Maroon is not supposed to be here, you see. Not with how poorly he played at the beginning of the season, and not in Game 7, where he was zero-for-three over the course of his career. Remember when there was speculation about cutting Maroon just to send a message? We wondered if he would be on the team for his own bobblehead night. He was supposed to be the free-agent addition who provided the dash of hometown seasoning that put the Blues over the top. And that's exactly what he's become.

The Blues are not supposed to be here either. Not with how poorly they played at the beginning of the season, totaling the fewest points of any NHL team by Jan. 2. Remember the press conference that announced the firing of then coach Mike Yeo? General manager Doug Armstrong told us interim coach Craig Berube could earn the job, and the first questions Berube heard asked were about coaching free agent Joel Quenneville. Now it's time for Armstrong to answer how he's going to keep another team from poaching Berube. Who saw that as a possibility then? How many wrote off the Blues? Far too many too count, and many of those will now say they believed all along. But wrapped up in that hug between Maroon and Stillman were two who truly believed. In each other. In this team.