The Blues are playing in the Stanley Cup Final, but the Blackhawks have more in common with them than you think

Don’t worry, Blackhawks fans. Connor Murphy doesn’t want the Blues to win their first Stanley Cup.

Then again, the Hawks defenseman doesn’t want the Bruins to hoist the Cup either.

“It’s weird, one of my close buddies from my hometown plays in Boston, Sean Kuraly,” Murphy said. “So I want to see him do well, but I still have a hard time even wanting it.

“I was talking to my dad (former NHL player Gord Murphy) the other day, I think you just see teams and guys you don’t want to win, as bad as that sounds. Just because you’re competitive and you almost don’t want to see anyone win when you’re not going to win.”

One of the two finalists will win, of course, and if it’s the Blues, they’ll finally be able to end the merciless ribbing from rival fans who have been all too happy to point out the franchise has not won a Cup since it was founded in 1967.

Maybe it’s time to put an end to that smug approach to the rivalry — not just because the Blues are four wins from holding a parade but because they shared a couple of striking similarities with the Hawks this season.

Both teams replaced their coach in November, and both had the fewest points in the league as late as January. Both also experienced a turnaround before the calendar turned to February, but the Blues and new coach Craig Berube surpassed the Hawks, going 24-6-4 over their final 34 games to earn a playoff berth and come within one point of winning the Central Division.

Where they ended up in the playoff bracket ended up not mattering. The Blues beat the Jets in six games, needed a double-overtime win in Game 7 to get past the Stars, then allowed just two goals in the final three games to oust the Sharks in six games in the Western Conference finals.

The Blues have gone the furthest, but the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, Avalanche and Stars all won first-round series as wild-card teams.

“It’s been impressive to see teams like St. Louis be able to come from where they’ve been and play against teams that were always touted ahead of them and to prove a lot of people wrong,” Murphy said. “It’s been really cool to see for them.”

Nobody would have blamed the Blues if they had blown up the team in January and traded veterans for draft picks or prospects. They were going nowhere, and the prospect of making the playoffs, let alone winning the Stanley Cup, seemed ridiculous.

The Hawks had to deal with the same argument that they were better off not even trying to make the playoffs, that more pingpong balls in the draft lottery was better for the franchise than trying for a playoff spot that would likely never come.

It didn’t come for the Hawks, but they played meaningful games until finally getting eliminated with three games left in the regular season. Call it karma if you want, but when the Hawks jumped from 12th to third in the lottery, it reinforced their determination that tanking was not only distasteful but wrong.

“I saw everyone chirping in the NBA too,” Murphy said. “Every team jumped. That’s the point of the lottery. That’s what makes it so great that they did that. I hope that keeps teams accountable for playing the game to its truest form.”

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The Blackhawks selected defenseman Nicolas Beaudin with the No. 27 pick. (Tom Pennington / Getty Images)

Were the Hawks as good as the Blues this season? Of course not. The Blues had a strong core of veterans to go with major offseason acquisitions, then struck gold in rookie goalie Jordan Binnington. It all came together before it was too late.

The Hawks rarely had more than two effective lines rolling at any time, and the defense was way too porous too often, even after they started to win more in the second half of the season. General manager Stan Bowman has work to do before the Hawks can be called a viable Cup contender.

But they were a playoff contender despite falling short. The Blues are showing incredible things can happen if you don’t quit and just find a way to get in.

“You’re never out,” Murphy said. “You get a team like St. Louis who has a great chance of winning the Stanley Cup. Can you imagine people saying that (a few) months ago, how far-fetched that would be?”

jgreenfield@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jcgreenx

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