Maple Leafs Winger Max Pacioretty Suffers Devastating Injury Against Canadiens

In the first period of the Leafs' Saturday evening contest against the Montreal Canadiens, Max Pacioretty looked to be in a lot of pain after an offensive zone face-off win.

The veteran forward was trying to set himself up in front of the net, but as he was back-tracking, he got cross-checked by Canadiens' defenseman Mike Matheson.

Pacioretty fell very awkwardly and was very slow to get to his feet, even signaling for assistance, though he ultimately did make it back to the bench.

Unfortunately, the injury to the former Canadiens' captain appears to be serious as he wasn't able to put any weight on his leg and was helped off the ice by fellow teammates in Ryan Reaves and John Tavares.

The Maple Leafs are already without the services of Auston Matthews, who was placed on the IR yesterday and could use as much scoring punch as they can get in his absence.

During the intermission break, Kevin Bieksa stated that he believed it could be a hamstring issue.

Pacioretty skated 5:10 in the first period and recorded 2 hits while playing on the second line with William Nylander and Tavares. He did not return for the second period, so it looks like the Leafs will be short a man for the remainder of this one.