Writer’s Twitter: @ChrisMottHockey

The 2019 Stanley Cup Final is here, and the Boston Bruins will represent the Eastern Conference while the St. Louis Blues will represent the Western Conference. There are so many story lines for this series and we will no doubt break them down and give you the ultimate guide to this Stanley Cup Final so you can enjoy it. There is no doubt that even though everyone has their favorite hockey team, we are all hockey fans with a passion for this sport. We’ve got no dog in this fight and can enjoy every moment of this final round. Let us break down all the story lines and analysis for this series to see just how fun this Stanley Cup Final will be.

Each Team’s Path

In one of the most wild and bizarre NHL playoffs in recent memory, we finally have two teams left standing. When it comes to the NHL playoffs, the road to the Stanley Cup Final can very much depend on how the dominoes fall. Could the West look different if the Knights won game 7 (which they forced overtime and did not get the job done) or if the Sharks were not falling apart physically and only being held together by band aids? Yes, but anything can happen in the playoffs. The St. Louis Blues absolutely earned their way into the Stanley Cup Final as the true Western Conference Champions and climbed the hardest and most improbable mountain to climb as they went from the worst team in the league in the standings, 31st place out of 31 teams, on January 2nd of this season, to making the playoffs and now playing in the Stanley Cup Finals. There is also the story of how former Devil Patrick Maroon took a home town discount to come home to St. Louis and be with his family and try to win a cup there. There are a lot of chapters and small anecdotes in the Blues season to write a Cinderella story. However, Blues fans will tell you that while “Western Conference Champion” has a nice ring to it, they want “the big one”.

When it comes to the Eastern Conference, most would have assumed that the Boston Bruins would not have gotten past the Tampa Bay Lightning in a second round match-up as most people believed the Bolts would either win the Cup or be in the Finals. Yet Tampa turned into a pumpkin come playoff time and, keeping up with tradition, did not make it to the Stanley Cup Final despite winning the President’s Trophy for best record in the league. In fact, Tampa Bay was swept in the opening round of the playoffs. The beauty of these finals is that no matter how crazy these playoffs were, the Blues and Bruins both earned their way to the Finals and even fought through some controversy to get there which is great for the game, the league, and most importantly the fans.

Does David Backes Haunt the Blues?

David Backes was signed by the Bruins to a five-year contract in the 2016 offseason. He was brought in by the B’s brass to come in and try and help the Bruins win another Cup alongside their core of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Tuuka Rask, and Brad Marchand. Three years later, Backes is now a part of this Bruins team that has made it to the Stanley Cup Final and he is looking to win the first Stanley Cup in his career. Prior to signing with Boston, Backes had spent his entire career with the Blues and was their captain. Now, Backes has a chance to win the Stanley Cup, a sight many Blues fans wanted to see for a long time, though I have feeling this was not the opportunity they had in mind for him to win one.

Ever Heard of “Orr! Bobby Orr!”

That iconic moment in Bruins, NHL, and Boston sports history occurred in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1970. Were you paying attention to the video enough though to notice who the opposing team was that lost their chance to win the Stanley Cup on that goal? Huh, what do you know, that looks like the St. Louis Blues. That was the third year in a row the St. Louis Blues made it to the Cup Final and lost. That game in 1970 was also the last time the St. Louis Blues were in the Stanley Cup Final. They never made it with Backes, Brett Hull, Adam Oates, Wayne Gretzky, Chris Pronger, Curtis Joseph, or any other phenomenal players their franchise has had in their history, and they still do not have a single Stanley Cup Championship. Now, almost half a century later, the Blues have their chance to not only win the Stanley Cup, but to avenge their loss in 1970 to the Bruins and Bobby Orr. The Blues have the opportunity to “Play Gloria” so loud that the entire hockey world will hear it and how fitting it would be to pull it off against the Bruins.

The Bruins are a historic organization and an original six team. They are a founding pillar of the National Hockey League and could use their experience, history, and tradition to motivate and push them through the final round and win the cup. There is a battle of wills here and the team who wins the Cup may not be the one who is better on paper but rather than one who wants it more and does, as the Avengers say, “Whatever It Takes”.

Binnington and Rask May Decide the Series

The two men in goal battled through adversity to even be starting goaltenders for their respective teams and have both helped carry their team to the Finals.

For Rask, he had an up-and-down season and there was even talk of if he was on the decline. Towards the beginning of the year he had to take time off for a personal matter, which surely affected his play early on. Rask was not necessarily lights out in the final stretch of games for the Bruins in the regular season either, but he found his game in the Bruins series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rask and the Bruins were able to knock out solid goaltender Frederik Andersen and the Maple Leafs in the first round yet again. In the series, Rask had a .928 save percentage in seven games. Following the elimination of the Leafs, Rask continued his strong play, saving 201 of 212 shots in a six game series against the Colombus Blue Jackets and posting a .948 save percentage in the process. To prove that was not a fluke, he made 109 saves on 114 shots in the Conference Final sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes with a .956 save percentage. Rask found his game at the right time, and if he keeps this level of play going through the Cup Finals, Boston has a really good shot at winning the Cup. One could even argue that no Bruin would be more deserving of a Conn Smythe Trophy than Rask.

Binnington was called up when the Blues were sitting in the league’s basement and took over the starting role from Jake Allen to help propel the Blues to a playoff spot. In just 30 games started by Binnington this year, he had a record of 24-5-1 with a .927 save percentage, and a 1.89 Goals Against Average. I think it is fair to say that he would be a consensus rookie of the year if he had played more games and been called up earlier seeing as he only played in 32 of 82 games this season for the Blues. Binnington’s play did not slow down in the playoffs and he could potentially be the Conn Smythe Winner like Rask. Against the Winnepeg Jets, Binnington had a .907 save percentage in six games. He would follow that up with .922 save percentage in seven games against the Dallas Stars while winning the goaltending duel between him and Stars goalie Ben Bishop followed by .912 save percentage over six games against the Sharks.

Binnington and Rask both played pivotal roles for the Blues and Bruins reaching the finals and either player could skate away with the Conn Smythe.

Expect This Series to be Low Scoring

Both the Bruins and Blues made their way to the finals by being physical teams, wearing down their opposition while capitalizing on scoring chances, and being backed by superb goaltending. Just looking at some of the stats of each team what everything on paper says proves how similar the two are in their style of play that got them to this point.

Playoff Stats	Games Played	Hits	Shots Blocked	Face-off Percentage	Take- aways
Blues	19	558	274	49.4% (1209 Total Face-offs)	177
Bruins	17	510	247	53.3 $ (1045 Total Face-offs)	122

Goalie	Games Played	Goals Against Average	Save Percentage	Shut-outs
Jordan Binnington (Blues)	19	2.36	.914	1
Tuuka Rask (Bruins)	17	1.84	.942	2

Goal scoring is going to come down to the goaltenders on each side as the Blues and Bruins are close in terms of shots blocked with the Blues having played two more games than the Bruins. St. Louis does have the edge in takeaways which could be huge if that continues in what will more than likely be a low scoring series but again, keep in mind St. Louis has played two more playoff games than Boston has. This series will be physical and will definitely be entertaining to watch as this series easily has the potential to go seven games.

Who We Know is Hurt

Both the Bruins and Blues have battled through the playoffs, which typically means some players are either sidelined or battling through injuries. With that being said, both teams had a decent break before the Finals start in Boston Monday night with the Blues getting five days to rest after knocking out the Sharks and Boston having ten days to rest up after sweeping the Hurricanes. There are some players who we know are playing hurt for their respective sides and we will mention them here. Boston more than likely benefited more from the time off so their players could heal.

