Boston Bruins vs St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup Final Preview

Most fans know the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins met in the Stanley Cup final in 1969/1970 with the Bruins sweeping the series while Bobby Orr dove head first through the air after clinching the series in overtime. They met again in 1971/72 when Boston took the brooms out once again in the semifinals for their second and last playoff showdown. In their eight playoff encounters up to now the Bruins have won every game while outscoring St. Louis to the tune of 48-15.

Boston isn’t as dominant during the regular seasons though with a record of 66-42-11 in 137 games along with 18 ties. Do you remember them? But due to the introduction of overtime losses and shootouts the Blues record is a bit more straightforward at 53-66 with 18 ties as well. The sides met twice in 2018/19 with the Bruins winning 5-2 in Beantown in January and the Blues edging them 2-1 at home in a shootout five weeks later.

In case you forgot how the teams ending up in the Final, Boston edged the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round then beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in six and swept the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Eastern Conference. The Blues downed the Jets in six in the first round then went the distance with the Dallas Stars before eliminating the San Jose Sharks in six to top the West.

The Bruins are playing in their 20^th Cup Final and hoping to win the trophy for the seventh time while the Blues are playing in their fourth Final and aiming for the franchise’s first championship since joining the NHL in 1967/68. Boston will have home-ice advantage should it go seven games and the Blues are also trying to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup after sitting in last place in the league after 20 regular season games. They resided in the basement on January 3^rd with a mark of 15-18-4 and then caught fire by going 30-10-5 the rest of the way. Boston is 6-3 at home in the postseason while the Blues are 7-2 on the road.

Craig Berube took over as the Blues’ head coach on November 21^st when Mike Yeo was fired. He’s now the 11^th coach in league annals to reach the Final after taking over a team during the season. The Bruins finished second in the Atlantic Division, the Eastern Conference and league this year at 49-24-9 for 107 points. They enter the series on a roll with seven straight wins in which they’ve outscored the opposition 28-9. The Blues accumulated 99 points from their 45-28-9 mark and placed third in the Central Division and fifth in the West.

Special Teams

Boston has scored 3.35 goals per game in the playoffs and allowed 1.94 against. The Blues have scored 3.00 per game while conceding 2.52 an outing. Boston’s power-play is running at a league-best 34 per cent with the penalty killing at 86.3 per cent. St. Louis’ power-play is operating at 19.3 per cent with the penalty killing at 78 per cent.

Scoring

Boston’s hottest playoff scorers are Brad Marchand with seven goals and 18 points followed by David Pastrnak with seven goals and eight assists while Patrice Bergeron has five goals and eight helpers. That trio has combined for 22 of 57 Boston goals or 38.6 per cent of them along with six game-winners. David Krejci has four goals and 14 points and six players have hit double digits in points including Charlie Coyle and blue liner Torey Krug with 12 each. Nineteen different Bruin players have scored in the postseason to set a new league record.

For the Blues, the hot stick belongs to Jaden Schwartz with 12 goals and 16 points. Schwartz scored just 11 times in 69 games during the regular season and is now one goal behind Brett Hull’s franchise record for goals in a single postseason. Vladimir Tarasenko netted three goals and five assists in the series against San Jose with at least one point in each game and has 13 in the playoffs. Ryan O’Reilly has three goals and 14 points and David Perron has notched six goals and 13 points. Eighteen St. Louis players have scored in the postseason and Alex Pietrangelo has 13 points to set a franchise record form most points by a rearguard in a postseason. Seven players have reached double digits including blue liner Colton Parayko with 11 and Tyler Bozak with 10.

Goaltending

Boston’s 32-year-old Tuukka Rask has gone 12-5 during the postseason with a league-low goals-against average of 1.84 goals-against average and .save percentage of 94.2 with a pair of shutouts. Rask has gone 6-2-4 in 13 career outings against St. Louis with a save percentage of 92.4 and a GAA of 2.12. He saved 56 of  59 against the Blues this season.

The Blues’ Jordan Binnington, a 25-year-old rookie and one of three finalists for the Calder Trophy, has a 2.36 GAA with a 91.4 save percentage in the playoffs with a shutout while going 12-7. He was called up from the AHL in January and posted a 24-5-1 record in the regular season with a league-low 1.89 GAA along with a save percentage of 92.7. He saved 31 of 32 shots against Boston in his only career outing against them.

Injuries

Boston blue liner and captain Zdeno Chara should be ready to go in game one. However, defenseman Kevan Miller and forward Chris Wagner aren’t expected to play…at least in game one. For the Blues, rearguard Vince Dunn is out of action.

Notes

St. Louis is 11-0 when leading after two periods in the playoffs and 9-1 when they score during the first six minutes of a game. The Bruins are 6-13 in the Stanley Cup Final while the blues are 0 for 3.