The St. Louis Blues defeat the Boston Bruins 4-1 to win their first Stanley Cup title in Game 7 of the NHL hockey final on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, in Boston. </s> St. Louis Blues beat Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 for their first Stanley Cup title

BOSTON (AP) — St. Louis Blues beat Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 for their first Stanley Cup title. </s> The St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup. Here's how fans reacted around the city. </s> BOSTON (AP) - St. Louis Blues beat Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 for their first Stanley Cup title.

Ryan O'Reilly scored for the fourth straight game and rookie Jordan Binnington stopped 32 shots in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins and their first NHL championship.

Alex Pietrangelo added a goal and an assist and Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for St. Louis. 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. </s> Almost 50 years after they were swept by the Boston Bruins in their last Stanley Cup Final appearance, the St. Louis Blues have avenged their 1970 defeat in historic fashion, beating the Eastern Conference champions 4-1 at TD Garden on Thursday night to claim their first title.

The Bruins entered with the upper hand, touting home ice after dropping four goals on Blues rookie goalie Jordan Binnington in a 5-1 Game 6 rout, but he stifled an early onslaught of offense to start Thursday's showdown. That allowed St. Louis to hold a 2-0 lead after two periods despite taking only six of their own shots at the halfway point of the action. From that point forward, with Boston fans muzzled and the Bruins' biggest names back in the shadows, St. Louis simply put on a clinic, demonstrating pitch-perfect checking, transition defense and penalty killing -- all before a pair of third-period goals sealed their first title in franchise history.

For a team that sat in last place on the first day of 2019, the Blues looked a whole lot more like a veteran playoff team than the Bruins, who were essentially sapped of all energy and rhythm as early as the end of the first period. Ryan O'Reilly made history by getting St. Louis on the board first, tipping a shot past Tuukka Rask to become the first player to score in four straight Final games since Wayne Gretzky in 1985. Scoring strikes from Zach Sanford and Brayden Schenn in the final eight and a half minutes sealed the deal, with only a late tally from Matt Grzelcyk putting Boston on the board.

Entering Game 7, it was anyone's guess as to which version of the Blues and Bruins would actually show up. Boston seemed like the clear-cut favorite after an opening-game victory that established them as the "been there, done that" veterans of the series, and the Blues needed overtime to barely hang on in Game 2. A 7-2 blowout in the subsequent matchup seemingly reaffirmed the Bs as the team to beat for the Cup, but St. Louis stole the series lead with two straight wins, including one at TD Garden, before yet another Bruins explosion in Game 6 -- a 5-1 rout that marked the long-awaited emergence of Boston's first-line stars.

Discipline haunted the Blues at various points in the series, with two different players warranting suspensions for illegal hits, and yet it was St. Louis that stayed locked in when it mattered, particularly in Game 7. Aside from a first-period delay of game that played into Boston's early momentum, Craig Berube's squad remained laser sharp, especially on defense, to maintain their initial 2-0 lead.

Relive the entire championship finale right here:

Boston has no answers, little life through two periods

After starting so aggressively and effectively in the first period, the Bruins seemed as if they'd slip one past Jordan Binnington in no time. The subsequent 35 or so minutes, however, proved Boston's early surge may have been nothing more than a mirage. Even with St. Louis managing just six shots on goal at the halfway point of Game 7, the Blues were in total control for the entirety of period two, squashing any hope of a quick rebound for the Bs on their home ice with a defensive clinic, particularly in transition through the neutral zone.

More Binnington stonewalling sucked more life out of not only Boston's scarily quiet first line but a TD Garden crowd that at one point dished New England Patriots Super Bowl highlights in order to spark cheers.

If not for some help from the crossbar, Tuukka Rask may have also surrendered a third Blues goal in the second.

Blues strike first -- and second -- despite Bruins' early dominance

The Bruins had everything going for them to start Game 7. Right out of the gate, they absolutely peppered Jordan Binnington with shots and had great movement in scoring range. They limited St. Louis to just one shot on goal more than 10 minutes into the opening period. A nonsensical delay of game on an airmailed pass by Colton Parayko even gave Boston the first extra-man advantage of the night. But Binnington refused to back down, blanking Boston with a number of close stops.

Ryan O'Reilly, meanwhile, rewarded Binnington's perseverance by putting the Blues on the board first with 3:13 left in the opening period, tipping a hard shot from Sammy Blais past Rask and setting a franchise record with 22 career postseason points in the process.

If St. Louis' sudden lead seemed improbable due to the Bruins' obvious energy advantage early in the game, Alex Pietrangelo ensured TD Garden would keep quiet for a while longer. He charged the net during a bad change for the Bruins and put the puck past Rask to increase the Blues' lead to 2-0 with 7.9 seconds left in the first.

Game 7 updates </s> Boston Bruins’ Matt Grzelcyk, center, is assisted from the ice by Jake DeBrusk, left, and David Krejci, right, after an injury during the first period in Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues, Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

BOSTON (AP) — The Latest from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between Boston and St. Louis (all times local):

The St. Louis Blues are 20 minutes away from their first Stanley Cup championship.

The Blues lead the Boston Bruins 2-0 after two periods. No goals were scored in the second period. Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington strengthened his case for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP by stopping all 11 Boston shots to give him 23 saves so far.

The Bruins have limited the Blues to 10 shots on goal, but Ryan O’Reilly’s deflection and Alex Pietrangelo’s backhander gave them two goals against Tuukka Rask. The Bruins netminder entered the night 3-2 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .877 save percentage in Game 7 in his NHL career.

Boston is hosting its first Game 7 Cup Final game as it seeks its seventh NHL championship.

The St. Louis Blues hold a surprising 2-0 lead on Boston after a wild first period in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Bruins have been the far more aggressive team and had the Blues badly out of synch for most of the opening 20 minutes. But it was the Blues who struck first.

Ryan O’Reilly scored on a perfect deflection and captain Alex Pietrangelo lifted a backhander past Tuukka Rask in the final seconds of the opening period to give the St. Louis Blues a two-goal lead.

O’Reilly tipped Jay Bouwmeester’s point shot in with 3:13 left in the period on just the third Blues shot of the game. After a bad line change by the Bruins, the Blues got numbers in the offensive zone and Jaden Schwartz fed Pietrangelo for a stunning goal with 7.9 seconds left.

Scoring on consecutive shots silenced a charged-up Bruins crowd. The Bruins outshot the Blues 12-4 in the first period, but St. Louis rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington made several spectacular saves to keep the Bruins scoreless.

The Boston Bruins are off to a strong start in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on home ice against St. Louis.

So far, Blues goalie Jordan Binnington has been up to the challenge.

There was no score through the first 13 minutes of the game, but St. Louis looks scattered and has been outshot 7-1.Binnington made several outstanding saves, including one with his right armpit on Brad Marchand during a power play.

Boston is hosting its first Game 7 Cup Final game as it seeks its seventh NHL championship. St. Louis is going for its first title.

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins is underway after some deafening pregame festivities.

The crowd roared for three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman in David Ortiz jerseys when they were brought out to wave a Bruins banner. They were joined by Liam Fitzgerald, a young Bruins fan who survived cancer.

The roar was even bigger for Bruins captain Zdeno Chara when he was introduced. Chara is playing with what many believe is a broken jaw.

As if emotions aren’t high enough for the first decisive seventh game for the Stanley Cup in Boston history, the nods to Ortiz added to the atmosphere. The retired Red Sox star is recovering in a Boston hospital after what police say was an assassination attempt in his native Dominican Republic.

Boston is hosting its first Game 7 Cup Final game as it seeks its seventh NHL championship. St. Louis is going for its first title.

Recuperating Red Sox star David Ortiz wasn’t far from the hearts of Bruins fans before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in Boston.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots wore Ortiz jerseys when they were brought out to wave a Bruins banner before the decisive game against the St. Louis Blues. They were joined by Liam Fitzgerald, a young Bruins fan who survived cancer.

The banner captain has become a tradition for the Bruins, with the honors going to a local celebrity or sports star. All-time Bruins great Bobby Orr has already done it twice this postseason.

Ortiz is recovering in a Boston hospital after what police say was an assassination attempt in his native Dominican Republic.

There are no surprises in the lineups. Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is back two weeks after suffering a concussion on a hit by St. Louis forward Oskar Sundqvist, who was suspended one game. Grzelcyk, who goes in for Connor Clifton, missed the past four games.

St. Louis will be without injured forward Rob Thomas for the fifth time in six games during the series. With Ivan Barbashev back from a Game 6 suspension and Thomas out, Sammy Blais stays in on the Blues’ third line.

Boston is seeking its seventh NHL championship. St. Louis is looking for its first.

Matt Grzelcyk replacing Connor Clifton in the Boston Bruins’ lineup for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final is a no-brainer because he was cleared from concussion protocol. The St. Louis Blues had a harder decision to make.

After his team fell flat in Game 6, coach Craig Berube decided to put defenseman Joel Edmundson back in the lineup in place of Robert Bortuzzo. He said he was OK with four left-handed shooters on defense because righties Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo are playing so much.

