Blues hit high note
St. Louis belts out winning tune to raise Stanley Cup
BOSTON — Jordan Binnington was waiting patiently, as NHL rookies learn to do, while the Stanley Cup was passed from teammate to teammate across the recently conquered ice of the new Boston Garden.
Thirteen St. Louis Blues players took their turn with the trophy, raising it above their heads, lowering it for a kiss, posing for a picture.
Finally, understudy Jake Allen gave Binnington, the starting goaltender, a gentle shove, and the Game 7 star timidly skated forward to receive the Cup and cap off one of the great rookie runs in league history.
Binnington stopped 32 shots and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’reilly scored for the fourth straight game Wednesday night as the Blues won the Cup with a 4-1 Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins.
It was the first championship for the Blues, who entered the league in 196768, when the NHL first expanded from its Original Six to 12 teams.
Alex Pietrangelo added a goal and an assist and Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for St. Louis, which had the worst record in the league in early January but won 30 of its final 49 regular-season games.
Binnington, who was pulled from a 7-2 loss in Game 3, took a shutout into the final minutes, and the Blues were never really in danger after scoring twice in the final few minutes of the first period.
“He bounced back. We knew he would,” Pietrangelo said. “Unbelievable first period. His confidence, his swagger, his belief in himself — unbelievable.”
Coach Craig Berube, who took over when Mike Yeo was fired in November, is the fourth coach in the past 11 years hired in midseason to lead his team to the NHL title.
“Once we pulled it together, we were tough to beat,” Berube said.
Matt Grzelcyk scored the Bruins’ only goal and Tuukka Rask stopped 16 shots for Boston.
Boston had a 33-20 edge in shots, but the Blues went ahead at the end of the first period on goals by Reilly and Pietrangelo about three minutes apart. The second period was scoreless, then Schenn put it out of reach with 8:35 to play and Sanford made it 4-0 before the Bruins spoiled Binnington’s bid for a shutout.
St. Louis can stop singing the blues. It’s time to play “Gloria,” the 1980s pop song by Laura Branigan the team adopted as its signature tune.
The Blues won three times in Boston during the series and an NHL record-tying 10 road games in the postseason.
O’reilly, awarded the Conn Smythe as postseason MVP, is the first player since Wayne Gretzky to score in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games.
“There’s just so many people I want to thank,