Once upon a time, Carolina Hurricanes center and captain Jordan Staal was delivering clutch moments for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their quest for a Stanley Cup.
In some ways, it is quite hard to believe that it's already been 17 years since Jordan Staal scored a key shorthanded goal in Game 4 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings to help turn the tide of the series and lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to their third Cup in franchise history.
That moment proved that Staal - already an elite two-way center at 21 years old when the Penguins won that year - had that clutch gene in him. It proved that, on the NHL's biggest stage, he had the ability to come through for his team and be the catalyst it needs.
Fast forward to 2026, and Staal might be wearing a different uniform. But he is doing the same exact thing.
In the four games to open the Stanley Cup Final this season, Staal has scored in every one, and he netted two in Game 4 - including the game-winner during the third period - to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights and tie the series. The 37-year-old center is now up to seven goals and 11 points in 17 playoff games this postseason, which include five goals and six points in the Final series alone.
Of course, anyone who has followed Staal's 20-year NHL career knows that he's always had a knack for coming through in big moments. He seems to have ice in his veins when the stage becomes the biggest, and that has always been the case.
And Penguins' fans know this better than anybody.
During the Stanley Cup Final in 2009, the Penguins went down in the series, 2-0, and they managed to pull off a win in Game 3 at home. They were back at home for Game 4, and they found themselves on the penalty kill and trailing, 2-1, midway through the second period.
And that's when Staal - already well-known for his impact shorthanded - took the puck up ice on a shorthanded opportunity, splitting the 'D' and bodying his way around all-time great defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom to power one past Red Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood and tie the game.
Staal finished with two goals and three points in that series. The Penguins went on to win that game, 4-2, and they won the series in seven games. This also capped off a revenge tour for the Penguins, as they were beaten by Detroit in the Final in 2008.
And Staal had already played a part in that revenge tour earlier in the season, when the Penguins played the Red Wings on Nov. 11, 2008, for the first time since they had lost the Cup Final to them the spring before. Staal put his team on his back, recording a third-period hat trick and pickpocketing Pavel Datsyuk in overtime to set up Ruslan Fedotenko's game-winner in what was one of the more memorable individual performances of Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby era.
He was, ultimately, dealt to the Hurricanes in the summer of 2012 - during his wedding, nonetheless - and has spent the last 14 years of his NHL career in Raleigh, registering 22 goals and 48 points in 106 playoff games since. He had 23 goals and 36 points in 73 post-season games with the Penguins, and he has 318 goals and 747 points dispersed across 1,403 regular season games in his NHL career.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound center's play for the Hurricanes in this year's final serves as a reminder to Penguins' fans just how important Staal was to the Cup run back in 2009 and to the Penguins' former core of players that helped build their foundation for success in the mid-late 2000s. Without Staal to anchor down that third-line center position during those years - and without him as a suitable injury replacement for Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for pockets during that time - the Penguins may never hae reached the pinnacle they were able to during the Crosby era.
In the present, Staal is enjoying the best playoff performance of his career. And if the Hurricanes are going to win two of these last three games in the Cup Final, he will need to find a way to continue elevating himself when the stakes are the highest.
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