After reaching the Stanley Cup finals following 49-year drought of playing in the Stanley Cup championship, the St. Louis Blues face unfinished business: Win at least one game in the finals. St. Louis started the finals with a 4-2 defeat against Boston Monday.
The National Hockey League expanded from six to 12 teams in the 1967-1968 season. St. Louis was one of the six expansion teams.
For three seasons the Expansion 6 were part of the NHL’s West Division and the Original 6, including the Chicago Blackhawk, madeup the East
Division. The Stanley Cup final was designed to match a team from each division.
Not one of the expansion teams ended the regular season with a winning record.
Not surprisingly, the Montreal Canadiens, who ended up first in the East Division, reached the
Cup final in 1968. The St. Louis Blues, third place in the West, earned the right to play powerful Montreal in the Cup championship series.
Coaching the Canadiens was Hector “Toe” Blake. Behind the bench for the Blues was Scotty Bowman. It was the first Cup final for Bowman and last for Blake. Years later, when the dust (ice) had settled, Blake and Bowman had 17 Stanley Cup championships between them.
Bowman had the Blues primed for the finals, but, talent won out!
Montreal captured the cup four games to zero. All four games were one-goal games with two going to overtime.
In time, Bowman coached nine Stanley Cup champions one more than Blake. Bowman won five with Montreal (1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979), one with Pittsburgh (1992), and three with Detroit (1997, 1998, and 2002).
Bowman had the Blues in the Cup finals in 1969 and 1970 and lost four straight to Montreal then were swept by the Boston Bruins.
For a time things looked good for visiting St. Louis Monday with a 2-0 lead early in the second period, however, the Bruins scored four straight and won, 4-2. The loss left St. Louis with an 0-13 record in Stanley Cup championship games.
St. Louis started this season behind the Chicago Blackhawks who failed to make the playoffs.