Max Pacioretty played his first game in 350 days on Wednesday — nearly a full year since tearing his Achilles tendon for the second time as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes.
While Patches was proud of his journey back, he was not as enthused about how he played in his season debut against the New Jersey Devils.
Pacioretty, Brian MacLellan’s prized free-agent signing over the summer, had zero goals, zero assists, zero points, and zero shots in 11:47 of ice time. Pacioretty took the first penalty of the game, a tripping minor on John Marino, that led to a Devils’ power-play goal by Nico Hischier to make it 2-0 New Jersey.
Nico out here picking up his own birthday presents. pic.twitter.com/FH75I4gdGn
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 4, 2024
Pacioretty was also on the ice for Dawson Mercer’s second-period goal that gave the Devils a 3-1 lead. He finished the night a plus-minus of minus-one.
Oh you gotta be careful, we forgot to mention our Mercdawg bites. pic.twitter.com/aINONQbFYI
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 4, 2024
“There’s a lot of emotions,” Pacioretty said of his completing his comeback. “But at the end of the day it probably couldn’t get any worse than it did tonight for me. So, got to just get better.”
When asked when he started feeling like he was catching up to the pace of the game, Pacioretty replied bluntly, “I’m not sure. I don’t think [I] ever really caught up.”
After signing with Washington, Pacioretty began skating by himself at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in the fall months. He just recently became a full participant in practice over two weeks ago. The Capitals had the veteran winger travel with the team on their road trips to better assimilate with the team and its gameday routine. While Pacioretty admitted he had no nerves, he revealed that, despite the team doing all it could to prepare him, he didn’t completely feel himself as he played for the first time this season.
“It’s a tricky situation right now,” Pacioretty said. “I think I had one practice with a line, so, it’s that time of year we don’t practice much. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but it definitely felt like I practiced one time with a line.”
Postgame, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was open that Pacioretty still has a long process ahead of him to regain his past form that saw him be a six-time 30-goal scorer.
“It’s not easy at his age to step back into National Hockey League games, especially against this team that I would argue is one of the fastest in the league.,” Carbery said. “It’s going to be a work in progress. I never expected him to just step back into the lineup and be an impact player. Do you hope for that? Maybe in the back of your mind. But it’s going to be a process for him getting back, and getting up to speed, and getting comfortable back to playing games.”
Pacioretty, 35, revealed that he did have thoughts that he may never play again as he recovered from his injury. His entire family, including his wife, Ekaterina, and his four sons and daughter were all in attendance at Capital One Arena cheering him on.
“It meant a lot,” Pacioretty said. “All day my kids were pumped up to see me out there. I think it’s a testament to what my family was able to overcome knowing, to my knowledge, no one has been through this injury that I’ve been through this many times and come back from it. So I’m definitely proud of that, but not proud of my game.”
Pacioretty spent the night skating on the left wing with Dylan Strome and Matthew Phillips on the third line. At five-on-five, the Capitals were out-attempted 12-5 and out-chanced 7-2 with Pacioretty on the ice. The veteran of 16 NHL seasons had one shot attempt and the Capitals had a 22.6 expected goals percentage with him on the ice.
When he was asked if it was a matter of time to get his game back, Pacioretty replied, “I’ve never been in this position before, so I hope so.”
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
