Stanley Cup Finals Preview: Boston Bruins vs St.Louis Blues

Today's the day, the final chapter of the 2018-2019 NHL season gets going! Lord Stanley's Cup is on the line as the Cinderella Story of the St.Louis Blues faces off against the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins. Before examining the match-up of these two similar-styled teams, let's recap how they got here:

• East: Bruins (2nd seed): Eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs (Atlantic - 3rd seed) in 7 games, the Columbus Blue Jackets (WC2) in 6 games, and the Carolina Hurricanes (WC1) in 4 games.
• West: Blues (3rd seed): Eliminated the Winnipeg Jets (Central - 2nd seed ) in 6 games, the Dallas Stars (WC1) in 7 games, and the San Jose Sharks (Pacific - 2nd seed) in 6 games.

This St.Louis Blues team, which didn't seem to have any hope of even coming close to a playoff spot in early January, is now on the cusp of wining the first Stanley Cup in the franchise's history. They currently hold the record, in tandem with the Maple Leafs, for the longest running Stanley Cup Championship drought in the league at 50 seasons. And Bucco fans thought they had it bad...In fact, the Blues have been to the finals three times - '68, '69, '70 - and were swept in all three series. That's some Buffalo Bills level shit. On the other side, the Bruins (and Boston as a whole) are no strangers to championships, having amassed 6 total in their history. These two teams met in the 1970 Finals, where Bobby Orr scored his famed OT goal in Game 4 to win the series for the Bruins, giving the Blues a 0-12 record in Stanley Cup games. I want to hug a Blues fan for having to type that. History is not exactly on the Blues' side, so can they reverse it? Lets look:

The Bruins and Blues both play a physical, net-front presence style of game. In a league where speed has been the dominant trait of most teams, these two are more so in the minority with their style. This is not to say that either of these teams don't have excellent skaters, but their team identity is focused on physical play. Furthermore, when you compare rosters on paper, they're evenly matched for the most part. In my opinion, the Bruins hold a slight advantage in terms of skill, however that's just on paper. The Blues can trade blows with Boston in terms of comparing lines and defensive pairings, and both teams' goaltenders have been phenomenal. I give more kudos to Tuuka Rask (12-5, 1.84 GAA, 0.942 S%, 2 SO) as his numbers are significantly better than Binnington's (12-7, 2.37 GAA, 0.914 S%, 1 SO). However, Binnington's numbers are still great, especially for a rookie goalie with only about half a season's worth of experience in the NHL (sound familiar?). Moreover, from my eye test there have been more games for the Bruins where they limit opposing teams' offensive chances to low-danger scenarios compared to the Blues, but Rask still has to come up with multiple clutch saves. Regardless, both goalies' names are in and will be in the Conn Smythe talk for which team comes out on top.

Special Teams, on paper, favors Boston (34% PP, 86.3% PK, 53.3% Face-off) compared to St.Louis (19.4% PP, 78% PK, 49.4% Face-off), however an argument can be made that each teams' opponents' center depth, defensemen, etc. have a large impact on the respective numbers, so they shouldn't be taken completely to heart. 

My Players to Watch

To keep this short, I'll name my one player on each team to watch out for in this series:

• Bruins: Charlie McAvoy (Defenseman): Only at 21 years old, he's been a workhorse on the top defensive pairing and has been stellar this postseason. Few mistakes have been made by this young player.
• Blues: Tyler Bozak (Center): Depth scoring is going to be crucial in this series, and with the Bruins' top line edging out the Blues' top line, and vice versa for the respective 2nd lines, the Blues need their 33-year old 3rd line center to produce (as well as 4th line center Sundqvist). 

Prediction: I want the Blues to win, doesn't everyone outside of New England want this? But I feel as though the Bruins are the better team and will take them in 6 games. 

- Shawn, TGYK