'He Bought Into The Role Of Being A Menace': Max Pacioretty Delivers Everything Maple Leafs Have Needed In The Playoffs

To say Max Pacioretty has been red-hot in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs would be an overstatement.

The veteran Toronto Maple Leafs forward picked up a goal and an assist to propel his team to a 4-3 victory against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of their second-round series and take a 2-0 series lead.

Pacioretty was a healthy scratch for Toronto's first two playoff games. Inserted into the lineup in Game 3 of the Maple Leafs' first-round series against the Ottawa Senators, the 36-year-old veteran has been clutch for Toronto, with two points in each of his last three games.

The veteran forward was reluctant to speak about his own performance, but it didn't stop his teammates from raving about what he has brought to the team.

"I think just speaking off the first day he got here, he takes such pride in what he does out there on the ice," Mitch Marner said of Pacioretty. "He's a big frame out there. He's moving great. His shot is obviously what everyone has seen throughout the years. But just his work ethic, his compete, using his body, getting to the net, it's been a lot of fun to watch.

Pacioretty joined the club initially on a professional tryout, later signing a one-year deal before the regular season began. But the structure of his deal was laden with games-played bonuses, because he had twice suffered Achilles injuries that forced him to miss large chunks of the season.

"The last couple of years have been very tough for him. And just to see him doing what he does and playing at such a high level for us, it's really been special just with the amount of work and just the grind mentally, Marner said. "It's really cool just to be a part of that and see his process day in and day out. He's done a lot for us on the ice regular season playoffs-wise, so it's great to see him get rewarded the last couple games, and he's working his ass off, so it's great."

Pacioretty dealt with further injury issues this season. After sustaining an injury during a February practice following the 4 Nations break, he was unable to return to the lineup even after recovering. Things got more complicated because the Leafs didn't have any cap space to activate him from long-term injured reserve.

There was a sense of relief from Pacioretty when he finally got his chance in Game 3 of the series.

"This is why I'm here," Pacioretty said that day.

He certainly hasn't wasted the opportunity.

"It goes back with his injuries and the effort and commitment he put back to getting healthy. It's shown now that he's very dedicated in that aspect, and didn't want to go out that way and fought his way back," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. And now he's doing a great job for us in a lot of areas of the game, not just the scoring. He's played a pivotal role with the physicality and how we want to play, the heavy style of game, and he's been a good fit."

Pacioretty was quite the sniper in the prime of his career, but the Leafs have asked him to adapt his role into more of a support forward. While playing with talented forwards like William Nylander and John Tavares, Pacioretty has been the ultimate example of doing the other things necessary to win, like leading the team in hits with 34, even though he's played two fewer games than his teammates.

"He's really bought into the role of being a menace on the forecheck. I mean, he gets in on those D, and they're looking over their shoulder because they know he's coming," Max Domi said of Pacioretty. "He's a big man that can move real quick, and he's got a lot of weight behind him. So when he connects with those hits, it makes the D second-guess going back, and that's super effective at this time of year, and he's playing great."

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