Blues-Bruins: how St. Louis went from last place to a Game 7 Cup

The building was TD Garden. The date was June 12, 2019. And the St. Louis Blues, a team that had been the worst in the NHL a little over five months earlier, were one win away from their first Stanley Cup.

Ryan O'Reilly put them ahead at 16:47 of the first period. Alex Pietrangelo made it 2-0 at 19:52, with eight seconds left before intermission. Boston spent the rest of the night pushing. The Bruins outshot St. Louis 33-20, and rookie goalie Jordan Binnington turned away 32 of the 33 shots he faced.

Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford scored in the third. Matt Grzelcyk got one back late for Boston, and it only changed the final: Blues 4, Bruins 1. A franchise that joined the league in 1967 finally had its Cup, and it won it on the road in Game 7.

On Thursday night the Bruins visit St. Louis again. The Blues' lineup from that night is almost entirely gone. A few faces remain, and one of them has switched sides. Here is how the Blues got from last place to that night in Boston, and who is still around for the next chapter.

Last place on Jan. 3

The 2018-19 season started badly enough that it cost a coach his job. St. Louis fired Mike Yeo on Nov. 19 with the team at 7-9-3, and assistant Craig Berube took over as interim head coach.

It did not get better right away. The Blues began 2019 with the worst record in the league, 15-18-4 with 34 points. NHL.com notes they were last in the standings through Jan. 2, and they were still last on Jan. 3.

Then a rookie goalie showed up. Binnington recorded a shutout on Jan. 7 and took over the crease. The Blues ripped off a franchise-record 11 straight wins and went 30-10-5 the rest of the way. They clinched a playoff spot on March 29. The final line: 45-28-9, 99 points and a third-place finish in the Central.

The run also picked up a soundtrack. After a Jan. 6 stop at a Philadelphia bar, the players started playing Laura Branigan's "Gloria" after wins. The city adopted it, and a St. Louis radio station, KYKY, played the song for 24 hours straight after playoff series wins.

The road to Game 7

The playoff path was long. St. Louis beat Winnipeg in six games, then Dallas in seven, with Game 7 of that series going to double overtime. San Jose fell in six.

The Final swung back and forth like a heavyweight fight:

• Game 1: Bruins 4, Blues 2 in Boston
• Game 2: Blues 3, Bruins 2 in overtime in Boston
• Game 3: Bruins 7, Blues 2 in St. Louis
• Game 4: Blues 4, Bruins 2 in St. Louis
• Game 5: Blues 2, Bruins 1 in Boston
• Game 6: Bruins 5, Blues 1 in St. Louis
• Game 7: Blues 4, Bruins 1 in Boston

St. Louis won three road games in the Final, and that was the difference. The Blues had a chance to win the Cup at home in Game 6 and got blown out. They had to go back to Boston to finish it.

The individual numbers from that spring still stand out. No rookie before Binnington had been in net for all 16 of a team's playoff wins. He posted a 2.46 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. O'Reilly led the Final with nine points and five goals, set a franchise playoff record with 23 points, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy. He also won the Selke Trophy that year as the league's best defensive forward.

Per NHL.com, no team in the expansion era had ever been last in the standings beyond its 30th game and gone on to lift the Cup. No franchise had waited longer for its first title than the Blues did: 51 seasons. The win also put St. Louis on a short list, as the eighth city with a title in all four major U.S. leagues.

Seven years later

Thursday's game is not a rematch in any real sense. But there are threads.

David Pastrnak played in that Game 7 for Boston. He is now Boston's top scorer: he entered this week leading the team with seven goals and 17 points. Boston comes in at 9-3-1, though it lost 2-1 at Carolina on Tuesday with just 15 shots on goal.

Brandon Carlo was on Boston's blue line that night in 2019. Now he plays for St. Louis, one of the Blues' offseason additions, and coach Jim Montgomery describes him as the team's most stay-at-home defenseman. Alexander Steen was a Blues forward in that Game 7; today he is the team's general manager. Colton Parayko is still on the St. Louis blue line, and Binnington is still in the organization's crease, though Joel Hofer has taken over as the starter. Binnington's start on Tuesday was his first since Oct. 17.

The Blues are 5-6-1, and they have not scored in their last two games. Carolina beat them 4-0 on Oct. 24. Then Montreal won 2-0 on Tuesday, even though St. Louis outshot the Canadiens 46-20. Jacob Fowler stopped all 46.

Boston has also had the upper hand lately. The Bruins won both meetings last season, 5-2 each time.

What it means on the board

The 2019 Game 7 is a good reminder that shot totals and the scoreboard do not always agree. St. Louis won the biggest game in team history on 20 shots against 33. On Tuesday the same team put 46 on net and lost 2-0.

• Saves markets follow volume. If the Blues keep generating shots the way they did Tuesday, the Boston goalie's saves line is the kind of market this game shows up in. Jeremy Swayman entered the week 7-1-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average.
• Goalie news matters on the St. Louis side. Whether it is Hofer or Binnington changes the read on Boston's shots and points markets, so confirm the starter before building around them.
• Totals context: St. Louis has been shut out twice in a row, while Boston scored 6 in two of its last three games. Those two trends pull a total in opposite directions.
• Pastrnak's shots-on-goal and points props are the obvious player markets for Boston, given his share of the team's scoring.

None of that is a pick by itself. It is the research layer that sits between you and the line.

Follow the NHL board and free picks, catch up on NHL recaps, or read how a player prop works before you build anything around Thursday's game.

21+. Research and commentary, not betting advice.