After tearing his Achilles for the second time, Max Pacioretty faced an uncomfortable truth as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes: his career could be over.
But after a lot of hard work and even more patience, Pacioretty made his return — this time as a member of the Washington Capitals — nearly a year later on January 3 against the New Jersey Devils.
It did not take him long to generate offense either. Patches registered his first point, an assist on a Dylan Strome goal, in his third game of the season against the Los Angeles Kings. Four nights later against the Seattle Kraken, he scored his first goal in the NHL since January 10, 2023 — a span of a year and a day.
Pacioretty lit the lamp early in the second period to close the Kraken’s lead to 2-1.
Pacioretty found pay dirt after taking a sensational cross-ice pass by Alex Ovechkin that appeared to be bumped ever-so-slightly by Dylan Strome. Pacioretty went down to one knee and fired a one-timer past goaltender Joey Daccord — the Coachella Valley Firebirds’ starter in the 2023 Calder Cup Finals against the Hershey Bears.
Ovechkin appeared to be even more excited about Pacioretty about his milestone marker, pumping his fists and giving him a big hug behind the goal.
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Strome immediately grabbed the goal puck off the ice and tossed it a Caps staffer.
HAD to secure Patches’ first goal puck 🥹🤞@Capitals | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ck2WT8ekAl
— Monumental Sports Network (@MonSportsNet) January 12, 2024
“We know it’s an emotional time for him because of the last couple of years,” Capitals assistant coach Kirk Muller said to Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken. “He’s a goal-scorer and you give him opportunities, he’s going to capitalize. It was a big goal and big momentum.”
While the moment was remarkable, the Capitals were unable to generate more offense after that, falling to the Kraken 4-1. But Pacioretty was the clear high point, receiving a season-high of 17:34 of ice time.
“Felt good,” Pacioretty said of his goal postgame. “Felt better to have a little bit of confidence and poise with the puck. Tonight was the first night I felt like I could make some plays.
“I’ve been getting more and more comfortable,” he added. “Four games in a row now, but you still want to obviously win the game and contribute a little more. We had a couple chances there to get us within one. You never know, if you bury one of those and then the crowd gets into it and you give yourself a chance to win. It would have been nice to get another one or help get another one to get the team back in it.”
After his first point as a Capital on Sunday, Pacioretty shared some emotional words inside the locker room, acknowledging his setbacks.
“That was a rough two years for me boys, and if I learned one thing, it’s not to take things for granted,” he said. “That game proved we have a special group in here, and let’s make sure we never take that feeling for granted.”
The moment moved many of his teammates.
“That was awesome,” Strome said earlier this week. “I mean, it was either goosebumps or a little emotion from the rest of us. To see a guy that’s been through that, and we’ve seen him for the last four or five months just since September, just grinding every day to get back to it. He said he’s getting massages on his forearms because he thinks he’s shot the most pucks in the world in the last couple months. He’s battled his butt off to get back. And you can just see the type of leader and person he is with the speech that he gave after the game.
“When you see that, guys perk up and listen. And you saw with the reaction that he got after it from everyone. It was a good speech and we’re really happy for him.”
Strome added that he had a hunch that Pacioretty would score tonight. And lo and behold, he did.
Congrats, Max.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
