TAMPA — The day after his goal sent the Lightning to a second straight Stanley Cup championship, Ross Colton was riding in the passenger seat of Pat Maroon’s golf cart, parading the Cup around Davis Islands.
Any ride with Maroon — who showed during last year’s Cup celebration that he’s a capable Pied Piper of parades — can be an adventure. But it was at that moment, riding with the Cup and the man who has been most acquainted with it over the past three seasons, that the moment truly hit Colton
“Just soaking it in with all the fans, that was kind of the moment for me that really made it click that, ‘Wow, we’re Stanley Cup champions,’” Colton said. “You’re sitting there with Patty Maroon, back-to-back-to-back (Cup winner), it was unbelievable for me. I was soaking it all in.
“I felt like I was almost in a fantasy being a part of it with him.”
Just hours earlier, Colton scored the only goal in the Lightning’s title-clinching Game 5 win over the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final. On a team full of players who were part of last year’s championship team, it was ironic that the two who weren’t — trade deadline acquisition defenseman David Savard, a 10-year veteran, and Colton, a 24-year-old rookie who began this season in the AHL — were the ones who connected on Wednesday night’s winning goal.
“There’s honestly no real words to describe it,” Colton said. “Just such an unbelievable feeling and just to be a part of it, is so special for me and I thought everyone played their best 60 minutes of the year and, honestly, I’m still speechless.”
Colton spent most of his season battling alongside Maroon for pucks, doing dirty work on the Lightning’s fourth line. But he has a flair for the dramatic. He scored his first NHL goal on his second shift of his first game Feb. 24. When filling in for the injured Barclay Goodrow on the Lightning’s third line, he scored two goals in the first-round series against the Panthers. And he scored the biggest goal of his career Wednesday night playing on the Lightning’s second line, replacing injured forward Alex Killorn.
“Ross kind of does it all,” Lightning forward Blake Coleman said earlier this postseason. “He’s a hard worker. He’s got a shot. He’s a playmaker.”
In the middle of Wednesday night’s on-ice celebration, Colton’s first call was to his mother, Kelly, who was back home in Robbinsville, N.J., unable to fly in for the game because she had the flu.
“She’s my biggest fan, my support system,” Colton said. “I wish she was here to celebrate with us, but she was my first call on the ice and she was crying. That was really special for me.”
Colton’s father and older brother, both named Robert, were at the game and got to drink out of the Cup during the postgame celebration. That’s also where Colton found his coach at AHL Syracuse, Ben Groulx, who played a major role in helping Colton develop into an NHL player over his two full seasons with the Crunch.
“I definitely wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you,” the 24-year-old said he told Groulx while giving him a hug.
The goal that will be etched in Lightning history was born from some of those AHL teachings. Keep moving, go to the net.
Colton was on the fringe of a puck battle against the boards above the left circle and when the puck kicked out to Ryan McDonagh at the point, Colton skated toward the front of the net. McDonagh faked a slap shot and passed the puck to Savard along the right circle.
Colton won positioning in front of the net, stick jousting with Canadiens defenseman Joel Edmundson, and when Savard put the puck in front of the crease, Montreal goaltender Carey Price went to the ground trying to kick it away with his right pad. But it was just out of his reach, and Colton was there to tip it into an empty set, setting the Amalie Arena crowd into a fervor.
It wasn’t different from the net-front mentality Colton showed in the Lightning’s first scrimmage six months earlier during training camp. That tip-in goal was far away from the Stanley Cup spotlight. Few remember it, and no fans were allowed to watch that day because of the strict coronavirus protocols. At that point, Colton was fighting for a spot on the roster, possibly the taxi squad. He opened the season in Syracuse, but even then he was starting to make his mark.
His golf cart mate remembers.
“I really picked out Ross right away,” Maroon said earlier this postseason. “He was flying around, good shot, good energy, good skill. You can just tell he looked good out there, he looked like he belonged. It’s hard for a rookie to come in and produce, and he came in and fit right away into the system and he’s brought a lot to this table. …
“He’s only going to get better.”
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