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Max Pacioretty insists that the third-round opponent doesn’t matter and that all the talk about him facing his old team is just outside noise that doesn’t affect how he plays on the ice.
He’ll have to deal with the chatter all series long.
Now a star forward for the Golden Knights, Pacioretty spent the first 10 years of his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens, the last three as captain.
He’s faced his old club before, but not like this, with the eyes of the hockey world on the Stanley Cup semifinal matchup between the NHL’s oldest team and its youngest in Game 1 at 6 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.
“I don’t think it makes any difference who you play in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s no different if you’re playing the first team in the league, a team you played for in the past, they’re all the same in the playoffs and you have to approach them all the same way.”
Pacioretty will become the first former full-time captain of the Canadiens to face them in a playoff series in more than five decades. It won’t be his first time facing them — he does have a goal and an assist in three games — but this series will surely stir up old memories.
How Pacioretty’s time ended in Montreal depends on who you ask. He was dealt to Vegas during the 2018 preseason, and Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said at the time his captain had requested a trade, a claim Pacioretty denied.
Regardless, he came to Vegas in exchange for veteran Tomas Tatar, a second-round pick and prized prospect Nick Suzuki. Tatar has been solid for the Canadiens and Suzuki has blossomed into a star in the making with four goals and eight points in 11 playoff games coming off a 41-point, 56-game regular season.
On top of that, Pacioretty left Montreal with the reputation of a player who disappeared in the playoffs. He had 10 goals and 19 points in 38 playoff games with Montreal, but has been an unambiguous bright spot with the Golden Knights, recording 14 goals and 27 points in 30 games.
He has four goals and eight points in seven games this postseason.
“He’s going to through a little bit of emotion but it’s going to settle down after the first period,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “He spent 10 years of his career there, he’s been a captain, he’s been a great leader on and off the ice. It shows here how good of a guy he is and we definitely want to battle for a guy like him because he would do the same when we were in that position.”
Nearly everyone on the Golden Knights has played their old team before, but it’s different when you were the captain. Pacioretty was the public face of an Original Six franchise in the second-biggest market in the most hockey-crazed country in the world. He, fairly or not, was the subject to all the praise and criticism when the team succeeds or fails.
Few players on the Golden Knights can relate to that, but Alex Pietrangelo is one of them. Pietrangelo spent 12 years in St. Louis and four as captain, and said playing the team he used to lead adds another layer of motivation.
“I get it, I understand if he does feel like that and we be at our best for him,” Pietrangelo said. “I’m not going to speak for him but I’m sure he’s excited. It’s always fun playing against your former teammates.”
Pacioretty was diplomatic Sunday when asked about the differences in his life between Montreal and Las Vegas. He stressed he loved his time in Montreal and that he’s pleased with his tenure there while excited for his present and future with the Golden Knights.
“It makes no difference whether you’re under the microscope or not,” Pacioretty said. “You put that same pressure on yourself, day in and day out. All the best players do. And I don’t consider any of the outside noise any extra added pressure or not.”