The St. Louis Blues made the playoffs six years in a row from 2011-17, achieving a modest level of postseason success but never making the Stanley Cup Finals, let alone hoisting the Cup.
Then they missed the postseason a year ago (albeit with a healthy 94 points) and slumped so badly to start this season that they fired coach Mike Yeo after 19 games and at one point in early January had the worst record in the NHL.
So how the heck did it come to be that St. Louis triumphed in a winner-take-all Game 7 Wednesday night, winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history?
That's a question for a lot of teams, and it might be one being asked particularly by the Wild and its fans.
After all, these teams appear similar in many respects — right down to the six consecutive years making the postseason and the midyear firing of Yeo.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. mrand@startribune.com
