The Blues Start Defending Their 2019 Stanley Cup Title In A Matchup With The Canucks
St. Louis went winless in the round-robin tournament prior to the postseason's start
Quick-Hitters
- The St. Louis Blues will ramp up defense of their 2019 Stanley Cup Championship with a best-of-seven
first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks starting Wednesday.
- The Blues will figuratively limp into the series as the fourth seed after posting a head-scratching 0-2-1
record in the Western Conference round-robin tournament; they were the first seed in the conference
when the NHL paused its season in March.
- The Canucks earned the fifth seed by defeating the Minnesota Wild three games to one in last week’s
qualifying round. This is Vancouver’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2015. CLICK HERE FOR LIVE GAME ODDS!
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St. Louis Limps Into The Playoffs
The NHL’s toughest team, the St. Louis Blues, know the soft and mediocre way in which they played in the round-robin tournament won’t cut it in the real playoffs. Rebounding from that winless performance shouldn’t be problematic for them considering every key player from last season’s championship team is back and healthy.
Ryan O'Reilly, the MVP of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, remains the team’s go-to player. He led the Blues in scoring during the regular-season with 61 points (12 goals and 49 assists) over 71 games. Goalie Jordan Binnington was a hot mess in the round-robin tournament. He allowed 4.10 goals per game and stopped just 89.5 percent of the shots he faced. He must quickly shake off the rust if the Blues are to get back on track.
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Riding Vancouver's Youth
The Vancouver Canucks are an inexperienced playoff team, but have enough skill on both ends to give St. Louis a scare if the Blues continue to sleepwalk through their bubble experience in Edmonton. Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser are first-round draft picks looking to make an impact in the postseason for the first time. All three forwards can skate and score. Then, there’s defenseman Quinn Hughes, a finalist for the Calder Trophy, who notched six points (one goal and five assists) in the series vs. the Minnesota Wild.
Game 1 Lines
This will be the fourth playoff series between the Blues and Canucks. Vancouver won the first three. Nevertheless, St. Louis (-150) is favored to win Game 1 and they likely will. In fact, don’t be surprised if the Blues dispatch Vancouver in four of five games, just to send a message to the rest of the league.
The over/under for Game 1 is 5.5 goals. With Binnington struggling as he is, and Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstom making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut (not including the qualifying round), a high-scoring Game 1 seems like a lock. The over at +100 is screaming to be hammered.
