Pacioretty's return to Montreal ruined by the worst possible player.

Saturday night was a big night of action in the National Hockey League with a number of particularly meaningful games on the schedule and one of those meaningful games was the match up between the Montreal Canadiens and the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

The game was particularly meaningful because it marked the return of former Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty for the first time since he was traded by Montreal Canadiens' general manager Marc Bergevin and the Habs to the Las Vegas Golden Knights. The night started out rather well for Pacioretty as he was treated to a tribute on the big screen at the Bell Centre and received a very warm reception from the Montreal crowd in spite of the fact that he left under rather acrimonious circumstances. 

Pacioretty's good night continued from there as many members of the Montreal media were quick to point out just how hard he was working on the ice on Saturday night, clearly an attempt by Pacioretty to secure a big win over his former team. In fact some members of the media made the claim that they had never seen Pacioretty work that hard at any point during his tenure as captain of the Montreal Canadiens, although obviously some of those comments were made in an hyperbolic or even joking manner. 

Pacioretty would go on to generate 9  of the 38 shots on goal produced by the Golden Knights over the course of the game, a whopping 24% of his team's offensive output. Unfortunately Pacioretty was unable to find the back of the net and in the third and final period of the game the dagger was driven home into the heart of the Las Vegas Golden Knights by the worst possible player for Pacioretty. 

One of the pieces of the Pacioretty trade that went the other way in the deal was veteran forward Tomas Tatar who was also playing against his former team, albeit with much less fanfare surrounding that story given his relatively short tenure with Las Vegas prior to the trade. Tatar however did find the back of the net by scoring Montreal's fifth goal of the game, the eventual game winner, and the look on Pacioretty's face told the whole story.

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