About this time a little more than one year ago, Pat Maroon made the decision to come home and play in front of his hometown by signing with the St. Louis Blues. The Oakville, Missouri native took a paycut, as he ultimately took money under what he was worth on the free agent market. Maroon signed a team friendly one-year deal worth $1.75M with the Blues who were short on cap space after signing Tyler Bozak, David Perron, and trading for coveted piece Ryan O’Reilly. Maroon wanted to sign with the Blues for two reasons: to play in front of his son and family every night, and to bring St. Louis its first Stanley Cup which it has so desperately waited for.
The Maroon signing was a feel-good headline at the time. Hometown boy returns home to be with and play in front of family. But once October came, things quickly took a turn for the worse. Maroon and the Blues struggled out of the gate. Maroon had failed to score a goal in the first 15 games of the season, and did not score his first goal until Thanksgiving, when the Blues were blown out at home by the Winnipeg Jets, 8-4. Maroon would go almost another 10 games without scoring a goal and after the last game during the calendar year of 2018, Maroon had played in 31 games and recorded just three goals and eight assists for a total of 11 points. By early January, the Blues had found themselves dead last in the NHL. Things were looking bleak.
Throughout the season, Maroon had even been made a healthy scratch for a few consecutive games due to his play not being up to par according to the Blues coaching staff. But shortly after returning to the lineup, Maroon had to sit a few games once more because of a recurring back injury. But after returning, Maroon would finally find his game. Maroon gained confidence with his play and scored goals in three straight games and posted 10 points in a 15-game span. Maroon ultimately finished the season with 10 goals and 18 assists in 74 games, but he finished the year strong, the Blues were playing their best hockey of the year, and they clinched themselves a playoff spot.
The third seeded Blues were pitted up against the Jets in the first round. Maroon made his impact early in the series, recording the primary assist on the game winning goal in Game 1 and then scoring one himself during a Game 2 victory. The Blues would ultimately win the series four games to two. Next up was a matchup against the Dallas Stars, the series where Maroon would make his biggest impact. Each team nabbed a win in the first two games of the series, which meant we were headed to Dallas nodded at one game apiece. In what turned out to be a bizarre Game 3 that had four total goals in the third period, Pat Maroon buried a shot past the right shoulder of Stars netminder Ben Bishop with 1:38 remaining to put the Blues up 4-3 and ultimately win them the game. Maroon’s goal marked the third different time the Blues led in the period, as they led 2-1, 3-2, and 4-3.
Maroon was fairly quiet offensively over the next three games as the Blues and Stars battled it out all the way leading to a Game 7. After goals from Vince Dunn and Mats Zuccarello, Game 7 was headed to overtime tied 1-1. The Blues dominated most of the game offensively, tallying 54 shots on goal compared to 30 by the Stars by the game’s end. Maroon himself had four of those shots as the Maroon-Bozak-Thomas line was buzzing all game long. But during the second overtime period, that line was out on the ice for an offensive zone faceoff. Tyler Bozak won the draw, then the skillful rookie Robert Thomas possessed the puck and made a nifty toe drag move. Thomas then put a whistling shot past Ben Bishop off the right post and off the back of Bishop’s mask. The puck lied there, inches away from crossing the line. Pat Maroon, as he always does, drove hard to the net and found the loose puck, then buried it into the back of the net. With that goal, Maroon sent the Blues to the Western Conference Final and forever immortalized himself into St. Louis sports history with one of, if not the biggest goal in Blues franchise history.
In the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks, Maroon continued to remain a factor offensively. He recorded an assist in three of the first four games of the series, including the primary assist on Tyler Bozak’s game winning power play goal in Game 4 to even the series. The Blues went on to finish off the Sharks in six and found their way to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970.
During the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins, Maroon did fail to find his way onto to the scoring column, but that did not mean his presence was not felt. Maroon had over 10 minutes of ice time in four of the seven games in the series, and even had a game where he had four shots on goal. In Game 2, Maroon provided a big screen and nearly had a redirect on a Robert Bortuzzo goal that tied the game. On the way back to the Blues bench, Maroon was captured by NBC stopping and looking at the Bruins bench, muttering his now famous statement, saying “you guys are f***ed.”
Despite Maroon not recording a point in the series, the Blues still went on to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. During the celebration at the Arch downtown after the Stanley Cup Champions parade, Pat Maroon had one more noteworthy soundbite for us. Maroon grabbed the microphone, and yelled at the top of lungs, “I’m a hometown hero baby!” Yes, you are Pat, yes you are.
Maroon and his line with Bozak, Thomas, and later Sammy Blais after Thomas was injured was a force to be reckoned with all playoffs long and was a big reason the Blues were able to accomplish what they did. Despite Maroon’s regular season struggles, all was forgotten with what he brought in the postseason. His game winning goal in Game 3 against Dallas was no doubt important, but his Game 7 winner officially put him on hometown hero status and will be replayed year in and year out for generations of Blues fans. The Blues likely do not win the cup, let alone even that game if Maroon does not bury that puck past Bishop. Pat Maroon’s one season with the Blues was a remarkable one and it will never be forgotten what he did for this team in the year 2019. Good luck the rest of the way and we look forward to seeing you back soon. Thanks for the memories, Pat.
