The St. Louis Blues are in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs Final champions. I repeat, the St. Louis Blues are in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs Final champions and,just as we were on March 29 when they clinched a playoff spot, we're a little surprised. Craig Berube on clinching a playoff spot: "It's a big thing, where we were and where we are now, but we're not finished." x - St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) Why, you may ask? Well, before games were played Jan. 3 yes, Jan. 3, 2019 the team from Mi souri was last in the NHL and 11 points behind the Anaheim Ducks for the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Now, Zydrunas Ilgauskas Jersey St. Louis is bringing Cup back to its home state. MORE: What a longstrange trip this season has been for the Blues: Nov. 20 Before we can even start with how this happened, we need to go all the way back to November with the . "Chief" took over a team that was7-9-3. At the time, people thought Joel Quenneville, who was let go by the Chicago Blackhawks two weeks earlier, would be tapped, given that he had previously coached the Blues for parts of eight seasons (1996-2004). Nope. and looked content to be off the bench, so Berube was chosen to fill in and finish out what was looking like a lost season. Dec. 10 If things couldn't get any worse for St. Louis, teammates fought at practice. Not a good look for a team well outside the playoff race and losers of eight of their last 11. Robert Bortuzzo and Zach Sanford dropped the gloves at practice today. (via ) Sporting News Canada (@sportingnewsca) Robert Bortuzzo, who fought Zach Sanford, reflected on the incident March 25with "It's something that happens in our game. It's nothing I'm proud of and something that I don't want to be doing," he said. "But it had nothing to do with (Sanford). We're good friends and it was just a sequence of events that Brad Daugherty Jersey led to something unfortunate." Jan. 3 As stated above, the season was looking grim on this date. Before games started that Thursday night, St. Louis was15-18-4 (34 points) witha minus-21 goal differentialand dead last in the league. That night, the Blues went out and beat the reigning Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals 5-2. Sure, one game doesn't turn the tide, but maybe Bortuzzo dropping the gloves with Tom Wilson who was suspended earlier in the season for 14 games for a played a role. MORE: Jan. 5 St. Louis recalled 25-year-old goaltender Jordan Binnington from San Antonio (AHL). Two days later, he made his first start of the seasonand his career. The rest has been history. Beginning with his 3-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 7, the 2011draft pick has posted a 21-5-1 record with an impre sive 1.78 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. Jordan Binnington of the became the 35th goaltender in League history to register a shutout in his first career NHL start and the eighth to do so in the past 15 years. NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) Jordan Binnington notched his first NHL start and shutout on the same day he was announced player of the week. You could say last week was pretty good to him San Antonio Rampage (@sarampage) Binnington, who eventually took over the No. 1 spot from Jake Allen, has had his namethrown into the Calder Trophy and, dare we say, Vezina Trophy debates. He has earned Player of the Week honors twice this season (second star on Jan. 14; firststaron Feb. 11) and was the NHL's Rookie of the Month for February. Jan. 23-Feb. 19 Twenty-eight days. In just 28 calendar days, the Blues changed their season. After losing 4-3 to the Kings on Jan. 21, St. Louis went on a tear, winning a franchise-record 11 consecutive games. After going from a game under. 500 (21-22-5) to 10 games over (32-22-5), the Blues were suddenly in a playoff spot and poised to make the postseason for the 42nd time in franchise Dante Exum Jersey history. The streak included wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning (1-0 in overtime) and Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2 in overtime) and back-to-back victories over the Nashville Predators (3-2 in regulation and 5-4 in overtime), who, as of now, look to be the Blues' first-round opponent in the playoffs. Over the course of those 11 games, St. Louis went 493minutes and 42 seconds without trailing. Rookie sensation Binnington won nine in a row tied for fifth-most by a rookie netminder in NHL history. The team's points leader, Ryan O'Reilly, scored 12 points. Vladimir Tarasenko notched an awe-inspiring 20 points (10 goals, 10 a sists). Tarasenko, , was named the NHL's third star of the month for February. March 7 Things were looking up even more when Brayden Schenn was activated March 6 from injured reserve after mi sing the previous six games with an upper-body injury. Just a day later, things took a turn andthe Cinderella season looked to be in peril. Leading goal-scorer Tarasenko suffered an upper-body injury during a 4-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in which he scored the 28th goal of his season. . The Blues went 1-2-2 in the five games he mi sed and were outscored 13-11, with five of the team'sgoals coming in the lone victory, 5-1 over the Pittsburgh Penguins. March 19 The Blues got healthy. Tarasenko returned, and Damyean Dotson Jersey as if in direct correlation, the team won four in a row, including victories over the Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights. Just three nights before Tarasenko's return, after mi sing 24 games with an upper-body injury. In the seven games since his return, he has seven points (four goals, three a sists). He also closed out a remarkable streak in his fourth game back, March 21 against the Detroit Red Wings. David Perron recorded the fourth instance in franchise history of a player recording at least one point in 17 consecutive appearances, joining Brett Hull (25 GP in 1991-92, 20 GP in 1989-90) and Blake Dunlop (19 GP in 1981-82). NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 29 Welcome to the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs, St. Louis! You did it! WE'RE IN!!!! x - St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) Despite losing to the New York Rangers on March 29, the Blues clinched when the Arizona Coyotes lost to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout. Since that key Jan. 3 date, St. Louis went 30-10-5 to close out the regular season and become the seventh team since expansion in 1967 (which was also when the Blues joined the NHL) to make the postseason after being in last place after New Year's Day. Those 30 wins were also the second-most in the NHL since Jan. 1. May 21 It took49years or exactly 17,908 days since May 10, 1970 butthe St. Louis Blues are back in the Stanley Cup Final. As it so hapens, the last franchise they faced in the Stanley Cup Final is the same one they'll face this time the Boston Bruins. The moment that's a half-century in the making! St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) After defeating the Winnipeg Jets in six games, the Dallas Stars in seven and the San Jose Sharks in six in the West playoffs, the Blues are just four wins away from LeBron James Jersey the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. June 12 The Blues lifted the Cup for the first time after getting thatfourth win, a 4-1 Game 7 triumph over the Bruins in Boston, the city where Bobby Orr broke the franchise's young hearts 49 years earlier. This time, St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the first period and never let the B's get back into the contest. They iced the title with two more goals in the third. Every season has a Cinderella team, a team with an amazing story. Worst-to-first St. Louis was the team this year. The gla s slipper fits. SN's Tom Gatto contributed to this report.