Berube told Edmundson on Tuesday he’d be back in after being a healthy scratch the past two games.

“I played in I think three Game 7s now so this is going to be my fourth,” Edmundson said. “None of them compare to this one. Obviously it’s going to be the biggest game of my life. But everyone’s excited.”

The return of Ivan Barbashev from suspension pushes banged-up forward Robert Thomas out of the lineup. Struggling Sammy Blais stays in for St. Louis on the third line with Tyler Bozak and Patrick Maroon.

Preparations were underway on the streets outside Boston’s TD Garden in the hours before Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

By early afternoon, police were setting up sidewalk barriers in preparation for the first championship-series Game 7 in Boston since the Celtics beat the Lakers to win the NBA title on June 12, 1984, 35 years to the day of Blues-Bruins.

Thousands of fans are expected to be in the vicinity of the arena, which will have a charged atmosphere. Buzz began circulating during the day that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would be the pregame flag-bearer to fire up the crowd and former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz would make an appearance on the video screens from his room in intensive care at Massachusetts General Hospital after being shot at a bar in his native Dominican Republic three days ago.

Matt Grzelcyk (GRIHZ’-lihk) is expected to return to the Boston lineup for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against St. Louis.

Grzelcyk’s return is a major boost on the blue line for Boston. He suffered a concussion two weeks ago in Game 2 of the series and has missed the past four.

Coach Bruce Cassidy says the puck-moving defenseman was cleared through the concussion protocol Wednesday, hours before the game. Connor Clifton is set to come out to make room.

St. Louis is also making changes: Joel Edmundson replaces Robert Bortuzzo on defense, and with Ivan Barbashev back from suspension, Sammy Blais stays in for the banged-up Robert Thomas. Coach Craig Berube says defensemen Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo are playing major minutes so he wanted to put four left-handed shooters at the positon. </s> BOSTON (AP) — Ryan O'Reilly scored for the fourth straight game and rookie Jordan Binnington stopped 32 shots in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins and their first NHL championship.

Alex Pietrangelo added a goal and an assist and Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for St. Louis. 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.

Matt Grzelcyk scored the Bruins' only goal, and Tuukka Rask stopped 16 shots for Boston.

Boston outshot St. Louis 33-20, but the Blues went ahead at the end of the first period on goals from Reilly and Pietrangelo about three minutes apart. The second period was scoreless, then Schenn put it out of reach with 8:35 to play and Sanford made it 4-0 before the Bruins spoiled Binnington's bid for a shutout.

Returning to the site of their last appearance in the final, which ended when Bobby Orr sailed through the air after scoring the Cup winner, the Blues won for the third time in Boston this series and an NHL record-tying 10th time in the postseason.

O'Reilly won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the postseason. He is the first player since Wayne Gretzky to score in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games.

Not so surprising with Gretzky, who is the NHL's leading regular-season and playoff scorer, but O'Reilly had just three goals in his first 22 postseason games.

Boston will have to console itself with the two major sports championships it has already won in the past year, or the dozen trophies that have been chauffeured through Boston in a parade of the city's iconic, amphibious Duck Boats. Three of them have come at St. Louis' expense.

The Bruins tried to harness all the local karma they could.

Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman and Julian Edelman waved a banner before the game while wearing David Ortiz jerseys; the Red Sox slugger is recuperating just a mile or so away from an assassination attempt in his native Dominican Republic.

Retired Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling also was in the crowd, wearing his World Series ring and a Bruins jersey. Portable party Rob Gronkowski also made an appearance on the video board.

And the Bruins responded, dominating for long stretches of time except in the way that mattered most.

The Blues had just one shot on goal heading into the final minutes of the first period, but they scored first when O'Reilly deflected a shot from Jay Bouwmeester into the net. Then with just 8 seconds left in the period and Bruins forward Brad Marchand tentative on a line change, Pietrangelo beat Rask to make it 2-0.

Bouwmeester played in 1,184 regular-season games — the third most among active players who had not gotten their names etched on the Stanley Cup. </s> BOSTON—Asked what edge his team has over the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup final, Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy hesitated, wary of providing bulletin-board material before the series even started.

"I'll go the easy route," Cassidy said two weeks ago. "I just believe that our guys that have been there — have won a Cup, have lost a Cup — that should give us an edge. Some people disagree with that once you're here, but I believe it will give us an edge."

Boston has five players who were part of two previous Stanley Cup finals — 2011 against Vancouver and 2013 against Chicago — and the Bruins can boast playing in (and winning) the last Stanley Cup final Game 7, in 2011. Captain Zdeno Chara, 42, will set an NHL record with his 14th playoff Game 7. Meantime, the Blues could become the first team in 30 years to win a Stanley Cup without a previous winner on the roster.

