06/09/2019 at 11:15pm EDT
ST. LOUIS (June 9, 2019) – For the first time in their 95-year history, the Boston Bruins will host a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final as they vie for their seventh championship against the St. Louis Blues, who will aim to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 52-year history. The winner-take-all showdown will take place Wednesday at TD Garden in Boston, capping a thrilling and unpredictable postseason and adding a significant chapter to the storied sports histories of the competing cities.
This marks the first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final since the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks to claim their last Cup in 2011.
Overall, this is the 17th Stanley Cup Final to go the distance, with the home team holding a 12-4 advantage in the prior 16. However, the road team has won each of the last two, with the Bruins doing so in 2011 at Vancouver and the Penguins in 2009 at Detroit.
Wednesday’s contest will be the sixth Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is the seventh time in NHL history that at least six Game 7s will be contested in the same postseason (7 in 1994, 2011 and 2014; 6 in 1992, 2003, 2009 and 2019).
Both the Bruins and Blues have won a Game 7 en route to the Final, with Boston eliminating Toronto in the First Round – their second straight year doing so – and St. Louis knocking off Dallas in the Second Round. Each team won on home ice – Trade Deadline acquisition Marcus Johansson netted the decisive goal in the Bruins’ 5-1 victory April 23, while hometown hero Pat Maroon scored the double-overtime goal in the Blues’ 2-1 win May 7.
This is the second time that Boston will contest multiple Game 7s in a single playoff year. The only other instance came in 2011 when they became the first club in NHL history to win three Game 7s in one year (only the 2014 Kings have done so since). This is the fourth time that the Blues will contest multiple Game 7s in one postseason (also 2016: 2-0; 1986: 1-1; and 1968: 2-0).
A member of the NHL’s Original Six and owners of the most all-time Game 7s (27 GP), Boston will host a Game 7 in the Final for the first time. The other Original Six teams each have hosted at least one such contest: DET (3-2), TOR (2-0), MTL (1-0), NYR (1-0) and CHI (0-1).
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara – who, at age 42, has played the last two contests with a full-face protector after taking a puck to the face in Game 4 – is set to participate in his 14th career Game 7 – which would be the most all-time. Chara (6-7) currently is tied with goaltender Patrick Roy(6-7) and Scott Stevens (7-6) at 13 winner-take-all appearances.
Overall, the Bruins own an all-time record of 15-12 in their previous 27 Game 7s – the most such games and wins in NHL history – including a 14-8 mark at home. The Blues are 9-8 in their 17 all-time Game 7s, including a 4-6 clip as the visiting team.
Game 7 Trends
Of the 177 all-time Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
* The team that scores first is 131-46 (.740), including 11-5 in the Final and 3-2 in 2019
* Home teams own a 104-73 record (.587), including 12-4 in the Final and 4-1 in 2019
* Forty-four have required overtime (24.9%). Home teams have a 23-21 edge (2-1 in 2019).
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