The Washington Capitals defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday thanks to a late goal in the third period from John Carlson. After the game when the team gathered in the locker room coach Spencer Carbery took out a game puck and gave it to Max Pacioretty. Both are in their first year with the team.
For Pacioretty it was a long time coming. The Caps signed him at free agency over the summer. With the Vegas Golden Knights he played in 39 games before an achillies injury. Then he came back last season and played for the Carolina Hurricanes for just five games but had three goals before suffering the same unfortunate injury fate.
Sunday's game was Patches third game with the Caps and his first time experiencing the win. The puck Carbery presented him wasn't just any other game puck. It was the puck Pacioretty assisted Strome's goal with.
And when Pacioretty's teammates chirped that they wanted a speech, Pacioretty had one that got you right in the feels.
""That was a rough two years for me boys and if I learned one thing the last two years it's to not to take things for granted and that game proved we have a special group in here. So lets make sure we never take that feeling for granted.""Max Pacioretty
We'll have much more on Pacioretty hopefully befoe tomorrow night's Capitals game against the Seattle Kraken. I just wanted to watch some film of him one more time before I predict how he'll do the rest of the season.
But if there's one thing for sure, Caps fans are rooting for him. His teammates and coaches are rooting for him. So is his family.
Perhaps what Patches said could be a lesson for what any of us are going through in our life right now. One thing is for sure, life is too short to take things for granted.