Pat Maroon is a back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion

Sadly, the St. Louis Blues are no longer the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars tonight by a score of 2-0 to take the series four games to two. It’s the second Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay’s franchise history and their first since 2004. After getting swept in the first round last year by the Columbus Blue Jackets in one of the biggest upsets of the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning were considered a strong bounce-back Cup favorite this year. They’ve looked nearly unstoppable during the playoffs, and despite their surprising success in the Western Conference rounds, the Dallas Stars weren’t going to be the team that put the breaks on the Bolts.

This off-season, Pat Maroon signed a contract with the Lightning for one year, $900,000.

He’s a UFA now, and he may well be in for a bigger payday and a longer term wherever he signs. Why? Because he’s a back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion, baby.

The Pride of Oakville gets his name on the Cup two years in a row, playing for two different teams. While it would’ve been nice to see the Blues repeat this year, and it would’ve been even nicer for them to do it with Maroon on the roster, Maroon gave Blues fans someone to root for after our team got bounced in the first round.

“Well, if the Blues can’t do it, maybe Maroon can” has been a pretty common sentiment the last few weeks. Here’s hoping he shows the Cup another good time in St. Louis when he gets his day with it.

Congratulations are in order as well for former Blues’ defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who scored the game winning goal in the first overtime period of game four. Who was planted in front of the net for the screen? I’ll give you a hint: he’s chubby but effective.