Maroon wins third straight Stanley Cup title with Lightning, Blues

Pat Maroon became the first player in the NHL expansion era to win the Stanley Cup in three straight seasons with different teams when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

Maroon is the first player to win the Cup in three consecutive seasons since 16 New York Islanders won it four straight times from 1980-83, including Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Denis Potvin, Billy Smith and Bryan Trottier.
Maroon won the Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and with the Lightning the past two seasons.
"This one was special," Maroon said. "It's hard to win, and I was blessed to be a part of good teams and get on a roll. It's hard to go back to back, and to be a part of the group, that's so special. It's just amazing. I was glad my family got to come around the second time around and party with us."
Maroon is the first player to win the Stanley Cup three straight seasons with different teams since Ed Litzenberger won four straight from 1960-64 with the Chicago Black Hawks (one) and Toronto Maple Leafs (three). Last season, Maroon joined Cory Stillman and Claude Lemieux as the only players to win the Cup with different teams in consecutive seasons in the expansion era (since 1967-68).
Stillman won the Cup with the Lightning in 2004, then with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. The Cup was not awarded in 2005 because the 2004-05 NHL season was canceled by a work stoppage.
Lemieux won it with the New Jersey Devils in 1995 and the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.
"I guess you could put me in some good company," Maroon said. "I'm truly blessed, like I said. I love the game of hockey. I work my tail off every single day, and sometimes you get to play on good teams where you have to play a good role, and I came to Tampa and felt like we had a chance to win. It takes a lot to win one, but it takes a lot more to win two."
Prior to Maroon, the last player to be a part of back-to-back championships with two teams was Mark Hartigan, who played for the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and Detroit Red Wings in 2008 but doesn't have his name on the Stanley Cup after not meeting the games-played criteria in either season (at least 41 games played in the regular season or one game played in the Cup Final).
"Guys are stars in different ways, and you can't sit here and judge a guy because if he doesn't get 100 points, he's not a star player," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "There's guys that are stars in the room. There's guys that are stars on the bench, and when you get to the situation we are in and Montreal is in, guys pitch in in different ways. 'Patty,' guys gravitate to him. He's always saying the right things when it's needed, and he's got swag to him. So he's a star in our book."
A St. Louis native, Maroon signed a one-year contract with the Blues on July 10, 2018. That season, he scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in 26 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help St. Louis defeat the Boston Bruins in seven games for the championship.
Maroon then signed a one-year contract with the Lightning Aug. 24, 2019, and scored six points (one goal, five assists) in 25 postseason games, helping them defeat the Dallas Stars in six games in the 2020 Cup Final. He signed a two-year contract to remain with Tampa Bay on Oct. 29 and scored four points (two goals, two assists) in 23 games this postseason, including his first Stanley Cup Final goal in Game 4.
"I was kind of getting emotional there with like 1:40 left," Maroon said. "I had to keep it together because obviously I'm not out there. But watching these guys block shots and just muck it up and do everything they can just to [have] an opportunity to win, I've been very fortunate. I'm very blessed to be a part of three runs and three very good teams. You may not see me on the score sheet, but I try to bring a different element to the room and chip in when I can and just kind of relax the team a little bit.
"I can't put it into words right now. Like I said, I was crying basically on the bench with 1:40 left. I couldn't even throw my stuff off because to be a Stanley Cup champ three years in a row is pretty special. It takes a group. It takes a group of 25 men, and we did it and I'm very proud of these guys. We worked in such a short season, and I'm going to reminisce about this when I retire with my son. But right now, I'm just going to soak it all in."
Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round (No. 161) of the 2007 NHL Draft, Maroon became a full-time NHL player with the Ducks in 2013-14. He was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 29, 2016, and set NHL career highs in goals (27) and points (42) in 2016-17, when the Oilers came within one win of the Western Conference Final.
He was traded to New Jersey on Feb. 26, 2018, and scored 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 17 games to help it clinch a playoff berth. The Devils lost to the Lightning in five games in the Eastern Conference First Round, the last time Maroon has lost a playoff series (12 wins in a row).
"Character does matter. I think it goes a long way," the 33-year-old said. "You need guys like that in the locker room. You need guys, a bunch of other guys to push the superstars and make them play the right way. And we have character guys that do that. So I'm pumped and, you know, I'm just proud of these guys."
NHL.com staff writers Tim Campbell and Amalie Benjamin contributed to this story