BOSTON – The story line has been beaten to death, dragged through the mud and hoisted on billboards.
But is worth a mention. In January, the St Louis Blues were dead last in the NHL standings and these pages listed them as finished and their brass as misguided in signing several players in the free agency season.
We were wrong, happily.
“We did it, we did it,” Blues forward Pat Maroon said. “I mean, there’s nothing else. We put everything on the line from Jan. 3 on and we deserve this. What a way to finish it.”
On Wednesday night, the Blues completed the Am 12-bar blues turnaround in effortless fashion in Boston with a 4-1 win and finish on a high note.
“We knew it was there, we knew we had the pieces, but it was so educational for myself to see how tough it is and how hard you have to work and how even-keel you have to be to keep coming every day and just keep punching at it,” Ryan O’Reilly said amid the celebration. “It was always there that we can do it, but to actually do it, it’s exhausting. I’m exhausted.”
St Louis hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Blues center Brayden Schenn said. “It’s absolutely incredible. I can’t even explain. It feels like a video game we’re in. It’s what you dream of as a kid, posing with the Stanley Cup, getting to lift it. It’s a special group. We’re going to party hard.”
O’Reilly was named the Conn Symthe Trophy winner as playoff MVP.
“Most of these guys on [the trophy] I pretended I was as a kid, and now to be on here with them, it’s an incredible feeling,” O’Reilly said. “I can’t believe that we hung on and got this done.”
Jordan Binnington made 32 saves to get the win.
“It had to be this way, man,” Binnington said. “It was an incredible year and I can’t believe where we’re at. It’s awesome.”
Binnington rebounded from a poor effort in Game 6 to get the win.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said. “I thought it was his best game of the series.”
Alex Pietrangelo, O’Reilly, Schenn, and Zach Sanford had the St Louis strikes.
“Put the team on his (O’Reilly) back,” Schenn said. “He obviously believed we could do it. We all believed we could do it. He led the way.”
Matt Grzelcyk scored the lone goal for the Bruins after the Blues had already been assured of the Cup with a 4-0 lead late in the third period.
“We thought we were going to do it. We had that belief we have all year. We’ve done it plenty of times,” Brad Marchand said. “It takes one goal to get going and swing that momentum, and we just didn’t get that one early enough. We thought that we’d be able to come back, but obviously we didn’t.”
[WATCH: Blues vs. Bruins Game 7 highlights | Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]
Tuukka Rask made 16 saves in the loss.
“It’s an empty feeling,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s a long year. Someone had to win and someone had to lose and we came out on the wrong side of it. It’s not the way you picture it. It’s as simple as that.”
The Blues got to Rask late in the first period after being held to one shot on goal early on; they scored twice on four shots in the period.
“It was a nightmare for me, obviously,” Rask said. “Barely didn’t make a save in the first. And you know we tried to create, we had good chances, and [Binnington] made the saves when they needed.”
NOTES ON THE FINAL
* The milestone victory came in the franchise’s 51st season of competition, ending the NHL’s longest wait for a team to win its first Stanley Cup (previous: 44 seasons, Los Angeles Kings).
* St. Louis ranked last overall through games played Jan. 2 (15-18-4, 34 points), posting the League’s best record from Jan. 3 onward – vying for the Central Division title on the final day of the regular-season.
* St. Louis became the first team from any of the four major North American sports leagues to win a title after occupying last place overall in the league standings after one-quarter or more of the season’s games (since 1967-68). In fact, they are the only team in that span to even qualify for the league’s championship series/game after ranking last overall.
* The Blues (No. 12 in NHL) became the second team to win the Stanley Cup after finishing the regular season ranked 12th place or lower, joining the 2012 Kings (No. 13 in NHL).
* The Blues’ Cup victory came in their 42nd playoff appearance, 72nd playoff series and following their 391st playoff game – all the most in NHL history before winning the Cup for the first time.
Image Courtesy of NHL,com 
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