“Here you go,’’ said reserve goalie Spencer Knight, handing Maurice the Stanley Cup.

Maurice’s long struggle mirrored this franchise’s struggle. This was his 1,985th game, regular season and playoffs, as NHL coach. He started in 1996 as the league’s youngest coach at 28. He’s now, at 57, its fourth-winningest coach ever.

He bent down and talked to the Cup, later saying it was something about “how long I chased her.” He then lifted it overhead, dropping his head in meditation as he did, a hockey Atlas breathing in the moment he’s dreamed about all these years.

When he saw surrounding players smiling at him, he began “giving them some profanity,” for their entertainment.

Roberto Luongo held it. He’s in the front office now, but for so many years symbolized this franchise’s frustrations, a great player trapped in dysfunction.

General manager Bill Zito was crying as he held it. Has a general manager wielded such a Midas touch? He assembled all but four players on this roster.

He changed coaches, hiring Maurice, after a rare season of success, the best regular-season record in the league and a playoff series win. He wanted more and saw change as the only way.

“I feel humbled by this,’’ he said. “This is the players’ work — what they achieved. I feel so happy for them, for what they did.”

By the time the Stanley Cup reached owner Vinnie Viola, it had been kissed, cursed, thanked, raised overhead by a few dozen players, coaches and staff in his organization.

“You have to lift it,’’ Zito told him.

Viola bought the team in 2013. It hadn’t made the playoffs 12 of the previous 13 years. It wouldn’t make them for six of the next seven. Then his ideas worked, his hiring of Zito clicked.

On the afternoon of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Viola studied Medieval literature. It’s a passion of his.

“It helped pass the time,’’ he said.

Now he stood watching the Cup move from player to player, picture to picture and said just what you should remember from the journey to this championship.

“Look at the smiles,’’ he said.

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