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Stanley Cup Final: Game 7 by the numbers

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From 1950 to today, check out the best Game 7 moments in Stanley Cup Playoffs history from the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sidney Crosby, Pat Maroon and more.

It all comes down to one game.

Somebody is going to win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night in Boston when the St. Louis Blues visit the Bruins in a winner-take-all Game 7 (8 p.m. ET, NBC; Live Stream) that will either produce a historic night for St. Louis (first Stanley Cup) or be a continuation of Boston’s recent professional sports dominance.

Here are some numbers and facts to help get you ready for the big night.

Game 7 Historical Numbers

This will be the first Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final since the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks during the 2010-11 postseason. It is only the fourth Game 7 in the salary cap era (starting with the 2005-06 season) and will join 2006 in Carolina, 2009 in Detroit, and 2011. The road team has won two of the previous three games. This will be the 17th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Final history. The home team has a 12-4 record in the previous 16 games.

Wednesday’s game will be the first time the Bruins have ever hosted Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and it is one of the most expensive tickets the city has ever seen for a sporting event.

This is the sixth Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, making it the seventh time that the NHL has had that many Game 7s in a single year.

This will be the second time the Bruins have had to play at least two Game 7s in a single postseason, joining their 2011 championship season when they played in -- and won -- three different Game 7s.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will set an NHL record on Wednesday by playing in his 14th career Game 7, snapping a tie between him, Scott Stevens, and Patrick Roy.

Of the previous 16 Game 7s in Stanley Cup Final history, only two of them have required overtime. Pete Babando scored for the Detroit Red Wings to lift them over the New York Rangers in 1950. Four years later Tony Leswick scored again for the Red Wings to beat the Montreal Canadiens.

This will be the 28th Game 7 in Bruins history (most all time) where they own a 15-12 record. The Blues will be playing in their 18th Game 7 and are 9-8 in their previous games.
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

How They Got Here This Postseason

If the Blues are going to win the Stanley Cup they are going to have to win another game on the road, something they have been great at this postseason. So great, in fact, that they have been better on the road than they have at home. They enter Wednesday’s game with a 9-3 away record. They finished the postseason with a losing record (6-7) on home ice.

The biggest key for the Blues will be maintaining their discipline and staying out of the penalty box due to the strength of the Bruins’ power play. Boston enters Game 7 having converted on 32.9 percent of its power plays this postseason. No team in NHL history with a minimum of 20 playoff games has ever had a higher power play percentage in a single postseason. The next best team was the 2017-18 Washington Capitals who finished at 29.3 percent. After them no other team has had a mark higher than 27 percent.

One of the biggest factors in that power play success: Patrice Bergeron and his seven power play goals. Before this season he had scored just six postseason power play goals in his entire career.

Among goalies with at least 20 games played in a single postseason, Tuukka Rask’s .938 save percentage is currently the sixth highest of all time. Jordan Binnington’s mark of .912 is 44th.

With one point in Game 7 Ryan O’Reilly will set a new franchise record for most points in a single postseason. He enters the game tied with Bernie Federko, Doug Gilmour, and Brett Hull at the top of the list.

If Binnington and the Blues get the win on Wednesday he will become the first rookie goalie to ever win 16 games in a single postseason. He is currently tied with Patrick Roy, Cam Ward, Ron Hextall, and Matt Murray with 15 wins. Three of the other four (Roy, Ward, Murray) won the Stanley Cup in their seasons.

During 5-on-5 play the series has been mostly even, with the two teams separated by just a single goal. The Blues still have a slight edge in the shot attempts and scoring chance metrics, but it is very fitting that this series has required seven games given that the Blues and Bruins were two of the NHL’s best teams since the beginning of January. Since Jan. 1 they were second and third in points percentage (both trailing only the Tampa Bay Lightning) and were both in the top-seven in shot attempt differential and scoring chance differential.

More Blues-Bruins Game 7
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The Wraparound: It is all on line for Blues-Bruins
Which Blues, Bruins player will get Stanley Cup handoff?
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Stanley Cup roundtable discussion

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.