St. Louis Blues Top 10 Moments Of 2018-19 NHL Playoffs
Honorable Mention: Jordan Binnington’s pad save in Game 1 vs. Winnipeg
Ok, as I tend to do from time to time, I cheat since these are my articles and I can do that. We are going to have an 11th moment, just because I like highlighting the goaltenders.
This particular highlight came so early in the playoffs that many of us probably forgot about it. Jordan Binnington denied the Winnipeg Jets a tying goal in the dying seconds of Game 1 with a save that would become old hat for him.
With the Jets hammering away, Binnington and the team’s defense was standing strong. However, the Jets found a soft/open spot on the left circle and Mark Scheifele pounded the puck on goal.
You can argue whether the puck hit Binnington or he made the save, but the bottom line is the thing did not go in. That save put the Blues on top for the series and set the tone to follow.
Maybe St. Louis still wins that game if the Jets tie it. Maybe they still win the series if the Jets win that game. There is no way of knowing for sure.
The two wins on the road did not mean much after the Blues gave them right back in Games 3 and 4. Nevertheless, the Blues proved they belonged against one of the prohibitive Western Conference favorites in that game.
It might have came extremely early in the playoffs, but that set everything up to follow. That save and that win showed that Binnington and the Blues were for real.
10. Vladimir Tarasenko’s Game 1 vs Dallas
Like Binnington’s save mentioned earlier, this one is somewhat forgotten since it came so early. Still, we forget that despite finishing higher, the Blues were not favorites against the Dallas Stars. They might not have been true underdogs, but a lot of analysts were thinking the Stars had the better of the matchup.
So, the team to score the first win was going to have a decided advantage. That’s when the team’s best scorer, Vladimir Tarasenko stepped up.
Tarasenko was not completely silent in the opening series. He showed some grit and scored a couple goals, but both goals came in losses, so the impact was lessened greatly. Tarasenko would not let the same happen against Dallas.
The Russian sniper scored the team’s second goal of the game on the power play, giving them a 2-1 lead. Tarasenko took the puck off the faceoff and cycled it around. He then wristed one in from the left circle, which is where so many fans want him on power plays anyway.
Tarasenko was not done there either. With the Blues still hanging on to their one-goal lead, he took it upon himself to make the impact stars make.
Tarasenko picked up the puck after a bad clearance by Dallas in the neutral zone. He then bulldozed his way past the defender, cut in from the end line and roofed one pas Ben Bishop and his attempted poke check.
It was the kind of goal Blues fans have been begging to see more of from their star. It was the kind of goal that reminded the Stars how good Tarasenko can be and is.
Oddly enough, those were the only two shots on goal Tarasenko had. He ended the evening with a shooting percentage of 100%. That bulldozer goal also ended up being the game winner.
The Stars kept him fairly quiet the rest of the series, but that game made them focus all their attention on shutting down Tarasenko.
9. Robert Bortuzzo’s backhand goal in Game 2 vs San Jose
The history of the NHL playoffs is crowded with names that you would never have expected to be a hero. When stat geeks like to throw numbers around, my fallback example was always Claude Lemieux.
Based on his regular season performances, the New Jersey Devils or Colorado Avalanche would have had no business making him one of their top-nine forwards. He always came through in the playoffs though. That was true for several guys on the Blues this time around too.
When you think of scoring a game-winning goal, there are probably guys that were on the scratch list you would think of before Robert Bortuzzo. He is not known for his offense at all.
Bortuzzo had two goals and 10 points in 2018-19. In his eight years in the NHL, he has 14 goals, which puts him just under two goals per year.
That’s what the playoffs are made for, though. They make heroes out of guys that might barely have seen the ice during the season.
Bortuzzo became one of those stories in Game 2 against the San Jose Sharks.
After the Blues got embarrassed in Game 1, they scored the first two goals of the game. Unfortunately, they surrendered the lead in the second period with two goals in two minutes by the Sharks.
With time winding down on the second period, Bortuzzo got his time to shine. The play seemed to be going nowhere when Bortuzzo found Tyler Bozak in the high slot.
Bozak bailed a pass to Joel Edmundson who quickly found Bortz streaking toward the net. From there, Bortuzzo took care of business like he was born to be a goal scorer.
The backhanded goal would prove to be the game winner for that contest. The Blues would keep the Sharks silent in the third period and even up the series before coming home.