"They have obviously more experience, but we don't worry about it," St. Louis centre Brayden Schenn said. "We have had a lot of ups and downs in this series, this season and this playoffs that have gotten us to this point. Anything can happen in one game."

Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy realized the benefit of championship experience in the locker room before Game 6 on Sunday. This is the 21-year-old's third playoff run, but with his team on the brink of elimination on the road, the magnitude of the moment got to him. "I'll just be honest with you, the emotions, like, crap, it's a lot," McAvoy said after the game, a 5-1 Boston win.

A moving speech from top centre Patrice Bergeron — who might have been inspired by a pre-game speech Mark Recchi gave the Bruins in 2011 — helped settle down the team, and then veteran winger Brad Marchand came up with the first goal in the first period. The poise and savvy from both showed exactly why clubs regularly pay a premium for free agents or trade additions who have championship experience.

"Of course you've got to rely on your experience in these games," Bergeron said Sunday. "You need to know what's coming and obviously we expected a big start from them. I thought we managed that pretty well, and getting that first goal was huge."

Marchand and Bergeron are two of 11 players to score two goals in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final; no one has had a hat trick. And Boston is 6-1 all time with an opportunity to clinch a Stanley Cup, but the 2013 loss to the Blackhawks might be more motivating.

"You realize when you get to this point how hard it actually is, especially the longer you've been around the league," Marchand said. "You look at some guys that have been around a long time, and how few opportunities you get. … It's the best thing in the world for the team that wins, and it sucks for the team that loses. Being on both sides of it, you realize how hard it is, and just how (expletive) it is to lose. It sticks with you forever."

Blues forward David Perron played on this stage a year ago — he was on the Vegas Golden Knights team that lost to the Washington Capitals a year ago — and he said, "the best way to put your best performance is not to think about the importance of the game" too soon, but save that energy for the three hours before puck drop. St. Louis will draw on its experience from this season, overcoming a poor first half that had the Blues last in the league to start January. </s> (Reuters) - Few Stanley Cup trophies have ever been as heavy as the one earned Wednesday by the St. Louis Blues, who lifted the weight of a championship-starved city that had long been on the wrong side of history.

For too long, the Blues had been tied to the Stanley Cup Final only as a victim of Bobby Orr and the Boston Bruins who swept them in the title series of 1970.

The iconic photo of Orr launching through the air in celebration, after scoring the series-clinching goal in overtime, loomed as an omnipresent reminder of the franchise’s shortcoming.

St. Louis has now added a more favorable moment that comes 49 years after that Final defeat, and 51 seasons into the team’s existence – a championship.

“St. Louis, we frickin did it. We’re bringing the cup back home 49 years in the making,” Blues winger Pat Maroon told reporters.

“It’s amazing. This is a night I’ll never forget. I can’t be any more proud to be from St. Louis. I can’t wait to celebrate with you guys on Saturday in that parade.”

The homegrown Maroon has a special understanding of the angst of growing up a St. Louis fan. St. Louis is a respected sports city with the strong success of the Cardinals in Major League Baseball, a brief run from the NFL’s defunct Rams and an ancient one from the NBA’s former St. Louis Hawks.

Golf held its final major of the year in 2018 - the PGA Championship - at Bellerive Country Club outside of St. Louis to rave reviews.

But there is still something decidedly underdog about the city. The Blues franchise had made a habit of teasing their fan base with competitive teams that just could not take the final step. From 1979 to 2004, the Blues made 25 consecutive playoff appearances only to watch other teams collect the Cup. This year’s Blues appeared as though they may not make the playoffs at all.

They were in last place in the NHL on Jan. 3 and miraculously won 30 of their final 45 games to complete the turnaround.

“I really believe that the adversity that they had to go through to make the playoffs, and that schedule, and winning all those games (in the regular season), that really set us up for the playoffs,” said St. Louis coach Craig Berube, who took over as interim coach in November when Mike Yeo was fired.

“I’m so happy for the city of St. Louis and all our fans.”

It was all too fitting that the Blues would defeat the Bruins, not only avenging their past but scoring a win over the sports powerhouse city of Boston. A win for the Bruins would have given Boston the reigning champion in the NHL, MLB and NFL. Instead, St. Louis was rewarded for its wait.

“To bring a Cup to a city for a first time is crazy,” forward Jaden Schwartz said.

“Tough to put into words. These fans have been waiting a long time. It’s exciting. We’re going to have a lot of fun with it.”
In ice hockey, the St. Louis Blues defeat the Boston Bruins four games to three to win their first Stanley Cup.