Tag: NHL

Well, I never thought I would be saying this, but tonight begins the first Stanley Cup Finals game in 49 years for the St. Louis Blues. In fact, I’d argue that this is the first meaningful Stanley Cup finals game in team history – though the Blues did make it to the finals each of their first three years, those don’t really count because they grouped all of the original six teams (i.e. the good teams) in one conference, so there was no chance the Blues would beat any team that made the finals.

This time, it should at least be more even. The Blues made it to the final round by dispatching of Winnipeg in 6, and Dallas in 7, while coming back from a 2-1 deficit with inexorable effort against San Jose to take that series in 6 as well.

The Blues are led offensively by Jaden Schwartz who, somewhat inexplicably, has 12 goals in 19 games after scoring only 11 during the regular season. Ryan O’Reilly is next with 14 points, followed by Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron, and Alex Pietrangelo with 13 points. Though others are not quite putting up the points that those guys have been, the Blues have been receiving meaningful, timely, contributions by the likes of Pat Maroon, Robert Thomas, and Tyler Bozak. The team, as a whole, is scoring a rather respectable 3 goals per game (though I’d definitely like to see more).

Defensively, the Blues have allowed an average of 2.52 goals per game (including a couple of empty netters). This is pretty fantastic, and quite honestly happening during a time when Pietrangelo has not really been at his defensive best. The key for the Blues this postseason defensively has been Colton Parayko – who was integral in tempering the production of Logan Couture (which says a lot about just how good Couture is that scoring ‘only’ 5 goals last series was shutting him down).

As far as goaltending, Jordan Binnington has given the Blues what they have not had for years (…forever?) – consistency. Binnington has a .914 save percentage, allowing 2.36 goals per game, but with a quality start percentage of less than 70% and a Goals Saved Above Average of -1.36 (thank you hockey-reference.com). These are generally pretty good, but nothing mind-blowing, and overall a bit worse than what Brian Elliot gave us a few years back, but the evenness of his play – the knowledge that he is not going to go through a multi-game stretch of just being outright awful, is something all Cup contending teams need. It doesn’t matter much if a goalie shuts out a team all four games one round, and can’t stop a beach ball the next.

All this is nice, and it all also probably means nothing because you just can’t apply large-sample statistics to a small-sample series. So my final thoughts are best served not by proffering some hackneyed predictions, but a plea to the Blues: Just win. Please win. Do it for Doug Wickenheiser, who got us all too close. Do it for Brett Hull and Bernie Federko and Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger who spent careers here trying to win one for this city, and came back for a second career when their playing days were done. Do it for Scott Stevens who was unjustly taken away and so badly wanted to come back. Do it for Martin Brodeur and Wayne Gretzky who played a couple games here and decided to make St. Louis their home.

And most importantly – and I can’t stress this enough – unquestionably, undeniably most importantly, do it for me.

Blues in 6.

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

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It has finally come, the rematch of 49 years ago has arrived. the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals is etched in history of Bobby Orr flying through the sky after scoring the game winning goal for the Boston Bruins over the St. Louis Blues. Now it is time for these two to face eachother again.

For the Boston Bruins this will be their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals this decade as they won the Stanley Cup in 2011 over the Vancouver Canucks, and then lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013. The Bruins will look to close the decade with their second Stanley Cup victory over the Blues.

How Did They Get Here?

The Bruins in the first round went to a full seven game series with their long time rivals the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then in the second round the Bruins were able to best the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games, and in the Conference Finals they would sweep the Carolina Hurricanes in four games.

Offense:

In the regular season the Bruins averaged 3.134 Goals Forward, while in the playoffs they have been lead by their top offensive players with Brad Marchand has been leading the way with 7 goals, 11 assists for 18 points. Plus the Bruins have been getting contributions from David Pastrnak (7g, 8a, 15p), David Krejci (4g, 10a, 14p), Patrice Bergeron (8g, 5a, 13p), and trade deadline pickup Charlie Coyle (6g, 6a, 12p). The Bruins top guys have been shut down in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but once they got heated up or found a way to break through the system the other teams utilized, there was nothing that could stop them.

Defense:

On defense the Bruins allowed 2.585 Goals Against per game, and are lead by their captain Zdeno Chara (1g, 2a, 3p) with a +11. Also the Bruins defense has been contributing offensively this postseason led by Torey Krug with 1 goal, and 11 assists for 12 points. Plus the Bruins have been getting contributions from their young defenders in Charlie McAvoy (1g, 6a, 7p +9), and Matt Grzelcyk (3g, 4a, 7p -2), and from their top forwards as well as both Bergeron and Coyle are +8 and +9 respectively.

Goaltending:

For the Bruins they have been getting solid goaltending from Tuukka Rask in all 17 games that they have played this postseason. Rask is 12-5 with a 1.84 GAA and a .942 Save Percentage. Rask has also recorded two shutouts this postseason.

Special Teams:

Powerplay – 50.7% (10th in Regular Season)

Penalty Kill – 79.9% (16th in Regular Season)

The Bruins are atop the league this postseason scoring on 34% of their powerplay opportunities. Also the Bruins are third during the postseason with a 86.3% on the penalty kill.

Final Thoughts:

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Bruins come out of the gate in Game 1 as they will have been off for 11 days at that point. While they have been doing scrimmages to stay fresh, it’s not the same as the real deal. Also there is the storyline now of the sweeps. Starting with the New York Islanders sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins, then getting swept by the Hurricanes, and then the Bruins sweeping Carolina. Does that mean St. Louis is going to sweep the Bruins? Probably not, but there’s still a chance for it to happen.

Prediction: Blues in 6

Thank you for following TXHT’s extensive Playoffs coverage on our 2019 NHL Playoffs page.

TXHT’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage sponsored by: