Rolling Along
St. Louis has carried that success throughout the postseason, taking down the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas Stars, and San Jose Sharks. The Blues dispatched divisional rival Winnipeg in six games during the opening round, before sneaking by the Stars in a thrilling seven-game tilt in Round 2.
The Blues won the decisive Game 7 in double overtime, when St. Louis native Pat Maroon beat Stars goalie Ben Bishop at the 5:50 mark of the second extra session.
St. Louis advanced to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2016 and took down the Sharks - who finished second in the West with 101 points during the regular season - in six games.
It is the third time in franchise history that the Blues have made it to the Cup Final. They reached the championship round in each of their first three seasons (1967-70), but were swept each time, twice by Montreal and once by the Bruins.
By the Numbers
After scoring just 11 goals during the regular season, Blues forward Jaden Schwartz has been immense during the playoffs, notching a team-leading 16 points and 12 goals in 19 games, both of which also rank third in the NHL.
Russian winger Vladimir Tarasenko ranks second on the Blues with eight goals, while No. 1 center Ryan O'Reilly and captain Alex Pietrangelo have chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Binnington has played all 19 games with a 12-7 record and a 2.36 goals against average (sixth) and .914 save percentage (ninth).
Overall, the Blues are averaging three goals per game (fourth) and 2.53 goals against (fifth). Their power play ranks ninth (19.4%) and penalty kill places 11th (78%).
"I think they're very similar to us, the way they play, forechecking team, they play pretty North-South, use all four lines, fourth line particularly gets a lot of assignments like ours," said Cassidy. "Goaltenders are both playing excellent. Their D is bigger than ours, but both can move the puck, so I expect the games will be probably lower scoring, more physical. I think they're a bit of our twin, so to speak, the way they balance their minutes…for the most part, I see a lot of similarities."
