St. Louis Blues defeat Boston Bruins to win first-ever Stanley Cup
The St. Louis Blues defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Wednesday to win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup. Ryan O'Reilly scored for the fourth straight game and rookie Jordan Binnington stopped 32 shots in Game 7 at TD Garden in Boston.
Alex Pietrangelo added a goal and an assist and Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for St. Louis. Matt Grzelcyk scored the Bruins' only goal, and Tuukka Rask stopped 16 shots for Boston.
The Blues woke up on New Year's morning with the worst record in the league but won 30 of their final 49 regular-season games and soared through the playoffs to reach the final for the first time since 1970. 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.
The victory gave the Blues a chance to avenge the 1970 NHL Final, when the Bruins swept the Blues, according to CBS Sports.