An ice pack as chunky and as cumbersome as an infant’s life jacket was wrapped around Max Pacioretty’s left knee as he delivered his first post-game scrum as captain, following Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He spoke about how his game was flawed, how both in the gym and on the ice, in the first game of the 2015-16 season, his knee failed him at times. It’s still not as strong as he needs it to be.
Full recovery? “A long ways to go,” he says.
After suffering fractures on the tibial plateau below his knee during July 9’s off-season workout gone wrong, “Patches” (as his teammates call him) needed mending. The doctors gave him 12 weeks. The season opener for the most offensively lethal Hab — one of only a few, frankly, who can finish around the net — was in doubt.
Yet the doctors gave him the green light, his teammates voted to slap a C on his chest, and he scored twice Wednesday to give Montreal a perfect record on an imperfect night.
“I had a lot to prove,” Pacioretty says. “Some people thought I might not be ready or people doubted it. But I wanted to come out and play a strong game. I think our line did that. We were pretty lethal.”
Pacioretty’s first shot, the inaugural goal of this NHL season, bobbled off and over Jonathan Bernier and trickled in. His last one was an insurance marker deposited into an empty net.
“A bit lucky both times,” he said, modestly and accurately.
Scoring goals – he’s threatened 40 the past two years – is not new to Pacioretty. However, the nuances of his elevated gig are.
“Of course,” said teammate P.K. Subban, when asked whether Pacioretty played well in the season opener, almost annoyed by the question. “As a top player in this league on any team, you’re expected to be at your best every night. I don’t think it matters if you have a letter on your jersey. If Patch wasn’t the captain, we’d still expect him to have the performance he had. That’s what we need out of him every night. He knows that. I know that. Carey [Price] knows that.”
Here’s something not everyone knows: when a coach can challenge a goal.
After Pacioretty blindly set up Jeff Petry for a back-door goal, the Maple Leafs challenged that crease-crasher Tomas Plekanec’s stick had interfered with Bernier.
A confused Pacioretty approached the officials to get clarification. It’s a new rule, so forgive him. There is a curve here, and he’s learning.
For starters, there is a way to interact with NHL referees. Get to know them before you berate them. It’s something the winger began working on last season as an alternate captain.
“You don’t just want to bark at them,” he says. “You kinda learn how to pick your spots and how to talk to them not just as a referee but on a personal level. I think that goes a long way.”
Pacioretty didn’t give a pre-game speech—the Canadiens have their share of voluminous dressing-room voices—and he admits to nerves when he stepped onto the ice for the first time with the extra C on his sweater. Those dissipated once he got lost in the play.
“I’m trying not to change my personality. If there’s something to be said, I’ll say it,” Pacioretty says.
Pacioretty sounds determined, even if it’s unclear if he’s talking about the knee or the captaincy at this point.
“I’m willing to put in the work to be 100 per cent.”