnington, on the play.

Charlie McAvoy scored on the power play with 7:19 left in the period to tie the game at 2-2. And then Kuraly got the winner 5:21 into the third period, getting the puck past Joel Edmundson and then Binnington during a scramble in front of the net.

The Blues were outshot 18-3 in the second period and 30-12 over the final two periods.

"It's just a reflection of we didn't have the puck down low," the Blues' Jay Bouwmeester said. "We just played into their hands. It's tough to win when you take five penalties, especially against a team that has a real good power play."

It took several scrambling saves and spectacular saves by Binnington to keep the Blues in it before Brad Marchand scored an empty-net goal with 1:49 left.

"When that first goal went in they got some momentum, and then a big push there," said Binnington, who made 34 saves. "You could feel them coming and they were coming hard and the rink was buzzing."

In comparison, the Blues mustered only 20 shots and went the last 11:44 of the second and the first 4:33 of the third without a shot on goal — a total drought of 16:17.

"I think we're fine in here," Perron said. "We know what we did is we went to the box too much. We lost our composure a little bit. We were not getting to our game enough below the goal line, things like that.

"But I think we're gonna be a lot better next game."

The Bruins entered the game with a scalding 34 percent success rate on the power play in the postseason, so the Blues were playing into their hands by sending out the Boston power play so many times. And the Blues weren't always happy about the calls.

Edmundson was sent off for high-sticking former Blues captain David Backes 5½ minutes into the second period.

Edmundson reacted as if he thought Backes was guilty of embellishment, and gave a shove to Backes in the back while the Boston forward was on the ice.

The Blues killed that one off. They weren't as fortunate 5½ minutes later when Oskar Sundqvist was sent off for hooking, at the 11:04 mark of the second. Sundqvist complained about that call as well, drawing boos from the crowd at TD Garden. That penalty led to the game-tying goal by McAvoy.

"Yeah, I mean there's a couple where we weren't sure," Perron said. "But it is what it is. ... It's a fast game out there and we just gotta make sure our sticks aren't in there. Same with my penalty."

This is Boston's 20th Stanley Cup Final and Monday marked its first victory in those 20 when trailing by two or more goals.

But it was more than the penalties that stymied St. Louis. The Blues just couldn't generate anything for most of the final two periods, as a quick, aggressive Boston squad kept the Blues bottled up in their own zone much of the time.

"They pressure you. They come hard," Berube said. "They're a quick team. They get on you. They've got good sticks. They do a lot of good things. ... They force you into bad situations with the puck a lot of times."

And in terms of physical play, they matched the Blues hit by hit. By game's end Boston had 32 hits to the Blues' 33. A hit by Torey Krug leveled Robert Thomas midway through the third period and the Blues' rookie did not return.

Stanley Cup Final vs. Boston, Game 2

Blues 3, Bruins 2 (OT) May 29, 2019 • Boston, Massachusetts

Finals First

Gunnarsson's OT Goal Delivers First Title-Series Victory in Blues History

By Jim Thomas

Some call him Boom-Boom, because he doesn't exactly have the hardest shot around.

"Tonight it was hard, so I'm happy about that," said teammate and fellow Swede Oskar Sundqvist.

Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson had more than enough "boom" to silence TD Garden and give the Blues their first victory in a Stanley Cup Final in franchise history.

His goal with 3 minutes 51 seconds gone in overtime gave the Blues a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins and sent the best-of-seven series back to St. Louis tied 1-1.

"He's been around for a long time," Joel Edmundson said. "I think that was the biggest goal of his career and it couldn't have come at a better time."

Mere minutes after the dramatic game-winner, the story behind the story leaked out.

"Craig (Berube) said that he met him at the (urinal) after the third period," Sundqvist said. "And Gunny said all I need is one more chance. So it worked out."

That it did. With just 1:57 left in regulation, Gunnarsson's shot hit the corner of the net where the post and the crossbar meet. It came oh-so-close to going in.

He made amends in overtime, shooting a one-timer from just inside the blueline through traffic and past Boston goalie Tuukka Rask. It was Gunnarsson's first goal in 56 career playoff games.

And in this memorable Blues playoff run, it ranks right up there with Jaden Schwartz's "lucky pinball" (as Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck called it) with 15 seconds left to win Game 5 against the Jets. Or Pat Maroon's double-overtime Game 7 winner against Dallas. And Robert Bortuzzo's game-winning backhand in Game 3 against San Jose.

