As the Boston Bruins look to tack on another championship for the city's ridiculous winning tear, the St. Louis Blues hope to win their first Stanley Cup in improbable fashion. After all, this was a team in last place in January. After one game, the B's have the edge in the Stanley Cup Final, following their 4-2 victory.

Here's everything you need to know about how Game 1 played out in this edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily, and click here to stream our Stanley Cup Daily podcast!

Jump ahead: Last night's game | Three stars
Play of the night | Social post of the day

About last night ...

Game 1: Boston Bruins 4, St. Louis Blues 2 (Bruins lead the series 1-0)

One of the stories heading into Game 1 was that the Bruins had a 10-day layoff between games while the Blues were coming in fresh. And St. Louis couldn't have asked for a better start. The Blues played the aggressive brand of hockey that led them to the Final and jumped out to a 2-0 lead.

Then things unraveled, about 22 minutes in. A normally disciplined team couldn't stay out of the penalty box. "Five penalties takes a lot of guys out of the game and uses up a lot of energy of other guys," Blues coach Craig Berube said. The second period was the dreary turning point, as St. Louis couldn't sustain any offensive zone time, let alone pressure. The Blues would be outshot 30-12 over the final two periods. Boston mustered enough offense, thanks to goals by rookie defenseman Connor Clifton, second-year defenseman Charlie McAvoy and fourth-liner Sean Kuraly, plus an empty-netter from Brad Marchand.

Three stars

1. Sean Kuraly, C, Boston Bruins

The fourth-liner is building quite the résumé. Besides his game-winning goal (and assist) in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Kuraly scored the game winner at the Winter Classic, as well as game winners in Game 7 versus the Leafs in the first round and in Game 4 versus the Blue Jackets in the second round, the team for which he grew up cheering.

2. Connor Clifton, D, Boston Bruins

Just when the energy was sucked out of TD Garden, the rookie defenseman brought the crowd back to life by getting the Bruins on the board. Hey, it doesn't matter how it goes in, right? Just that it went in.

3. Charlie McAvoy, D, Boston Bruins

We've heard about how scary-good the Bruins' power play can be (it's the best in a postseason run since the 1981 Islanders, after all). After failing to convert on five power-play chances, McAvoy was able to get a man-advantage goal, unassisted.

Play of the night

Bruins defenseman Torey Krug lost his helmet while tangling with Blues winger David Perron by the Bruins' net. Then Krug proceeded to skate the length of the ice with hair flowing to deliver this huge -- and legal -- hit.

Torey Krug lights up Robert Thomas. pic.twitter.com/0U3cp1m60T

- Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 28, 2019

Dud of the night

After building a 2-0 lead, the Blues were a dud for pretty much the entire second period. According to Natural Stat Trick, they had zero high-danger shot attempts (Boston had six). They had seven total shot attempts (Boston had 29). They also had only three shots on goal, including none in the final 8:16 before the second intermission.

Social post of the day

Krug wasn't the only one with thoughts on his big hit. Everyone was talking about that Krug play on social media Monday night, but we particularly liked this take from Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba:

Torrey Krug is a savage ��

- Matt Dumba (@matt_dumba) May 28, 2019

Quotable

"Well, he got a haircut a couple days ago, so he was looking pretty good." -- David Pastrnak on Krug