No one expected the St. Louis Blues to do it, but they did. The Blues, widely seen as an underdog in the NHL quarterfinals series about the Chicago Blackhawks, actually started out with a bang, but then they let Chicago come back from a 3-1 series record to tie it up and force a seventh game. Between the back-to-back wins and the Blackhawks’ status as defending Stanley Cup champions, the Blues went into game 7 as the probably-not-gonna-make-it underdogs – and emerged with the Central Division title. Along the way, they gained some pretty serious cred for knocking the defending champions out in the first round of post-season play for the first time since 2012, and played a game that has been widely hailed as “hockey at its finest.” Those are some pretty high accolades for a team that was, just last year, being called “the worst NHL playoff team in history”.
And, to be fair, the moniker was at least semi-deserved if you look at history. The St. Louis Blues were founded in 1967, and ran up three years of losing in the Stanley Cup Finals. Since then, they have not ever made it past the second round of NHL playoffs – and only made it past the first round 18 times. It took an especially bittersweet turn the last two seasons, when the Blues racked up incredible winning seasons, taking or tying their division records – only to choke and get punted out of the playoffs in the first round. It’s no surprise that fans fully expected last night’s game to be the Blues’ swan song appearance for the season.
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But that’s not what happened. After dropping two games in a row to let the Blackhawks smell another Stanley Cup run in the seventh game, the Blues turned it around and delivered a 3-2 win to take the division title – and hopefully, exorcise the curse that has kept them out of the Stanley Cup lineup for 46 years. And it wasn’t just any old win. The morning sports headlines have been blaring about it since the game ended last night. Game 7 was an “instant classic,” “hockey at its finest” and “the kind of game you’ll remember the rest of your life.”
One of the most iconic moments – and the most quintessentially Blues-y – was Troy Brouwer’s first-ever game 7 goal in seven consecutive game 7 appearances. To put it plainly – he almost muffed it. His drive to goal slammed into the post and bounced back out to him – and not only did he whiff the puck, he almost stepped on it and landed on his pads on the ice. In all, Brouwer slapped at the puck three times – but third time’s the charm. That’s the one that slipped past the goalie to light up the score light.
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Back on the bench, teammates and coach nearly had heart attacks. And out on the ice, Robby Fabbri says, he celebrated the goal three times before it actually made it into the net. Brouwer himself told reporters that if he’d missed that shot – with everything riding on it – he might have quit hockey entirely.
Luckily for him, it didn’t come to that. Instead, 11 minutes later, the Blues were celebrating their first advance to the second Conference round in years. They meet the Dallas Stars for the their first post-season matchup since 2001, starting Friday night on Dallas’ home ice.
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