And then there were two.
The Boston Bruins will face the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
The Bruins are trying to win their second Cup this decade. The Blue are trying to win their first Cup ever.
St. Louis remains the only team from the second expansion in 1967 to have never won the Cup. The Blues have appeared in three Finals and have yet to win a game. The last time the Blues were in the Final, Bruins legend Bobby Orr flew away with the Cup.
The Bruins swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. The Bruins overwhelmed the Canes. The storm surge became a tropical depression by Game 4.
Bostonās net minder Tuukka Rask was stellar.
Carolinaās Petr Mrazek never found his game after being injured in the Eastern Semifinals.
Curtis McElhinney was too little too late as his replacement.
Bostonās top line ( Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak) reminded everyone they are the best line in hockey.
Bostonās other nine forwards proved Boston is not a one-line team.
David Krejci resumed his playoff brilliance. Trade deadline acquisitions Marcus Johansson and Charlie Coyle performed in the clutch.
The Boston defense smothered Carolina.
The second pair of Brandon Carlo and Torey Krug were invaluable especially with Boston playing without suspended Charlie McAvoy in Game 1 and injured Zdeno Chara in Game 4.
The Hurricanes are young. They were not ready for the bigger stage. Carolinaās veteran leaders, Captain Justin Williams and Alternate Captain Jordan Staal took several ill-advised penalties leaving the already overmatched Canes often undermanned too.
The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks in six games to advance to the Final.
The Blues overcame a bad call in overtime of Game 3. Blues Head Coach Craig Berube handled the unfortunate situation perfectly. St. Louis put the missed hand pass behind them and never looked back.
The Blues fourth line was better than any line San Joseās Head Coach Pete DeBoer put on the ice.
Oskar Sundqvist, Alex Steen and Ivan Barbashev led the physical charge and put the puck in the net.
All of the Blues forwards contributed physically and offensively.
Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko continued to reverse subpar regular seasons with excellent post season play. Schwartz had his second hat trick of the post season. Tarasenko had a point in every game.
Tarasenkoās big goals showed he is still an elite power forward. The Blues defense is large and mean.
They pounded the Sharks forwards every chance they could.
San Joseās forwards were left injured and disheartened.
Sharks goalie Martin Jones did not play good enough to win and he didnāt.
Jordan Binnington was not great, but he didnāt have to be. The Sharks must be shaking their heads after this series. They received a gift in Game 3 and then did nothing. The Sharks scored two goals in the final three games.
Injuries are an excuse but not the reason San Jose lost. Every Blue went to a different level in this series, very few Sharks did after Game 3.
Many people are claiming Boston and St. Louis are a lot like and play a similar game. I believe they do have a few things in common but are much different teams.
The Bruins leaders have all won the Cup. The only Blue to win the Cup is Oskar Sunqvist who won as a Black Ace with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Both teams have hot goaltenders. Binnington a charcoal briquette; Rask is a nuclear reactor.
The Blues forwards play a skilled heavy game. The Bruins play a fast, skilled heavy game.
The Blues defense intimidated the Sharks. The Bruins forwards will not shy away from contact like San Jose did. Ā Jake Debrusk and Sean Curaly are not Marcus Sorensen and Meker Karlsson. The Blues forwards wore out the Sharksā defense with a constant forecheck.
The Bruins defense is faster than the Sharks defense and will be harder to hit. The Blues will be able to hit Chara but that strategy rarely works
The Blues are the first team in the expansion era to have been in last place overall during the season to make the Final. Judging by their (team/fans) reaction to winning the Western Conference they think theyāre already in the Promised Land. They are not. The Promised Land is still four more wins away.
The Promised Land is being guarded by a 6ā9ā dragon named Chara. BRUINS in 7
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