Gunnarsson, by the way, confirmed the "restroom" conversation with Berube.

"I can't deny that," Gunnarsson said. "That's where it happened. That makes it even more fun I guess. It's a good story.

"I was close in the third with the post and I had a little talk in the locker room between periods there — before the OT — and I just told him I needed one more," Gunnarsson said.

The Blues bounced back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to tie the game at 2-2 on goals by first Bortuzzo and then Vladimir Tarasenko. That all happened in the first period, and that was all the scoring until Gunnarsson's game-winner — which came as Boston was about to be called for tripping Alexander Steen on his way to the net.

Ryan O'Reilly, who came on the ice after goalie Jordan Binnington left on the delayed penalty, got the primary assist.

The Blues controlled most of the third period, wearing down the Bruins with a season-high 50 hits. Boston also got worn down on the back end, playing two periods-plus with only five defensemen after Matt Grzelcyk was injured after absorbing a check from Sundqvist along the boards with 2:03 left in the first.

According to Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, Grzelcyk was sent to the hospital for tests and evaluation. Sundqvist was penalized for crosschecking on the play and declined to comment on the hit after the game.

But David Backes, the former Blues captain and current Bruin, wasn't shy about offering his opinion.

"I don't think that's a hit we want in our game," Backes said. "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 defensemen in this series by the end of it.

"That's in somebody else's hands. That's something I think if I'm making that hit, I'm probably watching from the bleachers for a few (games), but we'll see what happens with their player."

It was one of five penalties called against the Blues in the game. They have been in the box 10 times so far in this series to five for the Bruins. But the Blues overcame that. They overcame the early Boston goals by Charlie Coyle and Joakim Nordstrom, and they came out breathing fire in the overtime session, controlling the puck for much of sudden death.

"We still had energy," Edmundson said. "Our team did a good job of wearing them down throughout the 60 minutes (of regulation). We knew we had more energy than them going into the overtime, so we just laid it all on the line and we stuck to our game plan."

So the bounce-back Blues struck again Wednesday. Their Stanley Cup Final demise, roundly predicted as near certainty in some corners, was put on hold. The Blues have taken away home ice advantage from the Bruins.

When informed Tuesday that Game 1 losers end up losing the Cup Final series 77 percent of the time, Tarasenko told reporters: "This is on your side to tell some cool stats and everything else. But that's not in our heads."

Well, here's another cool stat to put in your head. Or not.

Teams winning Game 2 have gone on to win the Cup 74.7 percent of the time since 1939 (when the best-of-seven format was introduced).

So as Blues fans step back from the ledge once again, the Blues head home with momentum.

"It's a great sports fanbase and a great sports city," said Binnington, who stopped 21 of 23 shots. "They deserve it. We're happy to play for them and we're having fun doing it, playing together. We're happy to go home and perform in front of them with them on our side."

St. Louis was 0-13 in Cup Final games until Wednesday. They also were 0-9 all-time against the Bruins in the playoffs, dating back to that four-game Boston sweep in the 1970 Stanley Cup and had been outscored 5217 in those games.

"It's great. We're not done yet, but it's obviously pretty cool," Edmundson said. "We just excited to go back to St. Louis with a 1-1 split."

They won without rookie Robert Thomas, scratched from the lineup with what's believed to be a wrist injury. Coach Craig Berube said after the morning skate that Thomas' absence was not related to the monster hit he absorbed from Torey Krug in Game 1.

Stanley Cup Final vs. Boston, Game 3

Bruins 7, Blues 2

June 1, 2019 • St. Louis, Missouri

From Frenzy to Frustration

BLues Fall Flat in First Stanley Cup Final Game in St. Louis Since 1970

By Jim Thomas

Some 17,924 days ago, the Blues last played host to a Stanley Cup Final game. On May 5, 1970 to be exact, the Blues lost to these same Boston Bruins 6-2 at The Arena.

Well, 49 years later, the Blues were Cup Final hosts once more. It wasn't worth the wait.

Three days after recording their first-ever Stanley Cup Final victory, the Blues fell well short of their first-ever home Cup Final win — losing 7-2 to the Bruins before 18,789 at Enterprise Center.

The Bruins sure know how to spoil a party. With the city abuzz with Cup fever, and the crowd as jacked up as it's been all season or maybe in years, the eagerly-anticipated contest turned into a huge letdown.

