TAMPA, Fla. — For a handful of seconds, the ice was his. And for the rest of time, the memory will be ours.
It was a moment fit for history, and destined for glory. The puck zipping across the ice as an icon stood implausibly alone in the faceoff circle. He drew his stick back, dropped to one knee and fired a shot that sailed past a goaltender and into the record books.
Just like that, Steven Stamkos had cashed in the final chip in one of the greatest jackpots Tampa Bay will ever know. Fourteen years, two scoring titles, four coaches, two Stanley Cups and 954 points later, Stamkos passed Marty St. Louis to become the Lightning’s all-time scoring leader.
It was a vintage Stamkos one-timer in his familiar spot on the power play with assists from longtime teammates Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman, and it arrived midway through an 8-1 victory against his hometown team from Toronto.
He has known this moment was inevitable for quite some time, but Stamkos said he was surprised at how affected he was when he realized St. Louis had narrated a short video presentation that was played on the Amalie Arena scoreboard during the next commercial break.
“It’s just funny how things work out, right?’’ said Stamkos, who also had two assists to now stand at 956 points. “To do it at home against a team I grew up idolizing, having Kuch and Heddy assist on a one-time shot. You know, my parents were here, my wife was here … to have Marty come on and do that. I mean, I don’t really think of myself as an emotional guy, but that, that really hit me.
“It was just an amazing, amazing experience for me to have.”
If you remember nothing else of this night, you should always recall what followed. Stamkos briefly lifting his stick in the air and then skating toward an adoring crowd while pumping his right fist.
Beyond the obvious and normal accomplishments, this truly is the rarest of legacies:
A bond between player and community that outlasts injuries, contracts, trade rumors and time. A relationship borne of the fluke of winning the No. 1 pick — a 48.8% chance — in the 2008 NHL draft lottery and leading to a career-long love affair between a prodigy and a nontraditional hockey town.
“I was talking to some fans earlier, an older couple that comes to the games, and they said they had watched Steven grow up,” his father, Chris Stamkos, said. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I can’t believe it’s been 14 years.’ And then I stopped and thought about it and I said, ‘Well, that’s almost half his life.’ Because he came here when he was 18, and now he’s 32.
“So, yeah, it was great to see it at home for the fans, but it was also good to see it against Toronto, even though I was a Toronto fan many years ago.”
It’s a remarkable thing to witness the rise of a legend. To tune in night after night, year after year and see it grow from promise to deliverance.
It hasn’t always been perfect. The Lightning reached the playoffs in only one of Stamkos’ first five years in Tampa Bay, and he’s had chunks of several seasons wiped out by freakish injuries.
But he has steadily, quietly, modestly built a Hall of Fame career while growing from phenom to team captain. Along the way, he’s had seasons of brilliance, but he’s also gracefully ceded the spotlight in recent years to Kucherov, Hedman and Brayden Point.
There was a time, not so long ago, when it seemed his career might veer off course. When fate and medical charts accomplished what NHL defensemen could never do.
And yet, in the past few years, he has reclaimed his spot among the league’s most dangerous scorers. He’s not getting quite as many goals — the record-breaker was his 34th of the season — but he’s a better playmaker and two-way player than ever before.
From age 18 to 22, he averaged 1.01 points per game. Now, from age 28 to 32, he has averaged 1.14 points per game. By the end of Thursday night, he had a plus-18 rating, which is tied with his career-high.
“He transformed Tampa into a true hockey town while leading them to the promised land,” St. Louis said in the video presentation. “And along the way, in (14) seasons all in one uniform, he has rewritten the Lightning record book.”
For Stamkos — for any player — this is not as good as raising the Stanley Cup. You play the game to win, and you cherish the memories of teammates.
But for fans, this is a moment not to be forgotten. It’s a bridge between player and community. A bond between parents and children. A culmination of hope and accomplishment.
“Anytime you’re going to be the franchise leader in an organization that has been around for 30 years and have the guys you’re passing (be) Hall of Famers, it’s a great moment,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “What an accomplishment.
“He’s got so much more left in the tank, but wow.”
