St. Louis rolls into final for first time since 1970
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues are marching into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in decades.
Pretty sweet moment for Vladimir Tarasenko and Co.
David Perron had a goal and an assist, Jordan Binnington picked up his franchise-record 12th playoff win and the Blues eliminated the San Jose Sharks with a 5-1 win in Game 6 of the Western Conference final Tuesday night.
Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Tyler Bozak also scored for St. Louis, which will face the Boston Bruins for the championship. Ivan Barbashev got an empty-netter with 2:15 left, Ryan O'Reilly had three assists and Binnington stopped 25 shots.
“We always believed we could do this,” said Tarasenko, who had a point in every game of the series. “But it's still an unbelievable feeling.”
St. Louis won three consecutive games to advance to the franchise's first Cup Final since 1970. That series also pitted the Blues against the Bruins, who won 4-0.
Game 1 is Monday night in Boston.
Laura Branigan's “Gloria” blared over the speakers at the Blues' home arena after the latest victory on an improbable run from last in the NHL Jan. 3 to one of the last two teams standing. The turnaround came after Craig Berube replaced Mike Yeo as coach in November and Binnington took over as the starting goaltender in January after being recalled from the San Antonio Rampage.
“We always had the talent,” said Doug Armstrong, the general manager and president of hockey operations for the Blues. “But we were finding ways to lose games instead of winning them. They turned it around and just haven't stopping going.”
Berube gave his team credit for working its way through a coaching change and several months of disappointing play.
“We were trying to get on the right track,” Berube said. “Once we got going in January and February, I knew we had a good hockey team. Once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen — and it did.”
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said it was a matter of confidence.
“We all bought in and eventually we figured out just how good we can be,” he said. “It's a tightknit group. But that adversity, it made us work harder for each other.”
San Jose played without injured forwards Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl and defenseman Erik Karlsson. Injury attrition played a role for the Sharks, who played seven games in each of the first two rounds.
San Jose took a 2-1 lead in the series by winning Game 3 in overtime on a goal that included an uncalled hand pass but was outscored 12-2 in losing the final three games.
“I think the two hardest, heaviest teams are in the final,” San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. “There wasn't any room out there. And when there was — Binnington made some saves.”
Logan Couture had four of the Sharks' 26 shots on goal.
“When you lose this opportunity and it gets snatched away from you, it's very hard to take,” Couture said.