EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Patrick Maroon didn’t get the chance this time to lower the Stanley Cup so that his son, Anthony, could kiss it before lifting it again over his shoulders.
Anthony stayed home in the U.S., as did fiancée Francesca as Maroon celebrated with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night as he became a back-to-back NHL champion. A year ago on the ice in Boston, the St. Louis native won the Cup with the Blues, his family by his side.
Maroon had his phone out for the party on the ice in Edmonton after his key steal helped set up the second goal in the 2-0 win that sealed the title.
“Just celebrating with my future wife Francesca and then my family back home,” he explained. “I thought last year was something else, but this year was something special. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on so many good hockey teams, and to go back to back, most people don’t get the chance to play in a Stanley Cup Finals, I got to do it back to back, and win. I got the chills talking about this.”
According to NHL Stats, Maroon is just the eighth player to win the Cup in back-to-back seasons with different teams and the first since Cory Stillman in 2004 and 2006, sandwiched around the lockout year.
“It’s extremely different,” Maroon said before the final wrapped up, acknowledging the decision for his family not to join him in the bubble. “It’s kind of been a dream. I’ve been living in a dream, honestly.”
Maroon will be the first player since Claude Lemieux in the 1990s to get his name on the Cup in consecutive years with different teams, and only those two and Stillman have done it since the expansion era began in 1967.
“I’ve been fortunate to play on some really, really good hockey teams,” Maroon said before Game 5. “I’ve been fortunate to come back to the Stanley Cup Final, even though there’s a lot of guys that play in the league for 10-15 years that only get one opportunity at this thing. I’ve been fortunate to get two whacks at it.
“I’ve been blessed, and without my family and my teammates for all the support, I don’t think it happens.”
If the Blues don’t let Maroon go and the Lightning don’t sign him, maybe none of this happens. Tampa Bay is a different team with him after falling short many years in a row.
Maroon was a late-summer signing a couple of weeks before training camp in the summer of 2019. It was his second consecutive one-year deal, now with his sixth NHL organization, worth $900,000 — roughly half his St. Louis salary.
It has been a perfect fit, even if Maroon hasn’t been as prominent as he was in the Blues’ run, when he scored a series-clinching, double-overtime goal in the second round to eliminate the same Dallas Stars he and the Lightning defeated in the final. But along with trade deadline pickups Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman and free agent signings Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn, Maroon has played a big role in bulking up the Lightning enough to get the job done.
“The M.O. on us and the Lightning over the last few years is that they’re offensive and they’re skilled and the way to beat them is to play them hard,” said Game 4 overtime hero Kevin Shattekirk, also a new addition. “Things have changed this year.”
Coach Jon Cooper knew Maroon had the potential to change the complexion of the team. He coached Maroon from 2005-07 with Texarkana and St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League, kept in touch over the years and followed his career closely.
Cooper remembers Maroon going from an overweight 17-year-old who had to do extra work to get in shape to a dominant player at that level. Maroon grew into his 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame as a player, grew up as a person and became an NHL regular.
In February, Maroon’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer — he told NBC she beat it and was healthy — and he was hoping to bring the Cup home to her.
“You never know when you’re going to come back, so you’ve got to take every opportunity and cherish it,” he said.
Maroon dressed in all 25 Tampa Bay games this postseason, providing some much-needed muscle and filling a vital role in front of the net on the power play.
“He’s a good teammate, and he knows his role, so he knows the minutes he’s going to get,” Cooper said. “I’d give guys roles and make sure they all know what they are, and he knows his. He’s got character, and he is a character. It’s two good attributes to have.”
Watching Maroon play elsewhere, Cooper often “sneakily” whispered to former Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, “Hey Steve, if we got the chance.”
It was new GM Julien BriseBois who got the chance and took it, and now they are all Stanley Cup champions.
___ AP Sports Writer Noah Trister contributed.
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Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
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