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Former Capitals Craig Berube and Zach Sanford become Stanley Cup champions with St. Louis Blues

By Ian Oland

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June 12, 2019 10:41 pm

It’s official. The Washington Capitals are no longer the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

The St. Louis Blues have defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game Seven, to take home their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Craig Berube, the Blues head coach, and forward Zach Sanford are the latest former Capitals to get their names on the Stanley Cup.

Former Capitals head coach Bruce Cassidy and longtime forward Marcus Johansson were on the losing side with Boston.

Ryan O’Reilly, Alex Pietrangelo, and Brayden Schenn scored the Blues’ first three goals. O’Reilly set a Blues franchise record for points in a single postseason, with 22.

Sanford, a Capitals 2013 second-round pick, scored the Blues fourth goal, with 4:38 remaining.

Matt Grzelcyk scored the Bruins’ only goal late in the third period with Tuukka Rask pulled for an extra attacker.

The Blues went nuts as the final buzzer sounded.

Sanford could be seen celebrating in the middle of the pig pile.

O’Reilly was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

After taking photos with Gary Bettman, Pietrangelo raised the Stanley Cup for the first time.

Sanford was one of the final Blues players to raise the Stanley Cup.

It took the Blues 52 years to win their first championship.

Berube played 396 NHL games with the Washington Capitals, serving as the team’s enforcer on the fourth line. After his 1,054 game playing career ended, he became a coach. After working his way up through the AHL, he was hired midseason as the bench boss of the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2013-14 season. In two seasons with the Flyers, he had a 75-58-28 record. Berube returned as an NHL head coach during the 2018-19 season after the Blues fired Mike Yeo. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup after being in last place on January 3.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” Berube said coyly of raising the Stanley Cup. “I don’t know if I’ve had a better feeling ever in hockey to be honest. I’m so proud of our players. I really am. And I’m so happy for the city of St. Louis and all our fans. That’s what I feel right now. I’m so happy for our players. A lot of these guys have played for a long time and finally got a Cup. And just the will and the battle they went through, I’m so happy for them.”

Zach Sanford, a talented forward prospect out of Boston College, played 26 games for the Capitals before being flipped to the Blues for Kevin Shattenkirk at the 2017 trade deadline. Sanford had 8 goals and 20 points in 60 games this season for the Blues. Sanford had 4 points in 8 postseason games.

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