National Post (National Edition)
Maroon relishes role of playoff hero
Blues saviour began year in lesser fortunes
The mob scene had long subsided and Pat Maroon finally had time to catch his breath.
Fans had cleared out of the arena, as had most of the players, but there was the hometown hero standing alone in the hallway near the St. Louis Blues family room.
His tie was strewn around his neck and he was nearly ready to walk into the night with his fiancée Francesca Vangel when he paused to reflect on what just might have been the most important night of his hockey career.
The moment itself was remarkable.
And it would have been difficult to script a more fitting and euphoric ending than a St. Louis product wearing No. 7 scoring the game-winning goal at 5:50 of the second overtime of Game 7 to propel the Blues to the Western Conference final after a 2-1 triumph over the Dallas Stars.
Of course, this was anything but a one-man show,
yet Maroon left an indelible mark on this series and in St. Louis sports lore.
With the game tied 1-1 in the fifth period and approaching the four-hour mark, the Blues lined up for an offensive-zone faceoff and Tyler Bozak won the draw.
Maroon set a subtle pick on Stars defenceman John Klingberg to clear a bit of room for Robert Thomas, creating a shooting lane, which the rookie forward took full advantage of.
On a night when another St. Louis product, Ben Bishop, was nothing short of exceptional, Thomas’ shot appeared to clang off the post and bank off the back of the Stars goalie, leaving the puck unprotected in the crease.
Maroon got to the puck first and deposited it over the goal-line, sending the crowd inside Enterprise Center into a state of pandemonium as the Blues advanced to the Western Conference final for the first time since 2016.
“Make sure you get the puck i n ,” said Maroon, when asked what was going through his mind as he saw the puck lying there. “If I miss that, I’d be on the other side of it, not the hero.”
Back in the bowels of the arena roughly an hour after he sent the crowd into a frenzy, Maroon was asked to go back to early July, where as an unrestricted free agent he was left with the difficult decision regarding what to do next.
As a power forward with soft hands and a mean streak, Maroon was expected to garner a bit more interest.
Several teams were concerned about his foot speed and the fact he was coming off a pair of surgeries.
“I had more offers than everyone thinks that I had, but when you have back surgery and knee surgery, people get scared of that and they shy away from that,” said Maroon. “I’m not a guy that’s the fastest skater, so they kind of look at that side of thing too — about the maintenance of my body and how I’m going to hold up or if I’m slowing down.”
Enter a series of conversations with Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, who laid out what role he saw Maroon filling.
Eventually the two sides came to terms on a one-year deal worth US$1.75 million.
During a summer where Armstrong also signed Bozak as an unrestricted free agent and made a blockbuster deal to acquire Ryan O’reilly from the Buffalo Sabres, the value buy on Maroon ended up being a vital deal.
But this journey was not without its bumps.
Maroon, 31, started the season slowly and his time on the top line with O’reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko didn’t last long.
He was out of sorts and found himself as a healthy scratch in November, not scoring his first goal with the Blues until Nov. 24, snapping a 15-game drought to open the campaign.
To be sure, this was not the dream season he envisioned.
It was bordering on a nightmare.
Head coach Craig Berube, who replaced Mike Yeo after the Blues got off to a 7-9-3 start, was responsible for finding new linemates for Maroon and the third line has been a force throughout the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs.
That unit was also responsible for the Blues first goal in Game 7, credited to defenceman Vince Dunn.
“I don’t know if I revived his career, but I believe in (Maroon),” said Berube. “His line had a lot to do with reviving his season. That line has had some good chemistr y and they’ve played some extremely good hockey for us for a long time. They just work really well together and that’s part of it. (Maroon) has found a home there with the guys and they’ve done a really good job and they’ve come through in the playoffs at big-time moments for us.”