St. Louis Blues

Player	Position	Injury	Return
Vince Dunn	Defenseman	Jaw	Not Expected for Game 1

Boston Bruins

Player	Position	Injury	Return
Zdeno Chara	Defenseman	Foot	Expected to Play Game 1
David Krejci	Forward	Illness	Expected to Play Game 1
Brad Marchand	Forward	Hand	Expected to Play Game 1
Kevan Miller	Defenseman	Lower Body	Not Expected for Game 1
Chris Wagner	Forward	Forearm	Not Expected for Game 1

Conn Smythe Front Runners

The Conn Smythe trophy is awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the NHL Playoffs. Here are three candidates from both sides as well as a fourth player deemed to be a dark horse for the award.

Boston Bruins

When it comes to the Bruins, Tuuka Rask is clearly the front runner as he has been absolutely dominant in these playoffs and the stats back that up. Patrice Bergeron would be another player in consideration for the award as he is fourth on the team in points with 8 goals and 5 assists with a 59.3% win percentage on face-offs. The third player is defenseman Torey Krug. Marchand and Pastrnak are first and second in scoring this postseason for the Bruins, but it is important to consider the scope of things guys have done outside of points to help their team win. Krug has been one of Boston’s best defensemen these playoffs, if not the best. He has held his own against top competition and has been solid on the back end when situations such as Chara being injured and out or Charlie McAvoy being suspended. Krug currently has 1 goal and 11 assists with a +6 rating and 24 shots blocked as well as hits. The dark horse for the award for Boston is Marcus Johansson. The former Devil picked up at the trade deadline from New Jersey is seventh on the team in scoring these playoffs with 3 goals and 6 assists but started the first round battling an illness and since then has scored or assisted on key goals for Boston in these playoffs as well as using his skill to generate offense for Boston outside of their top line.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues have fought hard all season to get to the Finals and there is no reason to see that stopping now. Much like the Bruins, a goaltender is certainly in the running for the Conn Smythe on their side and that goaltender of course is Jordan Binnington. While Rask kept opposing teams off the board for Boston, there were times with Binnington where if he did not make 2 or 3 unreal saves in a game, St. Louis does not win and arguably does not get to the finals. The next player in the running is forward Jaden Schwartz who leads the Blues in points this post season with 12 goals and 4 assists. The last player in the running for the Blues is the captain Alex Pietrangelo. He is currently fifth on the team in overall scoring and is a defenseman posting 2 goals and 11 assists but more importantly, also having 40 blocked shots. The dark horse who could also be in the running is former Devil Patrick Maroon. Maroon, the hometown hero, scored the goal in double overtime in St. Louis against the Stars in Game 7 to go to the Conference Finals while also scoring a goal with a little over a minute remaining in game 3 versus the stars to win that game 4-3.

Predictions

Here are the predictions from some of our writing team.

Chris (Myself) – I’m taking the Blues in 7 Games. I think that these two teams are very evenly matched and could see games going to overtime. I am also predicting in this scenario that we see Tuuka Rask of the Boston Bruins winning the Conn Smythe Trophy and being the first player from a losing team to win the Conn Smythe since Jean-Sebastien Giguere won it in 2003 when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim lost to the New Jersey Devils in 7 games. Read the description for the Conn Smythe Trophy again, it does not disallow a player from a losing team to win it although it rarely happens.

James – Taking the Blues in 6 games and has plenty of reasons why. In fact, if you recall back to around the time the playoffs started, we wrote articles about who we the writers felt would win the Cup. Well, James wrote that he picked the Blues to go all the way and you could read why he said that and chose them in his article here. James believes that Jaden Schwartz will win the Conn Smythe for the Blues but also mentioned that if the Bruins won, it would be Rask.

Rob – Taking the Blues in 6 games as well. When it came to his reasoning he was pretty short, clear and brutally honest. “I hate the Boston Bruins” was his reason and that’s what he is sticking with. Rob’s choice for the Conn Smythe is also Jaden Schwartz from the Blues.

Matt – Taking the Blues in 4 games. Many St. Louis Blues fans would surely love to see that happen and that is what Matt is calling in the Finals. Matt also thinks Jaden Schartz will absolutely continue his hot playoff performance and take home the Conn Smythe representing the Blues.

All statistical information in this article was gathered from either nhl.com or hockey-reference.com