The St. Louis Blues had been there before during their 2019 run to the Stanley Cup Final.
After winning Game 1 in their first two rounds, they found themselves down 1-0 in the Eastern Conference Final in San Jose. They once again dropped Game 1 in the next series: the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins.
We went over the Game 1 loss earlier this week, but this is a much more fond memory.
But it didn't start that way.
Boston struck first in Game 2 with Charlie Coyle potting a power-play goal to open the scoring just 4:44 into the game. The Blues got it right back, though, with Robert Bortuzzo scoring just under five minutes later to tie things up.
That tied the game 1-1 through the first half of the first period, and the teams traded goals again in the latter half of the opening frame.
In fact, Boston retook the lead just 40 seconds after the Blues tied it with a goal by Joakim Nordstrom. Then, with less than five minutes remaining in the period, Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 10th goal of the postseason to tie things at two.
Things quieted down after the raucous first period. There were no goals in the second period or in the third as the 2-2 score held all the way through regulation.
It wasn't for a lack of trying, though, as the Blues outshot the Bruins 33-23 in regulation. They also killed off a Brayden Schenn penalty late in the third period to force overtime.
The Blues had all four shots in the extra session with Carl Gunnarsson scoring his first career playoff goal in his 57th postseason game on a delayed penalty to win it for the Blues.
"I don't score too many, but nothing comes even close," said Gunnarsson. "It's a pretty good feeling right now."
The Bruins were shocked by the overtime loss, losing their first game in nearly a calendar month (since April 30) after sweeping the Eastern Conference Final and winning the final three games of their second-round series.
But for the Blues, it was another triumphant victory on the road to lifting Lord Stanley's Cup.
"The boys played a great game, a disciplined game, and played as a team for 60 minutes, or more than 60 minutes, I guess," Jordan Binnington said. "I think we deserved that one."