Making matters even more interesting, the Blues defender had a friend that predicted it. Bortuzzo had been a healthy scratch for much of the Winnipeg series, but his friend told him he was going to get in and score and he did.
Just another tale in the epic story that led the Blues to where they got.
8. Jaden Schwartz natural hat-trick Game 6 vs Winnipeg
Jaden Schwartz was the ultimate enigma when it came to the 2018-19 season. He entered the year as one of the guys the team was depending on for some big numbers.
He ended the 2018-19 regular season with some really disappointing numbers. Whether it was injury or being too far in his own head, Schwartz ended the regular season with just 11 goals and a career low – for a full season – of 39 points.
Schwartz had regularly been a 20-goal scorer and many thought this was the year he would break out and hit 30. Instead, he went the other way.
Despite a few flashes toward the end of the year, nobody was expecting what he did against Winnipeg. But, it was more than welcome.
After a big night two nights earlier, which we will get to, Schwartz came alive in the final game against the Winnipeg Jets. He busted out for three goals to finish off Winnipeg and they all came in a row, giving him an even rarer sight for the natural hat trick.
Adding to it all, Schwartz managed to score one goal in each of the three periods. He wasted little time potting that first one either, giving the team a much needed cushion in an elimination game.
It was not a very pretty goal, but they all count and it was intensely important to get one that early. It was somewhat lucky, since the goaltender should have had the initial shot by Brayden Schenn, but Schwartz showed playoff moxie by being in the right spot to clean up the garbage.
The second goal was just as nice, if not better than the first based on how it came. Schwartz had a couple cracks at it, but finally put it home on the second attempt.
The Blues were doing a great job of cycling the puck and had the Jets on their heels before the puck came back to Schwartz. The second time, he waited just a moment and then wristed it in for the score.
The third goal was most deserving of a hat trick. This time, it was fit for the highlight reels as 17 gave the Blues a 3-0 lead.
As you saw, the suddenly energized scorer made a great move to cut back to the middle past a diving defender. Then, it was all about elevating the puck and putting that third goal to bed.
Unfortunately, the Blues would end up needing all three goals as they allowed the Jets to score the next two. Little of that was on Schwartz though as he had done his job in securing that first round win over Winnipeg.
7. Game 4/5 vs San Jose overall (Schwartz 2nd hat trick)
Here we come to a more overall view of the team. The Blues were on the edge of a knife more than once during this playoff run, but none of it seemed more precarious than after that certain infamous incident in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.
The Blues could have easily folded. Nobody would have really faulted them if they let emotion get the best of them after an an incident like that, but they went the other direction.
Instead of caving in like so many other Blues teams had in the past, this one just brushed their shoulders off and went back to work. If we had any doubts about how they would respond after Game 3, they left no doubt come Game 4.
As they had done so often throughout the playoffs, the Blues struck early. In fact, it took less than a minute for the Blues to show the San Jose Sharks and the world that they were not even slightly demoralized.
Sure, it was a lucky goal that went in off a defender’s stick. You cannot take credit away from the forecheck that threw Brent Burns, a perennial Norris Trophy candidate, off his game and caused the giveaway first though.
That set the tone and then the Blues finished it off later in the period.
Trying to fix an already floundering power play, Craig Berube sent out the second unit to start off a late period power play. He got rewarded as the Blues scored less than 10 seconds into the man advantage.
The Blues would play stifling defense the rest of the game. San Jose would manage a late goal to make things nervous, but the Blues were not going to be outdone on that night or any of the rest.
They proved they were not just riding high on emotion in Game 5. Showing they were the ultimate road team, they came out and absolutely crushed the Sharks in Game 5.
The Blues would win by a score of 5-0. Jordan Binnington not only got the first playoff shutout of his career, but it came in the Western Conference Final of all places, when the pressure is as tight as a drum.
The Blues looked nervy to start and San Jose hit the post 10 seconds in, but the Note calmed down. It took a little longer to get the first goal, but Oskar Sundqvist left no doubt by hammering home a goal just before the six-minute mark.
It was all Blues after that. In fact, the Blues got their second hat trick of the playoffs out of Schwartz, who apparently just needed a little breather against Dallas.
It was a crazy game. Binnington earned every bit of his shutout and had some good fortune. Tarasenko scored on a penalty shot, which was the first such occurrence in Blues history and you have the hatty from Schwartz.