No amount of celebrities or star athletes in attendance could change the momentum Saturday.

St. Louis actors Jon Hamm and Jenna Fischer were in the house. So was Olympic star Jackie Joyner-Kersee and former St. Louis Rams Isaac Bruce and Chris Long.

Even Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was in the stands, shown on the video board wearing a Blues jersey and chugging a beer.

But Boston had almost as many power-play goals as the Blues had celebrity sightings. The Bruins scored four times with the man advantage — on just four shots — and finished with seven Bruins scoring a goal apiece.

The Blues were missing one of their top penalty-kill players in the suspended Oskar Sundqvist. But 4-for-4?

"There were some deflections," coach Craig Berube said. "Two of them. One went off of (Patrice) Bergeron with a deflection — we didn't get his stick. One went off (Jay) Bouwmeester's stick and in. We've got to be better. Penalty kill's got to be better."

The Blues had been the least-penalized team in the playoffs entering the Cup Final, but you wouldn't know it by what's transpired three games into this series. The Blues have been whistled for 17 penalties in three games, and spent 14 minutes in the box on seven infractions Saturday.

"Well, we do have to limit the penalties for sure," captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "We know they have a dangerous power play and we've been flirting with danger here the whole series, and it burnt us tonight. But in saying that, we've got to do a better job of killing them tonight and we didn't.

"That's why they won the hockey game."

Penalties or not, it wasn't the best night for rookie goaltender sensation Jordan Binnington. He was pulled for the first time in his NHL career after allowing the first five goals.

"I've gotta do a better job of giving us a chance to win," Binnington said. "Three goals in the first, that's never good."

After a quick start for the Blues — Boston didn't even have a shot on goal for the first six minutes — the Bruins scored three times in the first period, including twice in the final 2 minutes 20 seconds.

After Torey Krug made it a 5-1 Boston lead with 7:48 left in the second, Binnington was replaced by Jake Allen. Krug's goal came on the shot that deflected off Bouwmeester's stick.

"My confidence level's really high (in Binnington)," Berube said afterwards. "Five goals he allowed, so he had seen enough. We just wanted to pull him and get him ready for the next game."

Allen had not played at home since a Jan. 8 start against the Dallas Stars. And he hadn't played at all in nearly two months, since a 3-2 shootout loss at Chicago on April 3.

Like the Blues as a whole, Binnington has shown a knack for bouncing back strong after defeats. He'll be put to the test on that front when Game 4 rolls around on Monday.

"It's a loss," Binnington said. "I'm not happy with that. We're going to regroup and prepare for the next game."

"It's not his fault at all," David Perron said. "I'm sure he's disappointed but it has nothing to do (with him). If there's one reason we're here, it's because of him.

"Games like that, we don't want them to happen but it did tonight. Much like the hand pass against San Jose — even though it's a different situation — but we have to find a way to turn the page and come back way better."

So Boston is up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, halfway home to its seventh NHL championship. Meanwhile, the Blues must win three of the final four to win their first Cup.

St. Louis trailed San Jose two games to one in the Western Conference Final, and trailed Dallas three games to two in the second round, yet went on to win those series. They'll need another series comeback to take the Cup.

While Binnington struggled, Tuukka Rask was very good in goal Saturday for Boston. Former Blues captain David Backes was a constant agitator in a game that featured all kinds of scrums and skirmishes.

Besides Sundqvist, who'll return for Game 4, the Blues were also missing Robert Thomas (wrist) and Vince Dunn (mouth, head).

There was tremendous energy in the building at the start of the game, and the Blues rode that wave for a while, outshooting the Bruins 5-0 over the first six minutes of play.

But the Bruins gradually took control of the first period — and the game — draining the life out of the building and a fan base that came ready to see history. What they saw instead was one of the Blues' worst postseason losses ever.

The seven Boston goals were the most allowed by the Blues since an 8-3 loss to Detroit in the conference semifinals in 1996. The franchise record for most goals allowed in the postseason is 10 — against these same Bruins in 1972.

Perron bristled when asked if the buildup to this game perhaps resulted in too much nervous energy for the Blues.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't know. I wasn't nervous."

But could the Blues have been too pumped up for one of the bigger nights in St. Louis sports history?

"You can say a lot of things," he said. "We'll look at some video tomorrow and try to find that out."

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Excerpted from "Glorious!"
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Copyright © 2019 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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