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Canadiens’ Pacioretty Thrives in Face of Pressure

By Dan Scifo - Special to USAHockey.com, 11/16/15, 12:00PM MST

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A breakout season earned him a spot on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team

Montreal Canadiens’ captain Max Pacioretty feels he does his best work in the face of pressure.

A dynamic 2013-14 season helped Pacioretty grab one of the final forward spots on that year’s U.S. Olympic team and now, two seasons later, the 26-year-old New Canaan, Conn., native is the captain of one of the most prestigious franchises in the NHL.

“There has been pressure since Day 1 to be the best that I can be,” Pacioretty said. “There’s a lot of expectations here, but you can handle it the right way or the wrong way.

“I think I’m at a point in my career where I’ve turned it around and used it as motivation to try and spin it into a positive.”

Pacioretty, known for his speed and well-rounded play away from the puck, made the 2014 U.S. Olympic team after scoring 26 goals in 50 games to start 2013-14. He finished with a career-high 39 goals and followed it up with a 37-goal effort during the 2014-15 season.

“I think [2013-14] was kind of my breakout year in terms of getting recognized and playing the right way,” Pacioretty said. “I think I had numbers in the past, but I feel like I wasn’t playing the right way.

“Once the new coaches came in here, they kind of installed the characteristic to play a 200-foot game, and I started to get recognized. Obviously, playing in the Olympics was an amazing experience, but I feel like I still have a lot more to prove when I put on the USA jersey.”

Pacioretty, who played in the 2008 World Junior Championship and 2012 Men’s World Championship, tallied one assist in five games during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, a competition in which the Americans finished fourth. He hopes to rectify that at the upcoming 2016 World Cup of Hockey in September.

“I’ve played for Team USA a number of times and I feel like I’ve underachieved,” Pacioretty said. “I have big-time motivation, and hopefully an opportunity presents itself because I have a lot to prove putting on that jersey.

“I know the World Cup is a big topic right now and it’s something I’m striving for. Hopefully I’ll get to participate, and if that time comes, I know I’ll have a lot of motivation to have different results than I’ve had in the past.”

Pacioretty was particularly impressed after a 1-0 loss against Canada during the semifinals of the Olympic tournament.

“The Canada game, I never saw so much skill on the ice at one time,” Pacioretty said. “It was the fastest game I ever played in, and everybody on the ice played a 200-foot game.

“I got to see great leaders, how they handle themselves on and off the ice and I really instilled a lot of that into my game. I think it’s a big part of my development.”

Now he’s the captain of the Montreal Canadiens, the longest continuously operating professional hockey team and the only existing NHL club to predate the founding of the league. Pacioretty is just the third American to serve as captain of the storied 105-year-old Canadian franchise.

“It’s obviously the biggest accomplishment of my career, but at the same time you’re going to be remembered for the results during your captaincy,” Pacioretty said.

That’s all Pacioretty and the Canadiens are concerned with this season. They became the first team in NHL history to begin a season with nine consecutive regulation victories and won 13 of their first 16 games for the first time in franchise history.

The Canadiens want more than a hot start to the NHL season.

“The reason why we’ve had success is that everybody has the same goal in mind,” Pacioretty said. “We’re only worried about the win column and the results the team has at the end of the day. It’s nice to be recognized individually, but we all have one goal, and that’s to win the ultimate prize.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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