Those two games did not finish off the Sharks, but they put the nails in the coffin that would be hammered home in the following game.
6. Bishop injured in Game 6 vs Dallas
This one could be argued for or against. However, the shot that almost went through Ben Bishop felt like the true turning point of that series, even though the Blues had to win one more game after that and two more series.
The Blues were already ahead in this game, so maybe the injury to Bishop did not truly have an impact. I believe it did.
The Blues were only clinging to a one goal lead at the time. The Stars outshot the Blues by more than a 2-1 margin in the second period, so the Stars were on the offensive.
Dallas was coming at the Blues and St. Louis was holding on. The Blues were doing a good job of rebounding in the third period, putting on lots of pressure, but that one play signaled the end for the Stars.
For the Blues, it signaled everything that was going right for them. You had a guy with one of the hardest shots in the league, Colton Parayko, blasting away and showing how hard he could shoot by almost knocking Bishop out.
You had the franchise, if not team, known for giving up when times got tough, continuing to play since their was no whistle. Instead of just wondering what was going on, the Blues kept going and Alexander Steen was smart enough to fire a shot on goal. It would have gone wide if Schwartz was not there, but the idea was sound nevertheless.
Like just about every other series, this seemed to be the moment you could truly tell the Blues were going to claim it. Sure, it had to go to a seventh game and finished off in overtime, but it was hard to argue the Blues would win once you almost literally knocked out one of the best goaltenders in the league. If nothing else, you put the fear in the back of his head.
From a fan’s perspective, it was something we will never forget. Growing up, I was always told of a story by my grandfather and dad about Bobby Hull’s shot knocking a goaltender into the goal. Now, the Blues have their own story.
5. Schwartz’ Game 5 game-winning goal vs Winnipeg
Talking about moments when you knew the series was probably over, this one pops to mind way back in the first round. Schwartz may have gone silent during the final, but he was so instrumental in the Blues winning two of their first three series, it boggles the mind to think we forgot about it at all.
With everything that came after this moment, it is easy to forget how close to doom the Blues were before they even got started. In Game 5 against Winnipeg, St. Louis was on the brink.
The series might have been tied, but the Blues had lost two straight and looked poised to lose a third. They trailed 2-0 going into the third period, giving the Jets all the confidence they needed to close it out and look to eliminate St. Louis in St. Louis.
Instead, the Blues battled back. They got an early goal from Ryan O’Reilly, on the power play no less, and then tied it up almost 14 minutes into the period. Still, it seemed ready to go to overtime, when anything can happen and then the craziness happened.
You could tell the Jets were weary, looking to get to intermission. They were desperately trying to hold the puck on the boards to kill the last 30 seconds.
Instead, as we saw in other moments on this list, the Blues forecheck wrestled it loose and cause mistakes. Tyler Bozak saw Schwartz in front and threw it toward the space and Schwartzy finished it off.
This might have been the first moment in chronological order, but it has to go high on this list because, when looking back, it began the entire string of events. There were so many unbelievable moments in every series, that it had to start somewhere.
Though I’m not as big a fan of John Kelly as many in St. Louis, his call fit that moment perfectly. It was crazy.
We were all ready for OT because battling back from 2-0 down was enough. Blues fans were not greedy and figured another period was fine. Instead, they won and crushed the hopes of so many Midwestern Canadians.
The Jets would play their guts out in that final game. Even so, it was hard to overcome that kind of deflating defeat.
4. Jay Bouwmeester stops go-ahead goal for Dallas in Game 6
One of the moments that will fade over time, thus why I am putting it on the list so it is not forgotten, is one by a forgotten man and not a goal. So, even though other things would never have happened without this moment, it will fade.
Nevertheless, it cannot be overstated how important Jay Bouwmeester was for the Blues during the entire playoff run and the Dallas series in particular.
Bouwmeester and Parayko became the team’s shutdown pair early on, but we really saw it on display against Dallas. The Jets were able to get enough to keep their lines mainly intact. The Stars had to shuffle their lineup, as did the Sharks and Bruins, to attempt to spread out scoring and keep certain players away from this tandem.
Bouwmeester is always remembered for his fumbles and mistakes, but he could not have come up bigger than he did against Dallas. While we will all remember the overtime heroics, the game almost never made it to any extra time.
