2019 Stanley Cup Finals Preview

The time has arrived. We started this journey back in October with 32 teams. After a long regular season and three rounds of playoffs, we have two teams left standing. Over the next two weeks, we will determine who is the best team in hockey for the 2018-19 season. One team has been in the thick of things all year long. The other had to claw, scratch and fight out of the depth of their conference to walk away as the best team in it. Its a cup finals rematch from a previous finals as well. Here's what we got going down over the next two weeks.

This year's finals pits the Western Conference Champion St Louis Blues going against the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins. Boston got here after knocking off the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round in seven games, then dispatched the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games, and finally sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals. This will mark the 20th Finals appearance for the Bruins. As for the Blues, they got here by dispatching the Winnipeg Jets in six games, followed that up with a win over the Dallas Stars in seven games, and finally eliminating the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals in six games. This marks the fourth appearance in the Finals for the Blues, who have yet to win a game in Cup Finals play.

This will be the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with Boston winning both previous series. They last met in the 1972 Stanley Cup Semifinals which Boston won in a four-game sweep. St. Louis will be making their fourth appearance in the Finals. They last advanced to the Finals in 1970, which they lost in four games to the Boston Bruins. Boston will be making their twentieth Finals appearance. They last advanced to the Finals in 2013, which they lost in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks. These teams split the two games in this year's regular season series.

Here's the dates and times for every game in the finals:
May 27 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden NBC
May 29 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden NBCSN
June 1 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center NBCSN
June 3 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center NBC
June 6 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden NBC
June 9 Boston Bruins 8:00 p.m. St. Louis Blues Enterprise Center NBC
June 12 St. Louis Blues 8:00 p.m. Boston Bruins TD Garden NBC

St Louis is hoping for a better result than what happened the last time they faced Boston in the Finals. In order for that to happen, Jordan Binnington, who's had a few setbacks in the playoffs but, overall, has played pretty well in this post season. He is the fifth rookie goalie in NHL history to earn his team's first 12 wins in a single postseason. In that conferences finals against the Sharks, he stopped 75 of 77 shots in the final three wins in that series. So he knows he can handle himself in those big moments. St Louis is getting balanced scoring in the playoffs, as they have had 18 players score playoff goals.The guy who's been carrying the Blues in the goal department in this playoffs has been Jaden Schwartz, who is second in the playoffs with 12 goals in 19 games. And at this time of year, the best players always start to pick their game up. Case in point, Vladimir Tarasenko had at least one point in each of the six games in the conference final.

While the Blues numbers have been impressive, so too has that of Boston. Tuukka Rask has gone 12-5 in the playoffs with an NHL-best 1.84 goals-against average and .942 save percentage. He's also on a five game winning streak, so yeah, there's nobody hotter than Tuukka right now. He stonewalled the Canes in the Conference finals to get here. And he's not the only one heating up at the right time. Boston's big line has been playing like it.The line of Brad Marchand (seven goals, 11 assists), Patrice Bergeron (eight goals, five assists) and David Pastrnak (seven goals, eight assists) has scored 38.6 percent of Boston's goals in the playoffs. When you got your big boys going, you ride them for as long as you can, which is what Boston is doing. And for further proof that Boston is getting scoring from everybody, nineteen players have scored in the postseason, tying the Bruins record. This Bruins team can pretty much do it all right now.

St Louis, to me, is the feel good story of the post season. The fact that they went from a last place team to a team that's now in the finals is amazing. But they are running into a red hot hockey club. Boston has been beating everybody and Rask is playing out of his mind right now. Boston is in a prime position to take the crown.

Prediction: Bruins in 6!