Ryan O’Reilly leads St. Louis Blues to 2019 Stanley Cup Finals

Ryan O’Reilly (Fanny Schertzer, Wikimedia Commons)

Ryan O’Reilly of Clinton, Ontario has led the St. Louis Blues to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since 1970. On Tuesday, O’Reilly led the Blues in scoring with three points (three assists) as the Blues beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1 to win the Western Conference Finals four games to two.

O’Reilly was one of two Blues players to have a multi-point game. The other was David Perron of Sherbrooke, Quebec, who had one goal and one assist for two points. The Blues also got goals from Brayden Schenn of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Tyler Bozak of Regina, Saskatchewan, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev.

Perron put the Blues up 1-0 at 1:32 of the first period on a goal from O’Reilly and Samuel Blais of Montmagny, Quebec. Tarasenko then scored the Blues game winning goal at 16:16 of the first period from O’Reilly and Colton Parayko of St. Albert, Alberta. O’Reilly and Perron then assisted on the Blues’ third period goal by Bozak which put them up 4-1 at the time.

The Blues will now face the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, which will start on Monday. The Blues faced the Bruins in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals. It was a series the Bruins swept four games to none. However it was Bobby Orr’s overtime winner 40 seconds into the extra period of game four that is remembered most. Orr, a native of Parry Sound, Ontario, who is considered one of the greatest defensemen in National Hockey League history, scored the overtime winner while being tripped. While the puck crossed the goal line, Orr was in the air.

 

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