Lightning forward Pat Maroon sold himself out when he went on a St. Louis radio station last week and admitted to dropping the Stanley Cup after the Lightning’s boat parade celebration.
The damage wasn’t extensive, and the Cup went back to Montreal for repairs before making its way to New Jersey for Ross Colton’s day with it on Friday.
Had the Cup not been damaged, though, Maroon, Alex Killorn and Ryan McDonagh were scheduled to fly to New York to film a segment for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Killorn said on Barstool Sports’ Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.
And now, it’s hands-off Cup talk, Maroon said on the podcast, released Tuesday.
“From a PR standpoint, I got told I cannot talk about it,” he said.
Still, there was plenty for Maroon and Killorn to discuss during the freewheeling hour-long discussion. Here are five highlights:
Killorn doesn’t want to leave Tampa
When Killorn considers the end of his career, he sees himself riding off on his Sea-Doo into Tampa’s sunset.
Killorn said he wants to retire in Tampa when the time comes and doesn’t want to play anywhere else, including Seattle.
As one of three key forwards (including Yanni Gourde and Ondrej Palat) exposed to the Kraken for Wednesday’s expansion draft, Killorn — the longest-tenured player in the Lightning organization (he was drafted a year before Steven Stamkos but did not play in the NHL until later) — might not end up in Tampa next season.
“I talked with (general manger) Julien (BriseBois) yesterday,” Killorn said, “I know he had a tough decision on who he was going to protect. ... It seems there are three (of us) that (Seattle) is going to be looking at to pick, and I think for myself, I’d be really unhappy if I left Tampa.”
The Bolts are one of the league’s most superstitious teams
Maroon didn’t know what to think when he signed with the Lightning after winning the Cup with the Blues in 2018-19.
“You guys are so superstitious,” Killorn recalled Maroon telling teammates soon after his arrival. “In St. Louis, we didn’t do this. ... And he kept giving us crap.”
Killorn said every player has his own superstitions, but some are more elaborate than others. When former Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard joined the team in April, he was warned about what he might find in the bathroom.
“There’s certain guys that sing a song in the bathroom before games,” Killorn said. “There’s six guys doing a capella in there. It’s really weird.”
Killorn said the singing started with Martin St. Louis and trickled down to Stamkos and others.
Maroon denied allegations that he is now the most superstitious player on the team, saying that honor should go to Stamkos, Brayden Point or Victor Hedman.
“If it makes my teammates better,” Maroon said, “I’m for it.”
Maroon was nervous before Game 7 of Islanders series
Maroon hasn’t had many moments during his 10-year career when he’s been anxious before a game.
But the hours before Game 7 of the semifinal series against the Islanders were among them.
“I woke up from my nap pretty nervous,” Maroon said. “People forget we won on a PK (penalty-kill) goal. I mean, that game could have gone either way.”
Maroon said the series was the best he has played in during the postseason and a fun one to watch, given the competitiveness between the teams.
“I would say that was the most nervous I’ve been in a long time about a playoff series,” Maroon said. “I didn’t have any of those moments in the past two years.”
To help ease anxiety in the locker room, Stamkos reminded teammates that the Lightning have not lost back-to-back games at any point over the past two postseasons. Killorn said it’s the only time in his memory the record has been brought up in the room.
“Don’t worry, boys,” Killorn recalled Stamkos saying. “We never lose two in a row.”
Maroon loved this ‘twinning’ moment from the boat parade
Maroon had a will-never-forget kind of moment during the boat parade celebration when one fan along the Riverwalk caught his attention.
Hanna Hill dressed as Maroon did when he took the stage at Raymond James Stadium in September for the post-parade celebration, donning a white fedora, Stanley Cup scarf, shorts and hairy-chested onesie.
Maroon and his wife, Francesa, pointed to her from their boat and immediately got a chuckle.
“I was dying” Maroon said. “Me and McDonagh were dying laughing. We were, like, peeing ourselves. That was hysterical. We threw her a beer.”
Maroon got a Toradol shot in the final series, but not for his spider bite
McDonagh and Barclay Goodrow tried to talk to a team doctor about their broken hands during the Stanley Cup final, but Maroon thought his spider bite was a more pressing issue.
Maroon pushed McDonagh aside and interrupted the conversation, saying the bite had “blown up like a balloon” and he was freaking out. (Yes, Maroon still has the scar.)
Though he told people at the time he received a Toradol shot for the bite, Maroon said on the podcast that was not the real reason for the injection.
“I did not get a Toradol because of that,” he said. “My knee and back were hurting. But yeah, we did say I got it for the spider bite.”
Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.
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