Dallas was coming. They were threatening and did not want it to go into the extra frame and the Blues were trying to hold on.
The Stars utilized speed as Roope Hintz blazed down the left wing and had Binnington beat on the wrap around. In real time, you could not see what happened and most thought Binnington got it or Hintz hit the post. Neither was true.
As you learned from each, progressive replay, it was Bouwmeester that got over and denied the goal. The last replay showed it best.
If that puck does not hit Bouwmeester’s stick first, Hintz likely has an easy stuff in. Instead, Big Bouw threw a wrench in the works and the puck clicked off the post to be cleared later.
It won’t show in the stat sheet, but it was a monumental game for Bouwmeester. He played over 32 minutes in that game and almost all of them were hard minutes going up against guys who were in grade school when he began his career.
None of the moments were bigger than that one. Without that block, there is no overtime. There is no series against the Sharks or final against the Bruins.
Without that block, Hintz scores and the Blues play golf. Without that block, we are discussing how the Blues overhaul their roster yet again instead of basking in the glory of winning it all.
It will not be remembered by most. It should be remembered by all.
3. Game 6 win vs San Jose
The clinching game against San Jose was almost anticlimactic. The Blues ended up defeating the Sharks 5-1, leaving little doubt they were going to their first Stanley Cup Final in a lifetime.
St. Louis scored early and late in the first period as their stars stepped up. David Perron netted the game’s first goal just 92 seconds into the contest and Tarasenko added a power play goal that would prove to be the game winner.
San Jose added a little fear with a goal in the second period, but the Blues snuffed out all hope with another power play goal a little over six minutes after the Sharks scored. It was all Blues after that.
St. Louis added two more in the third period, including a rare empty net goal. So, why is a game that was almost never in question so high on this list?
It is because of what it represented. It represented the culmination of so many hard fought battles over the years.
It erased so many heartbreaking memories in one glorious 60-minute bout of dominance. For once, the Blues did not make us sweat and we could sit back and soak it all in.
The Blues had not been to the final in 49 years and we were watching it happen in pure joy. Whether you had seen every game in Blues history or were not even a glint in someone’s eye the last time they went to the conference final, you could sit there and enjoy it instead of wringing your hands.
You could let the seconds tick down in an even happier mood than those counted to end the old year and sweep in the new.
We all celebrated in our own way. As soon as it hit zero, I rushed to work, knowing they had conference championship gear ready to sell.
Others rushed to the streets of downtown yelling “We want the Cup!” Some just sat in front of their televisions and watched, almost in disbelief, thinking it could never be their time to even go to the final, let alone win it.
We never thought, even if we believed and hoped every year, that we would ever have to worry whether our team might touch the Clarence Campbell bowl. It just always seemed out of reach.
The game, itself, was somewhat of a dud. Most of us won’t really look back and think about what a barn burner Game 6 against the Sharks was.
We will remember those moments just before and just after the buzzer though. We will remember that being the game that ended all our frustrations, even knowing there was an even better opponent still to come.
If nothing else, we knew we would at least get to find out whether it would be better to never make a Stanley Cup Final or to lose one. Thankfully, we didn’t even have to answer that.
2. Handpass goal Game 3 vs San Jose
This was the most interesting choice, but it had to go here. It was one of the most awful moments in recent Blues history, if not near the top all time.
However, it also became the rallying point for this team. The Blues had tons of moments, each one included and some left off this list. Even with all those, I believe without the hand pass, the Blues might not have won the Stanley Cup.
Maybe St. Louis goes on to win that game in overtime. Maybe they still win the series against the Sharks.
There is nothing to say Berube might not have rallied them anyway. Or, perhaps if they won, they simply go on to roll through the rest of that series.
The Sharks were picking up injuries that had nothing to do with that moment. So, nobody can say it was a true turning point for how every, single moment went.
What it did signal was the kind of maturity and professionalism that nobody, not even the guys in that locker room, could know existed within that room until you have to go through a situation like that. It truly was a defining moment.
Instead of pleading their case in the media as so many other coaches did throughout the playoffs, Berube asked the reporter if they thought it was a hand pass, took that answer and said “there you go” and left it at that. The entire team followed suit.
The Blues expressed disappointment and frustration at losing, but did not dwell on the moment or focus on things out of their control. You could tell by their faces and the grit in their jawlines that it was a bitter pill to swallow. It taught them a lesson, however, and that would carry them through to the very pinnacle of their sport.
