St. Louis Suffocates Boston On Bruins' Home Ice, Win First Stanley Cup In 52-Year History Of Blues Franchise
BOSTON (CBS) -- For the third time in four chances, the St. Louis Blues stepped onto Boston's home ice and earned a victory over the Bruins. As a result, they're now Stanley Cup champs.
Ryan O'Reilly scored 16:47 into the game, and Alex Pietrangelo scored with seconds remaining in the first period, staking the Blues to a 2-0 lead that was never in jeopardy the rest of the way.
A pair of third-period goals, made it 4-0, a score that held through the final minutes, as a late goal by Matt Grzelcyk made the final score 4-1 in favor of the Blues.
Tuukka Rask had 16 saves for Boston, while Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for St. Louis.
Binnington came just short of becoming the second player to ever record a shutout in Game 7 of the Cup Final on the road.
The Bruins dominated puck possession in the first period, registering 12 shots on goal and getting off 22 shot attempts. The Blues, by contrast, landed just four shots on goal in their eight total shot attempts, but they certainly made them count.
O'Reilly -- a Bruins killer all series -- redirected a Jay Bouwmeester point shot through Rask's five hole to give the visitors a 1-0 lead 16:47 into the opening period.
With just 8 seconds remaining in the first period, after Brad Marchand tried to exit the ice for a line change but found no teammates ready to hop over the boards, Pietrangelo walked to the doorstep with the puck on his stick and flipped a backhander over Rask to give the Blues a 2-0 lead.
That 2-0 lead held through the second period, as the Blues and Bruins played a much more even period. The Blues nearly made it 3-0 midway through the third when a puck bounced in the air and off the crossbar behind Rask. But Zdeno Chara helped to keep the puck from crossing the line.
Brayden Schenn scored with 8:35 remaining in the third period to make it a 3-0 lead for the visitors.
Zach Sanford -- a native of Salem, Mass. and former Boston College Eagle -- scored with 4:38 remaining to make it 4-0.
It is the first Stanley Cup championship in the 52-year history of the St. Louis Blues franchise.
