The Wraparound is your daily look at the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We’ll break down each day’s matchups with the all-important television and live streaming information included.
This is it.
It’s all on the line tonight for the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins (8 p.m. ET; NBC). One team will skate around the TD Garden with the Stanley Cup. Which team will that be?
“Winning and losing, it sticks with you forever,” Bruins forward Brad Marchand said. “You don’t forget everything that happens when you win, and you definitely don’t forget what happens when you lose. Unfortunately, there’s going to be both sides of that (on Wednesday), and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Of course, many Bruins know what it’s like to win it all and they also know what it’s like to lose in the Stanley Cup Final. As for the Blues, many of them haven’t been in this position. Will that make a difference tonight?
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]
“It’s definitely hard when you lose, because you work for this your whole life,” Blues forward David Perron, who went to the Stanley Cup Final with Vegas last year, said on Tuesday. “So you want to make the best of it, definitely.”
The Blues had an opportunity to close out the Bruins at Enterprise Center in Game 6, but that didn’t work out the way they had hoped, as they dropped a 5-1 decision on home ice. That was clearly their best opportunity to win the Stanley Cup, but they now get another chance to do so on the road at TD Garden.
The good news is that the Blues have been a remarkably good team on the road in the postseason.
“I just think we get to our game easier on the road,” Blues forward Pat Maroon said. “Maybe (we’re) thinking too much at home. Being at home, there could be pressure or whatever. It should be no excuses, but I just feel like we get to our game (on the road). We find ways to make it difficult on the opponent and we do it pretty good.”
If St. Louis can play their simple road game and they get a strong performance out of goalie Jordan Binnington, they’ll be in prime position to come away with a victory in the biggest game in franchise history.
As for the Bruins, they’ll need their top players to come up big tonight. Their top line has been quiet during certain stretches in this series, but they are capable of blowing Game 7 wide open.
We’re only hours away from the biggest game of the 2018-19 season.
MORE:
• Chara all action, little talk in Stanley Cup Final
• Bruins hope to spoil Boston sports fans with another championship
• Stanley Cup Final Roundtable: Game 7 x-factors, Conn Smythe contenders
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.