By now, we all know it was a hand pass. The league vaguely apologized, but salt was poured in the wound when the official scorers, who might not be chosen by the NHL but are their representatives, gave an assist to the very man who swatted the puck. So, though you are not allowed to purposely propel the puck with a glove to a teammate, the league was acknowledging contact was made.
Still, once the Blues won the next game, there was no turning back. After something that egregious was missed, there was no amount of adversity this team could not overcome, barring any catastrophic injury.
It was a moment that proved to fans, if not the nation, that this was the Blues playoffs to lose. Once they overcame that, not even the referees or any perceived NHL bias could deny them.
Boston was a better team than San Jose, but the Blues had already climbed their own mental hurdle. All that was left after that hand pass was to gather themselves and play hockey. Whenever they did that, they won and they only lost three more times the entire spring and none of those came against the Sharks
1. Maroon’s OT winner in Game 7 vs Dallas
Other people will put other moments higher and that is their right. This is all subjective.
However, for me, this moment might be in the top two or three for everything, including the Stanley Cup Final. That is a discussion for another day, however.
For now, it suffices to say that this moment was that rare bit in hockey where it all pans out just like you dreamed it might. That does not always happen.
Hockey is different than sports like football or basketball, or even baseball really. Those sports have a defining moment where it can come down to one play or one possession such as a final shot before the buzzer or a hail Mary pass or a walkoff homerun.
It is different in hockey because there are so few moments that truly and definitively end a game. You have game winning goals, but those can come in the opening seconds of the first period.
You have game saving stops by goaltenders, but like defense in baseball, those don’t get the same accolades across time. Hockey ends when the game hits zero, so you don’t have that pass sailing through the air or the shot just barely having left the fingertips.
What you do have is overtime. Sudden death is such a harsh word, but when it comes in a Game 7, that is truly what it means for the season of the team that loses. Everyone sits on the edge of their seats, if they are sitting at all. Every shot or deflection or turnover could be the thing that spells your doom or seals your glory.
For the Blues, they only got one of those moments. In the Dallas series, it went all the way to a seventh game and it required a second overtime to seal it off.
We already discussed how it almost did not even make it there. But, that moment did happen and thus this game did get to overtime.
It was not highlight reel hockey either. It was 1-1 for more than an entire game’s worth of hockey.
The last goal came with four minutes left in the first period. It then went three full periods with no goals, but it was not dull hockey by any stretch of the imagination.
Ben Bishop ended up making 52 saves in that game. Binnington was not as busy, but still made 29 and most were of decent quality.
The problem for the Blues was they dominated the game overall and yet they looked poised to have that same old fluky ending happen to them. The story was tailor made for it to all be about Bishop stealing it and another disappointment for St. Louis.
Instead, the third line for the Blues flipped the script. Instead of it being about bitter disappointment, it was all about storybook endings.
Not quite six minutes into the second overtime, the Blues won a key faceoff. It was the rookie Robert Thomas that took the step from outside the circle to the doorstep and clanked one off the post.
After that, the hometown hero, Pat Maroon would finish things off.
Everything about that moment was perfect. You get the ending every hockey player dreams of, to end the series with an overtime goal in Game 7. You got the kid who grew up in St. Louis, going to Blues games, being the one to score it.
Even everything afterward was just perfect. This moment ranks so highly for me because you could see how everyone had grown together.
The way all the players swamped one another, this was not just another win. The way Maroon went over to the bench after it all and bear-hugged his coach was not just a regular coach/player relationship. It showed there was so much more there.
Craig Berube is a pretty stoic person. That is not to say he does not have a sense of humor, but the public and fans get to see it on rare occasion. The size of his smile right before that hug was immeasurable.
It was the culmination of a series, but also the start of a string of events that had us all believing. Surely it could be no coincidence that number seven scored in Game 7 on May 7 in a game scheduled to start at 7.
There were so many odd and wonderful coincidences or signs after that, but this was the one that really lit the fire under the team and fans and had us all twitching with giddy excitement.
The Blues Own 2019 NHL Awards. dark. Next
The Blues would have 13 more games and eight more wins in front of them after this one. Even so, it was one of the biggest and most memorable playoff moments in the team’s history…that is until those eight wins were achieved.