Blues Complete Worst to First Turnaround, Win Stanley Cup

The St. Louis Blues got off to a bad start in their 2018-19 NHL season. They replaced their coach in November, but still sank to the bottom of the standings in early January. But they called up rookie goalie Jordan Binnington in December, and he took over as the starter in January. New coach Craig Berube’s system started showing some success as January wore on, and the Blues were on their way back. They won 30 of the last 49 regular season games, finishing with 99 points, just one point behind Central Division winner Nashville. The Blues then beat Winnipeg, Dallas, and San Jose to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, against the Boston Bruins, the team that beat them the last time they were in the Finals, way back in 1970.

It came down to Game 7 of the Finals, the absolute last game of the season. The Bruins had won Game 6 5-1 in St. Louis, sending the series back to Boston for the decisive game. But St. Louis was a much better road team in the playoffs than at home; the final post season stats would show the Blues to be 6-7 at home, and 10-3 on the road.

Though the Bruins would outshoot the Blues 33-20, Binnington would only allow one of those Boston shots to hit the back of the net, and that one late in the game. St. Louis got off to a 2-0 lead in the first, and after a scoreless second period, added two more in the third to put it out of reach. St. Louis won 4-1 and captured the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup in its 52 year history. The worst to first turnaround was complete.