Golden Knights’ Max Pacioretty nears personal milestone

Max Pacioretty needs one point to reach a milestone.

But the Golden Knights left wing has something else on his mind for Thursday’s game against Montreal.

“I want to get two points against them,” he said, referring to the NHL standings and not his personal stats.

Pacioretty is one point shy of reaching 500 for his career and has a chance to hit the mark when his former club visits T-Mobile Arena on Halloween night.

The former Canadiens captain missed last season’s game in Las Vegas because of injury and holds a slight grudge that Montreal earned four points from the two meetings with the Knights.

“I kind of want to show them what our team is all about,” said Pacioretty, who has 250 goals and 249 assists in 705 NHL games. “They got the better of us last year, and that doesn’t sit too well with me, so hopefully we can have a different result this year.”

Pacioretty is tied with linemate Mark Stone for the team lead in assists with nine and has 11 points in 13 games. He owes his strong start in part to being healthy.

Pacioretty missed the final 16 games of the 2017-18 season with the Canadiens when he was shut down with a knee injury and resumed skating at the end of that July.

He was traded to the Knights on Sept. 9, 2018, and went through a series of minor injuries in the first three months of last season.

Pacioretty notably missed seven games from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1, but thought that was a turning point for his health.

“When you’re kind of battling that, you’re kind of battling with yourself whether or not you should be playing or whether or not you should be taking the time to rest,” Pacioretty said. “Since then, I felt like when I came back, I felt stronger and more comfortable. When I looked at my short stint here in Vegas, that was kind of a little bit of a turning point when I was able to come back and feel good about my game.”

Pacioretty, who turns 31 on Nov. 20, was able to take advantage of a full summer of conditioning and has turned into a playmaker to make up for the lack of goal scoring.

Of his nine assists, five have come on the power play to help the Knights rank eighth in the league entering Wednesday’s games at 25 percent.

“Last year, there was a lot going through his head when he got traded and everything that happened that quick and close to training camp,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “I just think (Pacioretty) is relaxed. He’s playing real good. He’s hit more goal posts than anybody this year, but he’s working hard and he’s having fun. Things are going good for him, but he wants to score more.”

Pacioretty has two goals and a 3.7 percent shooting percentage, which doesn’t include a team-high three shots off the post. But his underlying puck possession stats remain encouraging.

Pacioretty’s 58.4 shot attempts percentage at 5-on-5 is tops on the Knights, excluding defenseman Nate Schmidt and center Nicolas Roy, who each played one game.

His 2.83 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 rank second behind Stone (3.84), and his 3.6 expected goals in all situations, according to Moneypuck.com, suggest he’ll continue to generate scoring opportunities.

“I think this is some of the best hockey I’ve played in a while,” Pacioretty said. “The numbers are good, but at the end of the day, I’ve had a lot of chances and that’s really the only thing I look at as a player. I know that eventually they’ll start falling in.”

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.