
Max Pacioretty Accidentally Passes to Steven Stamkos for Nasty Slap-Shot Goal
You donโt do Steven Stamkos favors.
Conventional wisdom states you do everything possible to make life miserable for the Tampa Bay Lightningโs standout center and pray itโs enough to keep him from burying you alive.
The Montreal Canadiens did not do this. Instead, they passed Stamkos the puck and dared him to make a move, which went about as well as youโd imagine.
Deadspinโs Kevin Draper spotted footage of an ugly brain fart engineered by Max Pacioretty in the first period Monday night.
The Canadiens winger corralled a pass near center ice andโpresumably, hoping to set up an attackโdropped the puck back to a defenseman. This defenseman looked a lot like Steven Stamkos, however, and he gratefully received the gift and ripped off a scarily accurate slap shot for Tampa Bayโs second goal of the game.
This is not offside, according to Rule 83.1 of the NHL Officials Association rulebook:
"If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue.
"
Welp. You learn something new every day.
As for Pacioretty, part of the mix-up appeared to be in misunderstanding the situation at hand. Puck Daddyโs Greg Wyshynskiย reported the teams were playing four-on-four at the time of the goal, and the Canadiens forward appeared unaware a line change had occurred leaving him short a left defenseman.
This led to the pass and the Stamkos goalโthe first of two on the night. Tampa Bay would go on to win 4-2.
While a regrettable mistake on Paciorettyโs part, letโs not begrudge Stamkos his moment. He blistered a glove-side comet beyond Carey Price on a less-than-optimal angle. Doff your cap to the man. Heโs good.
Dan is on Twitter. This pass is like when you were a kid and accidentally tugged on a womanโs dress thinking she was Mom.



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