Blues Blast Staggered Sharks, Reach First Stanley Cup Finals Since 1970

Published on 22-May-2019 by J Square Humboldt

NHL    NHL Daily Update

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Blues Blast Staggered Sharks, Reach First Stanley Cup Finals Since 1970

Maybe there was a curse attached to the hand pass that figured so prominently in Game 3.

In the Western Conference finals' decisive Game 6, San José was without the services of the duo involved:

  • Tomáš Hertl, who gloved the puck, got ka-bonged in Game 5 and was too fuzzy to answer the bell afterward; and
  • Erik Karlsson, who scored the goal, had been hobbled by a groin injury for half the season and couldn't get any range of motion in this one.

As well, Joe Pavelski was wiped out by an Alex Pietrangelo hit in Game 5, which put him outta action in Game 6.

 

The hard fact is this series turned on the Blues re-doubling their efforts after that horrendous non-call that gifted Game 3 to the Sharks. They didn't make excuses, they just committed themselves to playing better.

In doing so, they adjusted while San José didn't. They rolled their four lines with renewed energy while the Sharks abandoned combinations that weren't working at the moment.

 

Extra effort, as usual, made a difference. Like when Colton Parayko cleared a sure Logan Couture tip-in that woulda tied the game, and then Braden Schenn followed with a power-play goal half a minute later. Suddenly, instead of a 2-2 situation, the Blues were up, 3-1, and never looked back.

Dudes cruised into the Stanley Cup finals with a decisive 5-1 showing:

 

When the NHL's expansion era began and the Original Six kept to themselves by grouping the newbies in their own division.

St Louis emerged as the best team in that lot, but they never stood a chance at the more established teams in the Stanley Cup finals. Dudes were swept each of the three seasons they got there.

They were the club posterized by Bobby Orr and his famous celebration leap in 1970 after scoring the goal that brought Boston their first Cup since 1941.

 

What're the odds St Louis gets the Bruins again after 49 years?

This time around, the Blues will have a chance.