I texted Jordan Staal after the Carolina captain netted that sprawling, twisting, highlight-reel backhand goal to win Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final: “You’re out there scoring like Mario!”
Staal texted back: “Ha! Thanks, Mark. Two more.”
That’s where Staal’s head is always at. Winning. Even as Staal demolishes the Stanley Cup Final with uncharacteristic offensive pyrotechnics.
“Two more.”
Now it’s one more.
Carolina took a three-to-two series lead with a 4-2 home win on Thursday. Staal scored in that game, too.
Staal is a winning hockey player. Always has been.
Pittsburgh remembers.
Staal helped the Penguins claim the Stanley Cup in 2009. He was 20 and in his third NHL season.
Staal had a big Final. (Not as big as he’s having now.)
The Penguins beat Detroit, 4-2, in Game 4, with Staal netting the short-handed goal everybody remembers.
He scored in Game 6 as the Penguins faced elimination but won 2-1.
When Sidney Crosby got hurt in Game 7, Staal absorbed the extra minutes and was on the ice when time expired in another 2-1 victory.
Staal excelled during his six seasons with the Penguins.
He hit his career high for goals as an 18-year-old rookie, tallying 29 skating on Evgeni Malkin’s wing.
He topped 20 goals four times and established his career best for points with 50 in 2011-12.
GM Ray Shero offered Staal a 10-year contract worth $60 million.
But Staal wanted to go to Carolina to play with his brother Eric. So, Shero traded Staal. Staal got the same deal with the Hurricanes.
Shero wanted to maintain that amazing three-center model of Crosby, Malkin and Staal. That’s a trio beyond compare.
But Staal went to Carolina. Where he’s prospered.
His stats declined: Staal has scored (exactly) 20 goals just twice in 14 seasons with the Hurricanes, including this one.
But he’s been Carolina’s captain since 2019, wearing the “C” his brother did, and has done a great job by all accounts.
Staal is 100% a standup guy. On and off the ice. Has the work ethic of a son of a sod farmer from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour’s simple system suits Staal: Man up on defense, throw pucks at the net and crash the blue paint.
Staal is 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. But he somehow plays even bigger, likely due to perfect positioning.
He’s a nightmare for the opposition’s stars. Ask Malkin. When they match up, Staal puts Malkin in his back pocket.
Staal does what it takes. He fought Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk just three seconds into this year’s playoffs. The Tkachuk brothers are all about showbiz fights. Staal, not so much. But he didn’t say no.
Now, 17 years after his last Stanley Cup Final, Staal has become a scoring machine on hockey’s biggest stage.
He had six goals in the series’ first five games, at least one in each. (The record for most goals in a final is nine.)
Thursday’s goal made him just the fifth player to score in five consecutive Stanley Cup Final games. The last was Montreal’s Yvan Cournoyer in 1973. Jean Beliveau, Rocket Richard and Cyclone Taylor did it, too.
Four Hall-of-Famers and Staal. Unreal.
Staal’s outburst didn’t come out of nowhere. Not exactly.
Because when you know precisely how to play hockey, a streak like this can find you.
Staal fits the description.
Nobody has ever done better at his method of hockey.
If there was a Hall of Fame for third-line centers, Staal would be the first inducted. He’s the prototype: Size, grit, 200-foot game, faceoffs, penalty-killing, big goals, winning, the whole package.
Game 6 at Vegas Sunday night.
One more.