St Louis Blues have won the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup for the first time with a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins in the decisive seventh game of the championship series.
With Thursday's (NZT) victory, the visiting Blues not only completed a remarkable turnaround, considering they were last in early January, but also ended the longest wait in NHL history - 51 seasons - for a team to win their first title.
They also matched the single post-season record for road wins with 10.
Coach Craig Berube, who took over when Mike Yeo was fired in November, is the fourth coach in the past 11 years hired mid-season to lead his team to the NHL title.
St Louis built a 2-0 lead, after goals from Ryan O'Reilly and Alex Pietrangelo in the first period.
After a goalless second period, Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford extended the lead in the third period.
Rookie Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made a remarkable 33 stops, including the save of the game, when he got a leg out to stop by Joakim Nordstrom from close, midway through the third.
But hosts Boston did score a late goal with about two minutes remaining, but it was little more than a consolation, as they failed to claim what would have been their seventh NHL championship.
O'Reilly, who became the first player since the great Wayne Gretzky to score in four consecutive Stanley Cup Final games, was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
The Bruins, who had never before hosted a game seven of a Stanley Cup Final, outshot their opponents 12-4 in the first stanza and 11-6 in a scoreless second period.
Reuters
